A Nerubian's Journey

[Fizzicks]

As always, thanks to Massgamer for beta reading.

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"Well done, Pelle. You're doing much better," Krivax said kindly. The tuskarr seamstress was quickly improving in her ability to properly weave nerubian silk.

Krivax had already stayed in Kamagua for over a week now, and he was really enjoying himself. He had been ceaselessly working toward his goal for so long that he had almost forgotten what it felt like to slow down. There were so many things he wanted to do in this fantastical world, but circumstances forced him to push all of those things aside.

Krivax wanted to see every inch of this world and experience all that it had to offer. He wanted to make friends, learn about new cultures, discover forgotten magic, and taste every kind of shellfish in the world.

He still was not yet secure enough to allow himself to relax completely, but staying in a peaceful village like Kamagua made him want to dream again instead of only plotting ways to stay alive.

Krivax reluctantly pushed those thoughts aside; while he had his own wants and ambitions buried deep within his heart, they would have to wait.

He came to this village for a reason, after all.

The negotiations with the Chieftain had gone well, with Krivax agreeing to trade silk and ores for a variety of shellfish. He had suspected that shellfish would prove delicious to the nerubian palate, but he had not anticipated it being as good as it was.

Krivax and Masruk may or may not have… embarrassed themselves a little when they tried their first lobster.

Suffice to say, Krivax was confident shellfish would prove a stable trading good between Kilah'Kuk and Kamagua. He intended to look into other goods that the tuskarr could offer, such as surface world plants that could be used for alchemy, but trading silk for shellfish would suffice for now.

Aside from trading for shellfish, the two parties had also reached a few other agreements. While they had not yet developed enough trust to begin sharing their magic with one another, the Chieftain agreed that it was something they would be willing to consider.

What Krivax was most happy about was the agreement for them to mutually share stories and knowledge. After all, that was how Krivax intended to find evidence of the existence of other continents.

"Thank you, Krivax. You are a good teacher," Pelle said with a smile.

While Krivax was not himself a Weaver, like most nerubians, he knew enough about the intricacies of working with nerubian silk to teach the Seamstress. Nerubian silk possessed many special properties, and training was needed if someone wanted to use it for crafting. Once she was done with her training, Pelle would go on to teach the rest of the tuskarr seamstresses.

Krivax spent the next few minutes finishing up his lesson with Pelle before deciding to go find Masruk.

Just as he was about to make his way to the part of the village set aside for warriors to practice, he was interrupted by a soft whistling sound near his feet. When he looked down, Krivax saw a tiny tuskarr child who was wrapped up in a snug little fur coat whistling at him and lifting his arms.

Huffing in amusement, Krivax bent down, lifted up the child, and placed him on his back.

The people of Kamagua had been cautious and fearful of the two nerubians at first, but their friendly and peaceful nature quickly shone through. Karfu was a tuskarr child whose mother had passed away recently and whose father was frequently out to sea. The kid was extremely quiet and barely talked, but he did spend most of his time wandering around Kamagua and watching the various villagers work with curiosity. Once the villages had started to warm up to him, Karfu had taken to quietly riding on Krivax's back while he went about his business.

Krivax couldn't help but indulge the kid; tuskarr children were unfairly adorable with their oversized heads and tiny little fur coats.

Without comment, Karfu quietly settled into a comfortable position while Krivax made his way to find Masruk.

The first thing Krivax saw when he reached the training area was the predictable sight of Masruk sparring with Kagonut. Turning to the side and laying down so that Karfu could get a better view of the spectacle, Krivax decided to wait until they were finished before going to speak to his friend.

While the spar looked to be evenly matched, Krivax knew that was only because Kagonut was holding back significantly. While Masruk was talented in combat, his mere four years of experience simply could not compete with the tuskarr warrior. Though to his credit, Kagonut was one of the most skilled warriors in Kamagua and Masruk had handily defeated some of their younger warriors.

Krivax watched as the two warriors traded quick blows with incredible amounts of force. Masruk was skilled with his spear and was good at moving quickly and attacking from unexpected angles, but Kagonut moved faster than any giant walrus person had a right to and seemed as stable as a mountain.

Eventually, the fight ended with Masruk defeated and Kagonut looking smug and none the worse for wear. Karfu started to clap his hands in excitement and let out little whistling noises.

Krivax knew his friend would try to get back to fighting almost immediately, so he decided to call out to him first before he could.

"Masruk!"

Krivax stood back up carefully so as to not throw off Karfu as his friend made his way over to him.

"Krivax, do you need help with something?" asked Masruk.

"Not really, buddy," said Krivax. "I just wanted to remind you about our meeting later today."

Krivax knew that his friend could be a little… absentminded when his attention was focused on combat. It was a good idea to occasionally remind him about important matters.

"...What meeting?"

Krivax sighed in exasperation and Karfu patted his back in what seemed to be comfort. The boy was quiet but had a talent for understanding what others were feeling.

"Our meeting with Vizier Hadix. I need to scry him later today after I'm done speaking with Elder Wumni."

"Ah, yes. I will be there," said Masruk. Krivax felt amused as his friend turned back to look at the warriors as soon as he was done speaking.

"Alright, thanks. Have fun practicing."

Nodding in acknowledgment, Masruk turned around and started to head back to the tuskarr warriors, most of whom seemed to enjoy his company. Krivax was glad to see his friend so easily getting along with the tuskarr.

With his message delivered, Krivax started walking to Elder Wumni's home with a sense of anticipation. The old shaman had agreed to answer questions about their culture and share some tuskarr legends, and Krivax was hopeful he might be able to use this opportunity to gain his first hints of the existence of other continents.

Wumni's home was located near the Chieftain's and was not particularly distinct from any of the other buildings in the village. The entrance did not have an actual door and was instead covered by a heavy sealskin, so Krivax settled on calling for the Elder instead of knocking.

"Elder Wumni! I'm here for our meeting," Krivax yelled into the building.

"Come inside, boy! Why are you standing outside my home and making all that noise?"

Well alright then.

Krivax skittered into the Elder's home with Karfu still securely settled on his back. The inside of the building was much like the Chieftain's, except for the various herbs and animal parts laying around that Krivax assumed were used for the old tuskarr's shamanism.

Wumni herself was seated on what looked to be a comfortable pile of seal hide pillows while carving symbols into what Krivax assumed was a piece of whalebone.

"Feed the calf and sit down while I finish," said Wumni, pointing to a pile of pillows and a nearby bowl filled with fish without looking at him.

Seeing no reason to argue, Krivax picked up a fish and handed it to Karfu who immediately started to nibble on it. After finding a comfortable position, Krivax lowered himself to the ground and curled his feet underneath his body.

Once the shaman was done with… whatever she was doing, Wumni put away the bone and turned her attention to Krivax and Karfu.

"You indulge that boy too much," said Wumni after casting a translation spell with a wave of her hand.

Krivax had made a lot of progress in learning the tuskarr language, but a week's work of effort was not enough for him to reach a level of mastery acceptable to Wumni.

"Karfu is very well-behaved," said Krivax while patting the young tuskarr on the head. Karfu ignored him and continued to eat his fish. "He's not a bother, so I feel no reason to deny him if he just wants to ride on my back."

"He'll get fat and lazy if he doesn't use those stubby little legs of his," said Wumni with a huff. Karfu directed a mulish glare in her direction, but the Elder ignored him. "You're here earlier than I expected. Are you that excited to learn about our people, boy?"

"Learning new things is always exciting to me, Elder."

"Just call me Wumni. I'm not interested in hearing you end every sentence with 'Elder.'"

"Of course, Wumni," Krivax said easily. Nerubian society had forced him to grow accustomed to a certain degree of formality, but if the Elder preferred to be addressed casually then he wouldn't complain.

"If I'm remembering right, you said that you wanted to learn about our gods, correct?" asked Wumni.

"That's correct. I specifically wanted to know how your gods compared to the Drakkari's Loa."

"The difference is our gods don't demand our worship. We give it freely," Wumni said derisively. "Any spirit that requires you to worship them before they offer you anything are spirits that any shaman with sense would run away from. Tayutka, Karkut, Issliruk, and Oacha'noa do not need our worship nor do they interfere with mortal affairs, unlike the Drakkari's Loa. We honor them because they guide and aid our people."

From there, Wumni went on to share more specific details about the tuskarr gods. Tayutka was a female tuskarr shaman who became a powerful spirit after her death that continued to aid her people by guiding Fishermen away from danger and to large catches. Karkut the Dark One was responsible for shepherding tuskarr spirits to the afterlife, Issilruk was the spirit of war and weather, and Oacha'noa was the goddess of the depths and wisdom.

Oacha'noa was the only one Krivax knew for certain existed given that she appeared in the game as a kraken Wild God.

After she was done speaking, Krivax reciprocated by telling her some of the nerubian legends about the Old Gods. More specifically how legends said how the nerubians had become 'enlightened' and turned away from the worship of beings who at best were casually cruel and destructive even to their own worshippers, treating them no better than tools to be used and discarded.

Nerubians did not worship anything anymore—they believed that gods could not be trusted to care for the wellbeing of mortals—and the Old Gods were considered to be mere stories at this point in time. Krivax had actually never met a single nerubian who believed that the Old Gods existed at all, but he had suspicions that the nerubian leadership might know the truth.

Whenever he attempted to discreetly research the matter he would find any information related to the Old Gods to be… suspiciously vague. He probably would not have noticed if he did not already know the truth, but it was suspicious enough that Krivax had put aside all attempts to research the Void or the Old Gods.

He didn't have much to tell her, but by the time he was done Wumni seemed to be satisfied anyways, even if she found the legends themselves rightly disturbing.

"What else did you want to talk about?" Wumni asked when they were done talking about gods. "You have a look in your many eyes like you're about to chomp down on a lobster."

Krivax did his best to rein in his anticipation.

"I wanted to hear your people's legends on the Sundering," said Krivax. "My people have many theories about what caused it, but those theories are mostly speculation."

The nerubians really had no idea what caused the Great Sundering. Many of their theories came close—in that they believed that the elves were most likely to blame—but from their perspective, one day the land simply exploded and they had no idea why. Krivax had been unable to verify whether the nerubians had even been aware of the Burning Legion's first invasion.

"The Sundering? Sorry boy, but we don't know what happened either," Wumni said with a frown. "According to Oacha'noa, there was some kind of war going on at the time, but she's not willing to talk about it."

"That's a shame," Krivax said casually. "My people would like to know what destroyed the rest of the continent. The old world was a land of many wonders, according to legend. It's a shame that these lands are all that is left of it."

"What are you talking about?" Wumni said incredulously. "This land is not all that is left of the old world. There is still plenty of land across the sea."

Bingo.

"What?!" Krivax exclaimed in fake astonishment. "How could you possibly know that? "

"I've never been there myself, but I've been told that people from lands beyond the sea sometimes trade with the Moa'ki clan," Wumni said with a frown. "I'm surprised that people as supposedly advanced as yours do not know about the other lands."

"My people tend to keep to themselves, and have been isolated underground for thousands of years for the most part. If what you say is true, then I am not surprised we do not know of it," Krivax explained to Wumni. "Still, I'm certain our people would be glad to know about this."

"And what will your people do with this information?" Wumni asked with open suspicion.

"Nothing bad," Krivax said hurriedly. "But I do think they might be interested in sending people to the other lands to learn more about them."

Wumni glared at him with suspicion while Krivax did his best to look like an innocent spider person and Karfu did his best to open the shell of a crab with his tiny teeth.

Eventually, the Elder Shaman just huffed, "Bah! Far be it from me to tell you how your people should act with those far from these lands, but if you embarrass yourself don't go getting our names involved."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Krivax said with mock sincerity.

Krivax and Wumni spent the rest of the meeting talking about the lands beyond the sea, sharing various legends, and comparing different parts of their cultures.

For example, both of their species highly valued communal cooperation, but differed in how they treated interpersonal relationships with tuskarr strongly believing in strong family units while nerubian families as a concept just didn't exist. Wumni thought that kind of life must be incredibly lonely while Krivax explained they still had relationships and friendships, but they weren't as… 'expressive' as tuskarr ones.

Krivax also tried to figure out if Wumni knew anything about any wars taking place on the lands across the sea, or if she knew anything about the Dark Portal, but Wumni seemed to care little about things happening so far away.

By the time they were ready to finish, Karfu was barely able to stay awake.

"Leave the calf here," said Wumni as Krivax got up to leave.

Krivax nodded in agreement and gently placed Karfu down on the pile of pillows before turning to leave. Just as he was about to walk out of Wumni's home, a soft voice stopped him.

"Bye…"

Krivax turned and gave a short wave to the tiny tuskarr. "Goodbye, Karfu. Sleep well."

After Krivax left the house and stepped outside, he was startled to realize that the sun was already starting to go down.

I must have spent much longer talking to Wumni than I thought.

He didn't have much time before he needed to speak with Hadix, so Krivax hurriedly collected his friend and dragged him off to the building that the tuskarr used to house guests.

Once they were both in their shared room, Krivax retrieved the scrying crystal from his spatial bag, mounted it on a small platform, and quickly started casting the necessary spells. After a few minutes, violet glyphs began to appear before the crystal and the visage of Vizier Hadix appeared on its surface.

"Initiate Krivax, I was starting to believe you had completely forgotten about me, that or died," Hadix said with mild irritation.

"I apologize for being late, Vizier," said Krivax, lowering his head in contrition. "I was speaking with the tuskarr's eldest shaman and found myself losing track of time."

"Hmph. Do not allow it to happen again," Hadix said sternly. "Now, report to me everything that has happened since you left for the surface."

"Yes, Vizier."

Krivax spent the next half hour detailing their first contact with the tuskarr, their subsequent meeting with the Chieftain, and the agreement to trade silk for shellfish. Masruk remained mostly quiet, although he shared his own perspective at times.

Once he was done, Hadix paused for a moment in consideration before speaking.

"If these 'shellfish' are as delicious as you say and these people are willing to give them to us for something as worthless as a few common ores and some low-level silk, then I suppose this deal will be to our benefit," said Hadix offhandedly. "There are some who would enjoy more options for luxury food."

Krivax knew that Hadix probably considered such luxuries to be frivolous, so he wasn't surprised by the faint dismissiveness he heard in the Vizier's tone. If he wanted to impress the man, he would need to present something more… materially beneficial.

"Is that all, Initiate?" asked Hadix with disinterest. "If so, then I have experiments that require my attention."

Here we go, Krivax thought nervously.

"No, Vizier. I have something else to report," Krivax said hesitantly.

Krivax reported to Hadix what Wumni had said about the existence of other continents. While the topic seemed to catch the Vizier's immediate attention, he at first seemed to believe the Shaman was merely sharing a tuskarr fairy tale. It was only after Krivax informed him that the tuskarr had personally met with people from other continents that the Vizier began to show… extreme interest.

Once Krivax was done telling the Vizier everything he knew, Hadix remained silent for nearly a minute while he absorbed the information.

"One moment, Initiate," said Hadix, speaking suddenly into the silence.

Krivax grew confused as the image of Hadix disappeared and the scrying crystal grew dark.

Did he just hang up on me?

Suddenly, both Krivax and Masruk lept back in surprise as a bright violet light materialized in the center of their room. Their surprise only increased when the light faded to reveal that Vizier Hadix had decided to teleport into their temporary home.

"Hello, Initiate," said Hadix, focusing completely on Krivax and ignoring Masruk. "We need to talk."

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[Fizzicks]

Thanks to massgamer for beta reading. Enjoy the chapter.

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Krivax was rendered speechless as he stared dumbly at the Vizier. He had expected that Hadix would show an interest in news of people from a different continent, but he had not expected the Vizier to brazenly teleport into his temporary home. He had not been prepared for such an… intense reaction from the normally aloof Hadix.

Krivax glanced worriedly at the doorway, half expecting Elder Wumni to come running in and start berating the Vizier for entering the village uninvited. Understanding his concern, Masruk quickly moved closer to the entrance and positioned himself so that nobody could come in without pushing him aside.

"Cease your worrying," Hadix said dismissively, one arm waving through the air and trailing arcane energy. "I have already placed privacy wards that will ensure we remain undisturbed. Now, repeat everything you have told me."

Seeing no other option, Krivax once again told the Vizier everything that Wumni had heard about the foreigners from lands across the sea. While he did, the Vizier stared at him with an intense focus that made Krivax feel distinctly uncomfortable. For as long as he has known the Vizier, he has always given off a feeling of disinterest in nearly everything not related to his own studies, so his current focus seemed distinctly out of character.

When Krivax was done talking, the Vizier continued to stare at him silently for a few moments before speaking.

"From now on, finding evidence to support or disprove these claims is your highest priority," said Hadix, more serious than Krivax had ever seen him. "This is more important than your shellfish or the tuskarr's shamanism or your desire to make 'friends' with the surface races. If you fail to find this evidence then I will find it myself, and I doubt the tuskarr will be as welcoming anymore when I am done. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Vizier Hadix. I understand," said Krivax. It was fortunate that this was already his highest priority because he could tell that the Vizier would not accept any other answer.

"Good," said Hadix. After Krivax signaled his acquiescence the Vizier relaxed significantly. He even decided to walk over to one of the baskets of shellfish sitting in the corner of the house and pick it up with a look of faint curiosity. "Go ahead and ask your questions, Initiate."

Krivax calmed down as the Vizier seemed to relax. If Hadix was inviting him to ask, then he didn't see a need to hold back.

"Yes, Vizier. Why did you decide to come here personally?" Krivax asked hesitantly. "Why not simply tell me this through the scrying crystal?"

"Hmph. I suppose my reaction must seem disproportionate to you," said Hadix as he picked up one of the shrimp and examined it. "You are young, and there are many things about this world you do not yet know and I cannot yet tell you."

The Vizier bit into the shrimp and his expression turned into one of pleasant surprise before quickly fading back into its usual stoicism.

"I decided to come here for three reasons," Hadix continued. "First, I wanted to be here in person as you retold me the shaman's words. Second, I wanted to impress upon you the seriousness of the situation."

Krivax watched as the Vizier cracked open a lobster with one of his hands and started to pick apart its insides.

"And the third?" Krivax asked cautiously.

"I wanted to bring you this," said Hadix. The Vizier idly pulled out a small black and gold figurine that was shaped like a spider from a small spatial bag tied to his robe with one of his back arms. Krivax could easily feel the magic it radiated. "This tool will allow you to telepathically control a few of the non-sapient skitters or flyers, while also allowing you to control larger groups of more common insects and arachnids if the need arises."

Krivax looked at the enchanted figurine in disbelief. He knew nerubians had a natural ability to control and dominate non-sapient spiders, bugs, and the like, but unless you were a Spiderlord that was usually on the small scale. He had heard of these things before, but he had never seen one in person. As far as he knew, only the higher castes would possess these magical artifacts, so Krivax was immediately suspicious of Hadix's motivations for giving him one.

Still, it wasn't as if he could say no, so Krivax hesitantly took the figurine and stored it in his own spatial bag. There would be time to examine it later when there wasn't a Vizier standing right in front of him.

"Thank you, Vizier," Krivax said while bowing low in an expression of gratitude. "But if I may ask, why have you chosen to give this to me?"

"That's simple. Because the value of your time has significantly grown in value and your safety has become more important to me," Hadix said matter of factly. "The skitters and flyers will not only offer you additional protection but they can also be used to transfer trading goods between Kilah'Kuk and this village. I want you to gather evidence, not waste time acting as a courier."

That made sense to Krivax, even if he was still suspicious of the Vizier's intense interest.

"I understand," said Krivax. While the Hadix was here—and since he was already eating it—he might as well get the Vizier's opinion on the shellfish. "On the topic of the shellfish, do you believe they will be popular as a long-term trading good, Vizier?"

Hadix paused as he was lifting a crawfish to his mandibles. "They are adequate, Initiate. I believe these 'shellfish' will be popular amongst the city's leadership. I suspect the funding our Division will receive will increase significantly as a result. Well done."

Given how much it looks like you're enjoying them, I think they're a little more than adequate…

"If there is nothing else, then I will make my departure," said Hadix. "I will arrange for the skitters and flyers to be sent to your location. Inform the tuskarr before they arrive. It would be a waste if they were needlessly killed."

Without waiting for a response, the Vizier disappeared in a flash of violet light.

Once the light faded and the room became quiet, Krivax only had to spend a few moments thinking about their conversation before he reached an obvious conclusion.

Vizier Hadix was hiding something.

Krivax had known the Vizier for over a year and in all that time he had never seen Hadix show this level of interest in anything. He often wondered why the mage was assigned to the Surface World Research Division when he never revealed any actual interest in the surface.

The more he thought about it, the more Krivax realized how little he knew about the Vizier who had supported him since he joined the Circle.

"Krivax, is the Vizier always like that?" asked Masruk as he returned from guarding the entrance.

"No, he's not usually that intense," said Krivax.

"Then you should be careful. Until you understand his motivations you should be wary of him," Masruk said with concern in his voice.

"I'll be careful," said Krivax. "But I think we should be fine. It's not like he asked me to do anything that I wasn't already planning on doing anyway."

"I will ask the warriors what they know about the lands beyond the sea when I speak to them tomorrow."

"Thanks, Masruk," said Krivax with genuine gratitude. "I appreciate your help, buddy."

"It's not a problem," said Masruk. He paused before continuing to speak with slight hesitation. "The surface is… much more interesting than I had expected. If these unknown lands exist, then I believe I would enjoy seeing them for myself."

"I'm glad you're enjoying yourself," Krivax said fondly. Masruk had really begun to flourish during their stay in Kamagua. Not only had his skills as a warrior improved by being exposed to new fighting styles, but he had also become slightly less reserved amongst the friendly tuskarr and shown an increased curiosity in the world.

The two nerubians spent a few more minutes discussing their plans for the coming day, before deciding it was time to go to sleep. They both knew that tomorrow was likely to be an eventful day for Krivax.

It was still funny to see how confused Masruk got about the day-night cycle of the world, and how most creatures slept after the sun went down.

Tomorrow he would need to have another conversation with Wumni and the Chieftain so he could attempt to negotiate for him to be introduced to the Moa'ki clan. Krivax had intended to wait a little longer for him to earn some more trust, but Vizier Hadix had made it explicitly clear that waiting long without showing results was not an option.

However, he was not too worried. Krivax did not believe Wumni would be particularly opposed to arranging a meeting as long as he did not cause any trouble for her people.

Just as Krivax started to skitter over to his nest of pillows and webs after having decided that tomorrow's problem could wait until the morning, he realized something important.

Vizier Hadix had stolen all of their shellfish!

---

Hadix shrugged off the discomfort inherent to long-distance teleportation with practiced ease as he reappeared in his laboratory.

Placing the basket full of delicious aquatic arthropods somewhere safe, Hadix moved quickly to clean up his alchemical experiments. He had believed that he would have enough time to finish brewing a few experimental elixirs after his meeting with the Initiate, but he now had more important things to do. Unfortunately, these elixirs were not stable enough for him to leave them unattended for long, so all of the expensive reagents that had gone into them would be wasted.

How unfortunate.

Still, compared to even the slight possibility that the rest of the old world had not been completely destroyed in the Great Sundering, even the most expensive of elixirs were a trifling matter.

Once Hadix ensured that his laboratory would not explode in a violent magical reaction while he was away, he started making his way to his personal chambers as quickly as he reasonably could without drawing unwanted attention. After all, a Vizier sprinting down the ziggurat's hallways would raise more than a few questions.

Hadix paid no mind to the startled Initiates who scrambled out of his way. They were unimportant.

Once he was within the nondescript chamber in one of the ziggurat's many rooms, Hadix shut the door behind him and cast his most powerful anti-scrying wards over the room. Some might consider his actions to be overly paranoid given the measures he had already taken to protect against spying, but Hadix felt it appropriate given the circumstances.

After he finished casting the wards, Hadix cast a deceptively complicated spell that caused a portion of the wall near a random bookcase containing basic tomes and scrolls to fade away. The illusion itself was fully solid until it was removed—something that very few were capable of—so it was the perfect place to hide things one wanted away from prying eyes.

Hadix ignored all of the valuable magical artifacts hidden in this secret alcove and retrieved an unassuming scrying crystal.

After placing the crystal in the center of the room and casting the spell to activate it, Hadix settled down to wait. He knew that the Vizier he was attempting to contact was frequently busy, so it would take some time before he could establish his own scrying orb in a secret location.

Thankfully, it seemed that the Vizier was able to move somewhere private quicker than Hadix expected because it was only fifteen minutes after he cast the scrying spell that the visage of Seer Ixit appeared in the scrying crystal.

"Hadix? Why are you scrying me? Has something happened?" said Ixit with audible tension.

"Yes, something has happened," said Hadix, straight to the point. "An Initiate that I have been personally instructing has potentially discovered something that would be extremely important to the Order, and I intend to discover the truth of the matter as soon as possible. Your skills as a Seer would aid me greatly in doing so."

"What is it, Hadix?" asked Ixit, his tension only increasing. "Speak clearly."

"Very well."

Hadix quickly told the Seer everything that he knew about the possibility that other portions of the supercontinent of the old world had survived the Sundering. Once he was done speaking, Hadix could see the concern he felt reflected in Ixit's expression as the Seer agreed to use his magic in an attempt to divine the truth.

Using magic in an attempt to see the future or discover secrets was—more often than not—extremely unreliable. Not only were there very few people with the necessary talent, but there were simply too many complications inherent to such magic. The future itself was uncertain and trying to discern the more likely possibilities from the infinite timeways was a skill that required a lifetime to hone. It did not help that even if a Seer could accurately divine the future, the information they received was not always useful or only expressed in a cryptic manner.

Every Seer in Azjol-Nerub had received the same visions of a future in which a tide of death swept over their kingdom, but what were they supposed to do with that information?

Was that tide of death the result of a plague? Was it the result of a civil war? The reawakening of the vrykul?

Preparations had been made for a number of possibilities, but without knowing specifically what they were preparing for there was very little that they could do.

Fortunately, Hadix hopes that Ixit would be able to give him more useful information. Not only was Ixit the greatest Seer of his generation, but the information he was looking for was the kind of information Seers excelled at finding.

If the claims made by the tuskarr shaman were true, then the future had likely changed significantly the moment Initiate Krivax had brought the matter to Hadix's attention. If Azjol-Nerub were to discover the existence of lands beyond the sea, then the future consequences of that should be large enough for Ixit to uncover.

Especially since the Seer knew exactly what to look for.

Hadix waited patiently as Ixit attempted to divine knowledge from the indeterminate future. From an outside perspective, watching the Seer quietly mutter to himself for several minutes was rather uneventful.

When the Seer finished his divination and turned his attention back to Hadix, his expression was solemn.

"I foresee a period of great political upheaval and an era of change in our kingdom's future," said Ixit.

Hadix and Ixit both remained silent for several moments as they allowed the implications of that to sink in.

"How could we have possibly missed this?" asked Hadix in disbelief.

"You know how insular and stagnant the leadership in the capital is," Ixit said wearily. "The village of tuskarr who have supposedly met with people from across the sea is in Dragonblight. It's not surprising that this would escape their notice."

"I know better than anyone how useless those self-important fools are," Hadix said derisively. "I'm not asking how they missed this. I'm asking how we did."

Ixit was silent for several moments before he responded. "The Order's observation of the surface races has only ever been conducted with the intent of searching for the Old Ones' influence. If we didn't find anything, then I suspect we simply moved on without looking any deeper."

"Well, that was obviously a mistake," Hadix said bluntly.

"There is still some chance it's not true," said Ixit, sounding as if even he did not believe his own words.

"I doubt it."

While Seers were not always reliable, this was already enough to convince Hadix of the shaman's claims, even if he recognized it would not be enough to convince the kingdom's leadership. They would no doubt care little for the words of a primitive shaman from a 'lesser' race, and they would likely also dismiss the findings of the Seer.

Azjol-Nerub took great pride in being the most advanced civilization in the world, but how could they continue to make such claims if they didn't even know what else existed in it? There would be many who would wish to dismiss the existence of lands across the sea and continue to believe that only their land was what was left after the Great Sundering.

However, while Hadix did look down on the more primitive races, he was wise enough to recognize that primitive was not the same as stupid. The tuskarr possessed the most significant maritime tradition of the known surface races; the idea that someone could have fooled them into believing in such a lie was far-fetched.

There was also simply no perceivable motivation for somebody to tell such a story if it was not true.

Hadix and Ixit spent the next hour discussing what they should do with this information. Eventually, they both decided that it would be best for them to acquire stronger evidence before they could bring this to the Order or the kingdom's leadership.

Ixit agreed to send a few flyers to surveil the tuskarr in Dragonblight.

Once they were done, Hadix returned the scrying crystal to his secret alcove and allowed himself to take a moment to come to terms with the implications of what he had learned.

All of his instincts were telling him that the lands across the sea existed.

If they did, then that meant the prisons of the other Old Ones likely still existed as well and were potentially accessible to any mortal who finds them.

If that were to be the case, then that would change… everything.

---

If you want to read ahead or support me, then feel free to check out my patreon

Discord is also available if you just want to chat.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Fizzicks]

As always, thanks to massgamer for beta reading. He's been a big help. Enjoy!

---

Krivax glared at the village of murlocs—situated on the smaller island south of the Isle of Spears—as he stood safely behind Masruk and the band of tuskarr composed of warriors from both Kamagua and the nearby village of Iskaal.

Thankfully, they had been able to successfully ambush the group of patrolling murlocs and hide without attracting attention. However, they did not have much time before the murlocs discovered something was wrong, so they would need to act soon.

The White Shark Tribe's newest leader had recently been leading the murlocs to attack Kamagua's fishermen, and several tuskarr had already been killed. Murlocs had always been one of the deadliest threats that Kamagua and Iskaal faced at sea, but that threat had grown enough recently that the tuskarr had decided to launch an attack on the village that housed the tribe's Chieftain.

While Krivax and Masruk were not necessarily required to participate, Krivax found himself wanting to help despite the danger to himself. The tuskarr had treated him well, and Masruk had even become acquainted with one of the fishermen who had been killed. As far as he could tell, the murlocs had no other intentions other than killing fishermen and stealing their food and equipment.

When Krivax had asked Wumni if diplomacy with the murlocs was possible, the shaman merely looked at him strangely and told him that all the attempts that the tuskarr had made in the past had failed due to the frogmen's constant hostility.

Krivax believed that if diplomacy were possible, then the peaceful tuskarr would have found a way to negotiate an agreement with them a long time ago.

Since peace was not an option, then Krivax might as well help them fight. Besides, Kamagua had agreed easily to arrange an introduction to the Moa'ki clan without asking for anything in return, aside from the continuation of their trading agreement, so Krivax felt like he owed them one.

Krivax could feel his tension increasing as Kagonut and Chieftain Atuk quietly gave instructions to the group of grim-faced tuskarr warriors. Once the tuskarr was sufficiently prepared, Kagonut turned his attention to Krivax and, with a determined expression, gave him a single nod, signaling that it was time to start the assault.

Krivax returned the nod and telepathically directed the two flyers that were by his side to fly over the village.

Once they were there, Krivax instructed them to drop the arcane silk bombs they were carrying, which resulted in an explosion of arcane energy that managed to injure several murlocs and tangling up more in webbing. Krivax had spellwoven much more magic into those bombs than the ones he used when sparring with Masruk.

While the murlocs were disoriented and screaming amongst themselves in their strange language, Chieftain Atuk released a bellowing war cry and led the tuskarr warriors' charge on the village.

While the Chieftain was not Kamagua's most powerful warrior, his leadership greatly increased the morale of the warriors present.

Their speed increased dramatically as Elder Wumni pounded her gnarled staff onto the ground and cast magic that increased the strength of the tuskarr warriors. Once that was done, the elderly woman began to throw bolts of lightning from her hands that instantly killed any murloc that they hit.

Masruk stood back to wait for an opportune moment. He would be able to charge much faster than the tuskarr, so it would be wise for him to wait as support.

The charging tuskarrs smashed into the confused murlocs like an unstoppable wave of violence.

The much heavier tuskarrs pushed their way into the center of the village and began skewering murlocs with their long spears or simply trampling them with their weight. While murlocs were extremely dangerous and agile in the water, they were much less of a threat while on land.

Krivax was casting Frost Bolts in the direction of the murloc spellcasters when he felt the murloc Chieftain exit his hut and step onto the battlefield with a gurgling war cry. The murlocs who had been panicking and were moments away from fleeing into the ocean suddenly attacked the tuskarr with a savage ferocity.

The murloc shamans also cast their own spells to increase the speed and strength of their own warriors, enhancing their own forces with magic while also blasting at the tuskarr with water and earth spells.

Every tuskarr suddenly found themselves defending against two or three murlocs who jumped at them with primitive weapons and razor-sharp teeth. The murloc Chieftain himself was a hulking creature who wielded a well-crafted harpoon that had obviously been stolen from a tuskarr.

Chieftain Atuk and Kagonut immediately focused on trying to kill the murloc Chieftain, and Masruk charged at full speed and spear first into the largest group of murlocs.

From there, Krivax lost himself in the tide of battle as he frantically cast Frost Bolts at any murloc that he could. Several times, murlocs turned their attention to him only to find themselves fixed to the ground by a well-timed Frost Nova and then quickly killed by Orfus, who had been assigned by the Chieftain to protect him.

Krivax distantly noted that the flyer he had sent to distract the murloc Chieftain during his battle had been killed.

Finally, just as he was starting to tire and his Ice Barrier was beginning to strain from absorbing stray hits, the murlocs broke and began wildly running to the ocean. Krivax turned his attention to the murloc Chieftain, only to see his corpse hanging from the end of Kagonut's spear.

Krivax pushed down the bile at the back of his throat and made his way to Masruk. Once he verified that his friend was alright, Krivax moved to assist the tuskarr in tending to their wounded.

Thankfully, nerubian silk made for good battlefield bandages.

A part of him had been expecting the tuskarr to celebrate their victory, but he saw nothing but solemn expressions on the tuskarr as they tore down the murlocs' huts, recovered their stolen items, and collected their dead and wounded.

As Krivax made his way back to Kamagua with the rest of the group, he couldn't bring himself to stop thinking about the corpses of the dead murlocs and tuskarrs. It didn't help that some of those murlocs had been killed by him personally.

The moment Krivax realized where he had been reborn, he started to mentally prepare himself to witness scenes of violence, but watching a murloc bite off pieces of a tuskarr was not something he was ready for.

"Krivax, are you alright?" asked Orfus with a concerned expression on his face. "I am not well versed in your people's body language, but you seem uncomfortable."

Masruk walked to his side, offering his silent support.

"I'm alright, Orfus," said Krivax, attempting to reassure the tuskarr warrior. "I just… was not fully prepared for that."

"Was this your first real battle?" Orfus asked sympathetically.

"Yes, but I'll be fine. I'll just have to get used to things like this."

"I understand," Orfus said kindly. "Some of the younger warriors have trouble adjusting after their first battle as well. You're doing very well for your first time."

"Thank you, Orfus."

"Just remember, while we should always strive for peace, sometimes there are no other options other than to fight," said Orfus. "When those times come, we must push aside our reservations and fight with all of our might to protect what we hold dear. The world would be a better place if more people were as empathetic as you, Krivax, but that is unfortunately not the world we live in."

Krivax took a moment to absorb those words before thanking the tuskarr and turning his attention to his friend.

"How are you feeling, Masruk?"

"I am well," Masruk said evenly. "Warrior Nishalmis made considerable efforts to acclimate me to such violence before I was allowed to go to the surface."

Krivax didn't like the sound of that, but it was to be expected. Even though the Warriors of Azjol'Nerub had not experienced war for millennia, they still made active efforts to be ready for anything and dealt with the occasional outbreak of unfriendly underground creatures.

According to Masruk, the Warriors had even increased their training in recent years, though he did not know the reason.

Soon enough, their group made their way back to the village and the surviving tuskarr warriors reunited with their worried families while the Chieftain informed the families of the deceased about the fate of their loved ones.

Thankfully, natural tuskarr hardiness meant there was nothing among the wounded that was so serious that required Wumni's magical attention at this time.

Krivax knew there was nothing for him to do here, so after telling Masruk where he was going, he decided to follow Wumni as the old woman made her way to her home since she had not spoken at all after the battle was over and he was a little worried about her. Mana exhaustion was not an unknown thing among nerubians after all, and given her advanced age, it might mean that Wumni was very tired out after helping in battle.

As he made his way through the village, Krivax made note of all the changes that had come to Kamagua over the past month.

Many of the villagers were now wearing clothing that was partially composed of Flameweave silk, and some of the buildings had even used silk to reinforce their structures. Krivax could also see many more metal tools than he remembered there being when he first arrived, and nearly every single boat near the docks contained nets and ropes made of nerubian silk.

Most importantly, those nets helped dramatically increase the amount of food that the fishermen could bring in.

Until today, Krivax had watched as the tuskarr steadily grew happier as their standard of living increased due to their ability to trade with the nerubians. The shellfish were well received by the leadership of Kilah'Kuk, and Hadix had assigned most of his Division's idle administrators to handle trade between Kamagua and Kilah'Kuk. There was even some attempt to expand upon the goods that were traded with the surface world in the form of useful herbs and other potential alchemical reagents from local flora and fauna.

The skitterers that had been sent to Krivax were now almost permanently running spatial bags to and from Kamagua, and the Surface World Research Division had more funding than ever before.

It was a shame Krivax's status as a baseline nerubian and his relative inexperience limited the number of flyers and skitterers that he could reliably control, even with the artifact. He would feel much safer if he had a swarm of the creatures protecting him at all times.

There had been an attempt to use flyers to transport goods, but after the first few spatial bags were lost to wandering proto-dragons, Krivax decided it would be best if they stuck with the skitterers.

Only time would tell how far this relationship would be able to grow.

Krivax entered Elder Wumni's home without announcing himself, as he had learned that the shaman was able to sense his approach. Once he saw her, he could see that the Elder had just finished drinking some manner of potion and seemed to be gathering what looked to be items for a ritual.

"It seems like you'll be able to watch one of our funeral ceremonies before you leave," said Wumni after a moment of silence.

"Leave?"

"The spirits have informed me that Green Island will be arriving tomorrow," said Wumni. "You have learned our language and earned our trust. Once Oomailiq has finished his preparations, you will leave for Moa'ki Harbor. Orfus will accompany you to facilitate the introductions."

Krivax recognized Green Island as the name for the giant turtle that facilitated travel between Kamagua and Moa'ki Harbor. He didn't know who Oomailiq was, but he assumed that they were the person who steered the turtle boat. Orfus being sent to accompany him was also no surprise.

After the tuskarr understood how significant establishing trade relations with Kilah'kuk would be to their village, Orfus decided to engrave a spider in his tusks to commemorate their first meeting.

For some reason that Krivax did not understand, that seemed to be enough for the tuskarr Elders to favor sending him to deal with nerubian related affairs.

The day after Hadix had ordered Krivax to make finding evidence of the lands across the sea his priority, he had gone to Wumni and the Chieftain and requested their aid. While Wumni was a bit suspicious and insistent on Krivax learning their language, they both had ultimately agreed to arrange for introductions with the Moa'kii clan so that he could ask them about the foreigners who they traded with.

Unfortunately, neither one of them knew exactly when Green Island would return, since it left not long before Krivax and Masruk showed up. Apparently, it took representatives from the other tuskarr villages home after a visit to Kamagua, so he had been forced to wait in Kamagua until the turtle arrived.

Thankfully, despite his earlier intensity, Vizier Hadix seemed willing to wait and was much more patient than Krivax expected. However, he had not forgotten the Vizier's threat to find the evidence himself without giving any regard to their relations with the tuskarr, so Krivax had been growing more and more anxious with each day that Green Island failed to arrive.

But now, the turtle boat was finally about to arrive, and the time for Krivax to depart from Kamagua was fast approaching. It was a bittersweet feeling.

He would miss giving rides to Karfu and relaxing with the peaceful and kind villagers, but he knew that it was time for him to move on.

"Thank you," Krivax said in gratitude, bowing despite the shaman's distaste for formality. "We appreciate the help you've given us, and both I and Masruk have enjoyed the time we've spent in Kamagua."

"You say that as if you're never going to return," Wumni said with a scoff. "With trade between our people continuing to increase, I doubt this is the last we'll see of one another."

Krivax sincerely hoped that to be true. If it were not for the looming threat of the Lich King, he wouldn't mind continuing to spend time in Kamagua.

One day, I'll come back here, Krivax vowed to himself.

"Come with me," said Wumni as she began to walk out of the house. "You fought side by side with our warriors. You should watch as their spirits are guided to their statues."

Krivax followed the shaman as she slowly walked through the village and made her way to the families of the deceased. He watched as Masruk and the surviving tuskarr warriors helped the families gather some personal effects to place next to the large stone head statues of the deceased. The bodies themselves had already been taken elsewhere so that the families were not forced to see them.

Tuskarr believed that it was not good for families to see the bodies of their loved ones if they were in poor condition. They instead preferred to visit them at their statues and remember them as they were.

The walk to the statues was a short one as they were placed in a nearby quarry so that the villagers could more easily reach them. It also helped that the materials to build new statues were also within reach.

The closer Krivax got to the statues, the stranger things started to feel to his magical senses. The energy that was given off by the statues did not feel like anything Krivax had ever felt before, and it gave him the impression of almost being… alive.

He could even feel one of the statues in particular scrutinize both him and Masruk as they drew closer.

He dearly hoped that the tuskarr ghosts living in the statues had a good impression of him.

Thankfully, whichever spirits were responsible for guarding this place had either already been informed about him and Masruk, or they were able to sense the lack of hostility the living tuskarr had towards them.

Once everyone arrived at the quarry, Chieftain Atuk did not waste any time before starting the funeral proceedings.

The first parts of the funeral were remarkably normal, in that the families were invited to say good things about the departed in front of everyone and then present the sentimental items that would be placed next to their statues.

Krivax was half expecting the objects to be favored weapons—given that all three of the deceased were warriors—but Orfus informed him that their weapons would be left for their descendants. Until recently, the tuskarr did not have enough metal for them to be able to justify losing perfectly good weapons and tools.

Once each of the families was finished presenting their items and telling stories about their loved ones, Elder Wumni stepped forward to oversee the next part of the ceremony.

The bodies of the deceased—who were covered with blankets made of animal hide so that the families would not see them—were brought before the old shaman as she prepared her ritual tools.

Krivax watched with rapt fascination as Wumni began to chant in a strange rhythmic language that he did not recognize. It sounded nothing at all like the tuskarr language, and Krivax felt himself grow curious about its origins. The only part of the chant that Krivax could understand was the frequent calls to Karkut, the tuskarr god of the dead.

He couldn't help but feel distinctly uncomfortable as translucent figures began to rise from the corpses of the deceased and floated into their respective statues.

Krivax found himself wondering what, if anything, separated this from necromancy.

Once the ritual was complete and the spirits were safely transported to their statues, it felt to Krivax as if the entire quarry was gleefully welcoming the newly arrived tuskarr.

As the families went to speak with the statues of their loved ones and Krivax and Masruk followed everyone else back to the village, Krivax felt conflicted. Although attending a funeral was a morbid end to his stay in Kamagua, he was grateful that he had been allowed to attend.

Not only had the unusual ritual been strangely beautiful in its own way, but it had shown him that despite his metaknowledge, he truly knew little about this world and its magic. Krivax wished he was able to stay in Kamagua longer and learn more about their magic and statues.

I really hope that I'm able to keep my vow to return here one day.

---

If you want to read ahead or support me, then feel free to check out my patreon

Discord is also available if you just want to chat.

Thanks for reading!

PS: I softened some of language on attunement in chapter 2 to change it from impossible to use other kinds of magic to significantly difficult. Doesn't change anything for the story so far, but offers some options later. There was some discussion on the topic in the thread on spacebattles.

 

[Fizzicks]

Thanks to massgamer for beta reading. He will be posting an Omake after this chapter.

---

Krivax had gravely underestimated how boring a trip out to sea would be, especially one that lasted several weeks.

When Green Island first arrived in Kamagua, he had been filled with a sense of awe by the turtle's massive size and the wisdom held in its eyes. His farewells to the villagers had been met with expressions of gratitude, well wishes, and tearful goodbyes in the case of Karfu. While Krivax had felt sentimental about his departure from Kamagua, he had also felt excited and optimistic about beginning the next portion of his journey.

Now, after a little over two weeks of having nothing to do besides continuing his studies in spatial magics, his excitement had completely dissipated. Krivax was confident now that he was ready to attempt short-range teleportation, or "blinking" as it was called, but the back of a giant turtle in the middle of an arctic sea was not the appropriate place to test such magic.

Krivax idly noted Orfus glancing at him worriedly as he released a forlorn sigh.

At least we should be arriving at Moa'ki Harbor today, according to Oomailiq.

During the trip, Krivax had exhausted every question he could think of to ask Orfus about what they should expect when they arrived in Moa'ki Harbor. Orfus admitted that the Moa'ki would likely be similarly… startled by the appearance of the nerubians, just as he had been. His plan to avoid any unnecessary violence would be for Krivax and Masruk to simply hide away in the cabin while he explained things to them.

Orfus felt like this was absolutely necessary, because the tuskarr of Dragonblight were notably more militaristic than their counterparts in the Howling Fjord.

They were still a friendly people who were prone to seeking a peaceful resolution to their problems, but the increased risk of attacks from wolvar, yeti, and prides of magnataur had certainly affected their culture. There was a real risk that the tuskarr would attack the two nerubians if they were not warned about them beforehand.

"Krivax, is everything all right?" asked Orfus, visibly concerned.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm just not used to such long trips," said Krivax. "Do you know how much longer we have until we arrive?"

"Well, according to Oomailiq, we could soon see Moa'ki Harbor appearing over the horizon at any moment," said Orfus reassuringly. "You should enjoy the trip while you can, Krivax! Being surrounded by the ocean is an amazing experience!"

"I'm afraid I don't quite share your enthusiasm," Krivax said wryly as he glanced at the water surrounding the turtle boat. "My people are not as well suited for the water as your own."

Attempting to swim with a nerubian body was not an experience that Krivax particularly enjoyed. Masruk seemed to enjoy swimming, but Krivax suspected his friend saw it as a challenge to overcome.

Krivax tried to pass the time with Orfus by making small talk, but unfortunately, they had already exhausted all topics of conversation that they could think of over the trip.

Krivax was considering whether or not he should follow Masruk's example and weave a web that he could fall asleep on with the pair of flyers that he had brought, when his silent prayers were seemingly heard.

"We're nearly there! The Broken Pillars peek over the horizon!" shouted Oomailiq from his position at the top of the deck.

Krivax eagerly skittered to the front of the deck and directed his gaze to the direction Oomailiq was pointing.

Sure enough, he could see the enormous shattered pillars of the Path of the Titans off in the distance. Krivax woke up Masruk, who was not as excited about looking at giant broken pillars as he was.

As Green Island grew closer and closer to the ancient structures, Krivax felt a sense of awe as their true size became apparent.

I really wish I could take a picture of this. I wonder if the gnomes have invented anything like cameras yet.

Once they passed the Path of the Titans, it was only a short while before they could see the kites flying over Moa'ki Harbor in the distance.

"Alright you two, I think it's time for you to go below deck," said Orfus. "I'll yell for you to come out after I'm done warning the Moa'ki and it's safe for you two to show yourselves.."

Krivax and Masruk both nodded their agreement and made their way below deck with the two flyers, where they were keeping the trading supplies. Kamagua and Iskaal had both purchased large amounts of goods from Kilah'Kuk that they intended to resell to the tuskarr of Dragonblight at a markup.

The nerubians were unable to trade directly with Moa'ki Harbor or the nearby village of Indu'le because the closest nerubian city was Azjol-Nerub's capital city. Vizier Hadix had made some perfunctory attempts to convince the Circle of Viziers in the capital to allow for trade to take place from their city, but Krivax could tell that his heart was not in it. The capital city was the center of isolationist sentiment in the kingdom and rarely allowed anyone to use their gate to the surface for any reason.

Besides, as far as Vizier Hadix was concerned, if a trade route was established between the capital and Dragonblight's tuskarr, then his Division wouldn't be the ones profiting from it. Krivax was not too concerned one way or another; he understood that sapient greed would eventually push Azjol-Nerub to open itself up once the benefits of doing so grew too large to ignore.

If he was actually able to successfully establish a trading relationship with civilizations that could offer more than luxury food goods, then Azjol-Nerub's time as a completely isolated kingdom was destined to become history.

Krivax and Masruk waited patiently below deck as Green Island pulled into port; soon he was able to hear the voices of unfamiliar tuskarr men, so he assumed that the guards had arrived.

The conversation between Orfus and the Moa'ki clan's guards went on long enough for Krivax to begin growing nervous, but he eventually heard Orfus yelling for the two of them to come out onto the deck.

Krivax tentatively made his way up onto the deck, followed by Masruk, and was immediately met with the shocked yells of frightened tuskarr warriors.

As the leader of the tuskarr attempted to calm down his men, Krivax took a moment to look over the warriors. They seemed similar enough to warriors of Kamagua, given that they all wielded spears and were covered in various pieces of leather armor, but there were some differences as well.

The litany of scars that covered each of their bodies made it easy to tell that these warriors saw more frequent combat than the warriors of Kamagua. Many of those scars were likely made by the wolvar given that they seem to have been made by claws and fangs.

"Greetings, warriors of Moa'ki Harbor!" Krivax said as soon as the tuskarr managed to calm talk enough for them to hear him. "I am Krivax, and my companion is Masruk. We have come to your village with peaceful intentions toward your people and hope for the same. We present this fresh catch to you as a gift and proof of our character."

Krivax finished up his speech by reaching into his spatial bag and pulling out an Emperor Salmon within a silk net to hold out to the group of tuskarr. Since it worked the first time he figured it only made sense to catch something the day they were expected to arrive to give to this new group.

The tuskarr looked between each other, likely dumbfounded that they were currently being addressed by a giant spider person.

After a few awkward moments, one of the tuskarr warriors stepped forward to address him. Krivax assumed that they were the leader of the group.

"Welcome to Moa'ki Harbor, outsiders. I am Shakukka," said the tuskarr warrior with an accent that Krivax found strange. "I confess, I had not quite believed the words of the warrior from Kamagua, but if you offer no threat to the people of this village, then you are both welcome here and your gift of the sea's bounty is gladly accepted," he said as he took the net bag from Krivax's hands.

"Thank you, Shakukka," said Krivax. "I am glad to see that the Kalu'ak of the Moa'ki clan are as kind and welcoming as those in Kamagua and Iskaal. I greatly enjoyed the time I spent in Kamagua and look forward to being able to see your village as well. I have heard that it is quite beautiful."

Krivax did not hear anything of the kind, but his flattering words had the intended effect of causing the tuskarr warriors to release most of their tension and puff up in pride.

"You heard correctly, outsider," said Shakukka. "Come with me. I shall escort you all to the Chieftain so that you can make your introductions."

"Before we go, there is one other matter," said Orfus, interrupting the warriors as they were about to escort them to the village. "Kamagua has sent many more items than usual that they wish to use to trade with the Moa'ki clan and Indu'le village. I would request that some of your warriors aid us in removing them from Green Island."

"Of course," Shakukka said indulgently. "How many warriors do you need? One? Two?"

"Err… I think it would be best if I showed you so that you could make your own judgment," said Orfus after a moment of hesitation.

Shakukka raised a bushy eyebrow but said nothing as he accompanied Orfus onto the turtle boat, hesitating only slightly as he passed the two nerubians, and followed him below deck.

The tuskarr warrior bellowed in surprise when he saw stacks upon stacks of silk and boxes filled with ores.

"What is all this?!"

"These are items that Kamagua acquired through trading with the nerubians," said Orfus, only a little smugly. "The rolls of silk possess properties that make them perfect for weaving sturdy nets, ropes, and even clothes to keep you warm during the winter. The nerubians are also able to produce large amounts of metal ore. Kamagua is able to acquire more than enough of these for its needs, so our Elders decided to send a portion to Moa'ki Harbor for trade."

The next time Shakukka turned his gaze to Krivax and Masruk, his expression was one that was filled with greed rather than apprehension.

"I see," said Shakukka, obviously struggling to remain calm. "I will have all of my men help in bringing these items to the village."

Krivax and Masruk spent the next few minutes helping the tuskarr unload all of the trading goods from Green Island. While they were doing this, Shakukka said some quiet words to one of the younger tuskarr warriors which sent the boy running back to the village.

Krivax assumed he would be informing the village leadership about what was happening so that they would have time to prepare for their arrival.

Once they were done, each of the warriors carried a box of valuable trading goods as Shakukka led them into the village from their wooden docks. Krivax kept the two flyers close to him in order to avoid frightening any of the villagers. He had left behind the skitterers so that they could save space on Green Island and so that they could continue carrying trading goods. Hadix indicated he would be willing to send more if they were needed, but Krivax felt like the flyers were enough for now.

The shocked faces of the villagers as they gawked at the two nerubians made Krivax feel a small sense of nostalgia for the first moment he walked into Kamagua. He couldn't help but send a friendly wave to a young tuskarr calf who was staring at him with her mouth open.

Krivax chuckled as the young tuskarr girl jerked in surprise and hid shyly behind who he assumed to be her mother.

While Moa'ki Harbor seemed to be larger than Kamagua, the village seemed to be less prosperous than Kamagua was, even before they began to trade with Kilah'kuk. This did not particularly surprise Krivax given that the climate of Dragonblight was much harsher than that of the Howling Fjord.

There was noticeable damage on more than a few of the buildings, likely from past attacks, that has been repaired over and over again. Krivax even could see some tuskarr working to fix a hole in the outer walls with wood and whalebone. The whole place had a more fortified look to it, which made sense given that unlike the Isle of Spears threats from the land could—and apparently did—happen regularly.

Their group reached the Chieftain's home fairly quickly since the building was very close to the harbor.

Once they were there, Shakukka instructed the nerubians and Orfus to wait outside while he spoke with the Chieftain. After a few moments, the tuskarr warrior reappeared and escorted Krivax into the building.

The first thing that Krivax noted when they entered the building was that the tuskarr Chieftain was the largest tuskarr that he had ever seen. The man was huge, well-muscled, possessed a large magnificent mustache, and had the tuskarr symbol for 'Chieftain' proudly carved into his enormous tusks.

The second thing that he noted was that the shamans of the Moa'ki clan seemed to wield spears rather than staves like the shamans of Kamagua and Iskaal. Krivax assumed that there was a greater emphasis on these shamans being able to fight than there was on the Isle of Spears.

Krivax felt like he would have a difficult time telling the difference between a shaman and a warrior in this village if he had not learned how to interpret the symbols tuskarr carved into their tusks.

Well, that and the magic he could feel radiating from their bodies.

Once everyone finished entering the building, the massive tuskarr began to speak in a deep voice.

"Greetings, outsiders. I am Chieftain Ko'nani. These are Elders Si'uigo, Duuqni, and To'a. Please introduce yourselves."

"Well met, Chieftain Ko'nani," said Orfus. "I am Orfus, warrior of Kamagua. These are Krivax and Masruk, two nerubians who have proven themselves to be friends of Kamagua and Iskaal. They have expressed an interest in traveling to Moa'ki Harbor, and I joined them with the intention of both facilitating introductions and arranging for trade between our villages."

"Nerubians?" questioned Ko'nani. The Chieftain turned his gaze to the Elders, but they all shook their heads. "I have never heard of your people, and it seems my Elders have not either. Tell me about your people, nerubians."

"Of course, Chieftain," said Krivax. He spent the next hour giving the Chieftain and the Elders an abridged introduction to Azjol-Nerub and its society, much like the one he had given Chieftain Atuk and Elder Wumni.

It took quite a while for him to finish because the Chieftain and his Elders interrupted periodically to ask pointed questions and Orfus also interrupted to tell them about all of the benefits the Isle of Spears had received from trading with the nerubians.

Krivax suspected that the large amounts of goods that had been brought to the village had done much more to convince the Chieftain of the benefits of cooperation. When he was done speaking, Ko'nani seemed to be much more enthusiastic about their presence than Atuk had been.

"If you are able to help my people as much as Orfus claims, then you will always be welcome here, nerubians," said Chieftain Ko'nani. "Would your people be interested in trading for shellfish from us as well as Kamagua?"

"Yes, Chieftain," said Krivax. Azjol-Nerub was massive in comparison to the tuskarr villages and would be more than capable of taking any amount of shellfish that the tuskarr would be able to produce. "Unfortunately, this trade would need to take place using Kamagua and Iskaal as an intermediary."

"Oh? Why is that?" asked Ko'nani, visibly displeased.

Krivax explained to the Chieftain that Kilah'kuk was too far from his village for trade to be easy and that he would not be able to get permission to travel to the surface from the city nearest to his village. The Chieftain did not like it but seemed to accept it once everything was fully explained to him.

"At least we still have something to trade even if we have to go through Kamagua and Iskaal," said Elder To'a. "This Azjol-Nerub seems to only be interested in shellfish and herbs. I doubt Indu'le has anything you nerubians would be interested in."

"I wouldn't be so sure," said Elder Si'uigo, turning a shrewd gaze to Krivax's spatial pouch.

At her words, all of the Elders turned their attention to the spatial pouch, or more accurately, to the magic it was emanating.

"This magic feels similar to the magic of the Lothalor Woodlands," said Elder Duuqni.

"The Lothalor Woodlands?" asked Krivax. It had been a long time since he had played World of Warcraft, and he wasn't sure what the Elders were talking about.

"Indu'le Village is built along a lake that is the end point of a long river of magic similar to the magic coming from your bag," explained Elder Si'uigo. "This river of magic has altered the very life of the nearby woods. I suspect that the trees and animals of these woods could be useful to your people."

She's talking about a ley line! If there is truly a ley line running under the 'Lothalor Woodlands,' then I'm sure there are plenty of things in there that the Circle of Viziers would be interested in.

Although shellfish were spreading quickly in Kilah'kuk—and were starting to disseminate into the rest of Azjol-Nerub—interest in the surface had still only moderately increased within the Circle of Viziers. This was because many of the Viziers looked down on shellfish as a novelty and a luxury good that did little to tangibly benefit the kingdom, according to Vizier Hadix.

If Indu'le were able to provide large amounts of magical regents, then interest in the surface would increase significantly within the Circle of Viziers, and hopefully the rest of the kingdom.

"That sounds like something my people would be extremely interested in," said Krivax, barely holding back his excitement.

"I'm glad to hear that," said Chieftain Ko'nani. "But you can negotiate an agreement with Indu'le later. For now, I believe it best if we come to an agreement over the goods that were brought today, so that they can start helping my people. The wolvar have grown aggressive recently… well, more so than usual, and I want those ores delivered to our blacksmiths as quickly as possible."

"Before we start the negotiations, there is something I need to ask you, Chieftain Ko'nani," said Krivax. "I was told by Elder Wumni of Kamagua that your people sometimes trade with people from lands from across the sea. Is that true?"

"Yes, it is," said Chieftain Ko'nani, growling slightly at the change in subject. "Why do you ask?"

"Just a topic I wish to speak about in more detail with you… after the trade talks of course," Krivax said quickly. "I understand your urgency."

"Very well, we will speak more on the topic later then," the Chieftain said. "Now as to the goods in question…"

Krivax nodded his agreement and settled in for another long trade negotiation. Thankfully, Orfus would be the primary negotiator this time, as the goods technically belonged to Kamagua and Iskaal now.

As the negotiations dragged on, Krivax privately hoped that the Surface World Research Division would soon transition to using currency for all of their trading needs. Things would be much easier if they didn't need to figure out how many lobsters a piece of iron ore the size of an average tuskarr fist was worth.

Barter may be the oldest form of trading, but it could get annoying at times and was terribly inefficient.

---

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[Massgamer]

Foreigners​

"I believe that should cover everything," Orfus of Kamagua said, sealing the deal with the ceremonial knot of trade, using a mix of knots from Moa'ki, Kamagua and Iskaal.

While it wasn't the fastest deal ever tied off, Chieftain Ko'nani in the end was glad it was done within only a few hours and a mutually beneficial agreement was made. Moa'ki Harbor would give the villages from the Isle of Spears their surplus of various stored food, especially shellfish to trade with the nerubians, as well as assurances of more of the same during lean times for the next year along with some of their stock of oil and skins. In the meantime they got the ore and silk that was brought here to use as they saw fit, something that was quick to be done with a nod towards a nearby warrior who then left to let the rest of the village know just that.

The ore would be sent straight to the blacksmiths to make into tools, weapons, and whatever else the village needed, while the silk would be sent to the womanfolk to weave into various useful shapes. The latter especially would be interesting since apparently the silk could be used for more than just making clothes, but also nets, ropes, and even insulating and reinforcing structures if done right, which might speed up repairs of their outer wall before the next attack.

These nerubians certainly knew what their customers needed at least.

"Then the trade is made complete," he finished with a nod, followed by the nodding heads of the various gathered Elders.

"Indeed, a great agreement all around," Orfus nodded before looking back to his companions. "Now I believe these two had further questions."

"Indeed, they were asking about those outsiders who come and trade with us?" Chieftain Ko'nani asked, recalling the spiderfolk's question.

"Yes, for you see for the longest time my people were under the assumption that simply nothing existed beyond our shores, so the news that something does has caught our attention," the one known as Krivax was quick to speak up, having looked quite bored but also full of energy during the whole period of trade talks, keeping himself quiet the whole time beyond some questions sent his way on the uses of the silk goods in question.

"Oh? Well, I suppose to be fair our people did for a long time too," Chieftain Ko'nani. "We only really learned about it as well several generations ago."

"I bit more than that, but yes, it was a bit of a surprise for us as well," Elder Duuqni spoke up. "Apparently the local human communities throughout Dragonblight, and I hear also Grizzly Hills, descend from those from the east who shipwrecked themselves or even willingly came to live here."

"The vrykuls' stunted offspring? They came from the east?" the other quieter nerubian who had the feel of a warrior about him, Masruk, finally spoke up and asked with curiosity.

"We… do not know to what you refer," Elder To'a admitted, confusion on the faces of all the kalu'akpresent, even Orfus.

"Well you see, our records indicate that thousands upon thousands of years ago, before the Great Sundering even, that a local race of half-giants, the vrykul, who mainly make their home in the Howling Fjord region and have been sleeping in their keeps ever since, were suffering from a… 'sickness' that caused them to give birth to children who were much weaker and smaller than them, what would later be called humans. Their king, disgusted at their weakness, at the time ordered them all killed, but despite this it seems they have survived to the present day. If what you say is true… then our assumption of their continued presence in this land is not due to avoiding the vrykul purge here, but apparently hiding out someplace much further away before the great breaking and then growing in this new land after that in safety before returning to their homeland at some point. That is my initial hypothesis at least." Krivax finished with a hum.

There was silence all throughout the Chieftain's house at those words as everyone spent several minutes processing what was just said.

A race of sleeping half-giants? There were only stories of true giants, and the legends of them giving birth to the infamous magnataur. These half-giants willingly slaying their own children just for being 'weak' in their eyes? Monstrous to the extreme and something no kalu'ak would do to their own children, even in the harshest of winters. Humans being small giants? Well… that one was less hard to believe since, despite on average being shorter than the average kalu'ak, Chieftain Ko'nani had personally seen a few examples of human strength and bravery in the face of what should be much deadlier beings.

"Returning to the main question, yes, the humans claim to come from the far east and kingdoms there," Elder Si'uigo broke them all out of their musings. "We occasionally see traders from them during the warm seasons who wish to trade in furs, oils, whale bone, and other things with us when they travel here in their 'sailing' ships. They are our regular source of metal tools and weapons… before you of course."

"Are they strong despite their size?" Masruk asked, seemingly intently curious.

"They are no slouches to combat, those who train for it at least," Chieftain Ko'nani. "And if you live in the Dragonblight, then you need to know how to defend yourself."

"They must have retained their parents' martial prowess then, good to know," Masruk nodded.

"Did they say what their land is called and what it is like?" Krivax asked.

"A land of warmth that they call the 'Eastern Kingdoms' apparently," Elder To'a answered.

"Most interesting," Krivax hummed further.

"Of course, we don't see them as much as the little green devils," Elder Si'uigo spoke up, causing most present to sigh and palm their faces, earning the attention of the nerubians.

"Green devils?" Krivax asked.

"Well, that is what we refer to them when they aren't around at least," Elder Duuqni admitted. "They call themselves goblins and also hail from across the sea. Short, green, point ears and noses, and more greed in their whole bodies than common sense. They aren't the worst beings to talk to… but they can certainly grate on the nerves."

"Indeed," Chieftain Ko'nani agreed. "I've dealt with them each time they come to Moa'ki Harbor and even if their visits are infrequent, each time they arrive they can be very… 'grating'. They are very fond of making trade deals and the like, but rather uncaring of anything beyond that. I hear the clans in the Tundra deal with it more often and worse too due to being a central gathering point for our people."

"They all have a death-wish," Elder To'a grumbled. "On one of their expeditions, they ventured out into the Dragonblight and attempted to harvest the corpses of the great wyrms! In another, they tried to brutally harvest the natural resources of an area before they were driven away; and their creations are always blowing up more often than not!"

"They can use said 'machines' to break through the ice during the colder months… but it just as often breaks down and becomes trapped in it as well," Elder Si'uigo explained.

"The goblins do not come here very often due to their difficulties adjusting to the climate, but when they do, I would say on average more die here than return home every time they arrive," Chieftain Ko'nani said grimly. "Not that they seem to care much, with those few who manage to survive going home with smiles on their faces at the 'great profit' being made."

"I would not recommend dealing with them if you don't want to be driven to your wits' end, but I'm sure they would pay much more than we ever could for your goods though," Elder Duuqni admitted reluctantly.

"We will keep that in mind…" Krivax muttered to themselves.

"Do they fight well at least?" Masruk asked hopefully.

"The few times I've seen it they mostly relied on their machines to fight for them. As prone to blow them up as their enemies," Chieftain Ko'nani said. "That's why we don't trade for any of their… complex creations."

"Oh…" Masruk actually sounded disappointed.

"We do have a few toys and gadgets from the gnomes though," Elder Si'uigo spoke up. "Their devices are more reliable and much less prone to explode randomly."

"Gnomes?" Krivax perked up.

"Oh yes, they are much more new to our lands, having only started coming here occasionally in the last few decades. They were part of a group with another race known as the dwarfs. Gnomes look like child-sized humans while the dwarfs are a little taller but also more stout and hairy," Elder Duuqni explained. "Unlike the human or goblin traders, they don't come here to trade at all, but rather explore and research apparently. Said they are a part of a group known as the 'Explorers' League' and want to study ancient ruins. They are very interested in the great pillars and ancient road for example."

"Are they still here?" Krivax asked in some excitement.

"No, they've only been coming by once a year, traveling on the same ships the traders do and doing short scouting trips into Dragonblight before leaving with them again. They say they are gathering information for a proper expedition later. They should arrive again when the ice is still at its thinnest and leave before the cold traps them," Elder To'a explained.

"We can introduce you to them when they return if you like, if their regular schedule holds they should arrive with some human traders within a month or so, and they are much friendlier than the humans and goblins that come by. We even traded for small things like the mentioned toys and gadgets, along with a few other things like tools, food, and maps," Chieftain Ko'nani stated.

"Do you still have them?! The maps?!" Krivax asked in a great deal of excitement, practically looking like he was about to jump up from his seat.

The kalu'ak were taken back by his energy, but Chieftain Ko'nani was quick to see another opportunity.

"Of course, and we'd be happy to trade them to you for a price. Maybe a few of the other items as well," he said with a smirk as he got up to collect the items in question.

A few minutes later he had a large scroll in hand and unrolled it before the nerubians, showing the Eastern Kingdoms.

"Amazing…" Krivax whispered in awe as he took the map in hand while his companion was less impressed.

"We have better maps," Masruk said simply.

"Do you know anything about these Eastern Kingdoms?" Krivax asked as he examined the map. "Their history? Their people?... Maybe any conflicts they are in the middle of? Don't want to get mixed up in anything nasty after all."

"Not much, but then again we didn't pry and they didn't share beyond what was needed to do business with each other," the Chieftain admitted. "Though the gnomes and dwarfs are friendly if nothing else."

"How do these 'dwarves' and 'gnomes' fight though?"

"Can't say much on the gnomes, and while I've never seen them fight, the dwarfs at least were well armed and armored when I saw them," Chieftain Ko'nani mused.

"Good to hear," was Masruk's response.

"The gnomes do make this wonderful device though that the calves love and I admit is very distracting too," the Chieftain admitted as he handed over an item from a small pile of various doodads traded with the gnomes.

"I fail to see how this would be entertaining at—" Masruk started to say, but quickly quieted as he held the device and it started to spin at his touch, causing his multiple eyes to widen and watch it closely as he turned it this way and that. "Oh… this is quite nice."

"Glad you think so… and we'd be willing to part with them for the right amount of trade," the Chieftain said, noticing how he now had them both hooked.

Oh yes, as those little green devils would fondly say, this was going to be a very profitable day.

 

[Fizzicks]

Thanks to massgamer for beta reading. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

---

Krivax glanced worriedly at the Lothalor Woodlands treant that was currently staring at him silently.

The creature was not completely permeated with arcane magic—if it were then it would likely be growing crystals from its bark—but Krivax could still sense the arcane emanating from it constantly. He did not know very much about treants and where they came from, but he doubted that every woodland on Azeroth would be able to produce them. The large amounts of treants were likely a result of the dense magic that permeated the area.

While there were few things in the Lothalor Woodlands that visually marked it as influenced by the ley line beneath it—aside from the faint violet tint of its leaves—the entire area was like a beacon in the night to Krivax's magical senses. He could only begin to imagine how overwhelmed he would be if he ever found himself in the Crystalsong Forest.

Fortunately, there was little reason for him to go to such a place, given that Azjol-Nerub had already tried and failed to harvest anything worthwhile from there. The Cystalsong Forest was just too well guarded by mad spirits and treants, and the Viziers already possessed more easily acquired alternatives to what they could gain from the forest.

The lightly infused bark of the Lothalor Woodlands was much more useful than the crystals that composed the Crystalsong trees. Not only that, but Vizier Hadix had also expressed an interest in the various flowers, fruits, and wildlife that could be found in the Woodlands. While neither Krivax nor Hadix knew for certain exactly how these arcane-inclined flora and fauna could be used, they both knew that the Viziers of the Arcane Research Division would do everything in their power to find out.

It was very rare for a society as insular and stagnant as Azjol-Nerub to be exposed to anything it had not already seen before, so this was a rare opportunity for them.

Krivax forcibly pulled his thoughts back to the present as he bent down to gather a fallen branch while watching for any sign of aggression from the treant as he did so. It was difficult to predict what he could harvest from the Lothalor Woodlands without being attacked by its guardians, but they usually gave some sign of warning before becoming aggressive, thankfully.

Krivax picked up the branch without issue and carefully stored it inside his spatial bag. Once that was done, he decided to begin heading back to Indu'le Village before his good luck ran out.

Krivax directed his flyers to follow him and watch for any hostile creatures as he began making his way back to the village.

After they had come to an agreement with the village's leadership, Krivax and Masruk spent most of their time in Indu'le while they waited for the merchant ship from the Eastern Kingdoms to arrive.

According to Chieftain Ko'nani and his Elders, the ship should be arriving soon if they kept to their regular schedule. The tuskarr of Dragonblight had seemingly encountered both goblins and merchant ships from the Eastern Kingdoms that occasionally traveled to Northrend for the purpose of trading and transporting members of the Explorer's League.

The tuskarr had also been willing to trade away a map of the Eastern Kingdoms and a gnomish toy, both of which Krivax had given to Hadix as quickly as possible, much to Masruk's disappointment in the latter case until he was given a spare. After being given further proof of the existence of the lands across the ocean, the Vizier had given him orders to contact him when the foreigners arrived and began to contact him less frequently. Krivax was curious about what Hadix was doing with the evidence, but there was no real way for him to know.

However, he understood that the imminent discovery of the Eastern Kingdoms would have an immense impact on Azjol-Nerub's leadership, and the politics that the Vizier was involved in must be… complicated.

In comparison, when the arcane regents that Indu'le Village had harvested from the Lothalor Woodlands were finally delivered to Kilah'kuk, he expected it to be lost in the noise.

Krivax's thoughts were interrupted when he stepped out of the treeline and caught sight of Indu'le Village and approached the gate that separated the Woodlands from the village.

Built around the same lake from which it derived its name, Indu'le Village was the largest settlement of tuskarr that Krivax had seen so far. If not in population, then mostly in size, as the local tuskarr took full advantage of the lake's nature as a font of magic and life to put up fish farms and buildings nearly all along its edges.

"Good evening, Utoq!" said Krivax, cheerfully greeting the tuskarr responsible for guarding the gate. "The treants were starting to look at me funny, so I figured I'd finish early for the day."

"Welcome back, Krivax," said Utoq. The tuskarr quickly moved to open the gate. "I still don't understand why you're the one that's going out into the Woodlands instead of our people. We have a longer and more understanding relationship with the local tree spirits, after all."

It was an unfortunate reality that the tuskarr of Indu'le Village did not have as much experience sensing arcane magic as Krivax did. Although living on a ley line likely did give them an increased aptitude for the arcane and a minor ability to sense the magic, Krivax was still far more proficient in detecting arcane magic than they were.

When he had finished negotiating with their Chieftain, it was decided that Krivax would be the one to go out into the Woodlands and collect samples of items that the Arcane Research Division might want. Once those samples reached Kilah'kuk and were analyzed, only then would the tuskarr venture out into the forest and harvest it themselves.

The Lothalor Woodlands were not without danger, after all, even beyond potentially angering its nature spirits, and all the tuskarr who were capable of defending themselves were busy fighting off wolvar. The village could not afford to send these warriors to collect goods that might not even have any value.

It made sense from a logistical point of view, but it was still a bit troublesome for Krivax. His life would be much easier if Hadix would simply take a day to fill up a bag full of samples and then teleport it to Kilah'kuk, but there was little hope of that happening any time soon. Not only was he incredibly busy, but the Vizier also did not believe in doing 'Initiate's work' as he called it.

Krivax tried to explain this to Utoq.

"I understand that," said Utoq. "It just does not feel right for us to send guests to do such dangerous work, but I guess that's none of my business. You should go see your friend. I heard that he went out with the warriors to kill wolvar today. They should be back by now."

Krivax thanked the guard for the information and quickly started making his way toward Masruk. While he didn't approve of his friend constantly leaving to fight the wolvar in search of battle, he knew that doing so was Masruk's choice. Still, that didn't stop Krivax from worrying about him.

Moving through the village as quickly as he could without being impolite, he soon reached the northeast gateway, where Masruk could be seen speaking with one of the tuskarr warriors.

"Hey, Masruk," said Krivax, greeting his friend as he approached. "I heard from Utoq that you just came back. How did everything go? Were the wolvar a good challenge?"

Krivax did not enjoy violence or combat like his friend did—even if he understood the necessity of it—but he would still make the effort to show an interest in his friend's passions. After all, Masruk had been the only one to show an interest in his passion for the surface world, so it was only fair for him to return the favor, right?

"They did," said Masruk with genuine joy in his voice. "The wolvar are ferocious warriors and despite their lack of intelligence, they possess a cunning that makes them a formidable enemy. I look forward to fighting them again tomorrow."

"Ha! I've never met someone with as much bloodlust as this one," said the large tuskarr warrior that Masruk had been speaking to. "Hold on to that passion, and you'll grow into a truly formidable warrior one day!"

"Thank you, Edwek," said Masruk. "I have learned much from you and your fellow warriors."

"Don't mention it," said Edwek. "You've done a lot to help us fight off the wolvar."

At the mention of his people's enemy, Edwek lost his jovial smile and his expression twisted into something fearsome.

"The damned beasts have been attacking us constantly lately. They always become more aggressive during this time of the year, but that doesn't make it any easier."

"I wish there was more we could do to help," Krivax said sympathetically.

He had gone out with Masruk once to fight the wolvar, and he understood why the tuskarr hated them so much. The primitive wolverine people were extremely aggressive and difficult to handle. They frequently attacked the path between Mao'ki Harbor and Indu'le Village and often killed any tuskarr unlucky enough to be caught out alone.

"You've already done more than most," said Edwek. "I've heard that Chieftain Anogut managed to reach a deal with Chieftain Ko'nani for metal weapons made from the ore that was brought on Green Island. Once our warriors are better equipped, we'll make the wolvar regret every last tuskarr that they've killed."

The warrior's last words were said with a tone of grim promise that made it obvious he meant every word.

After a few more moments of making small talk with the warrior, Edwek said his farewells and went about his business.

"You should have joined us, Krivax," said Masruk once they were alone. "If we are going to continue exploring the surface, then you will need to continue honing your skills in combat."

"I know," said Krivax. "I just prefer to avoid violence when I can. But that doesn't mean I'm not continuing to grow stronger."

Intent on proving his point to his friend, Krivax began casting a spell that he had only practiced in private until now.

In an instant, Krivax disappeared from his location and reappeared a few feet from his previous location.

"Look! I finally learned how to cast Blink!" Krivax said proudly. Learning spatial magic had not been nearly as intuitive an experience as learning frost magic, but Krivax eventually had gotten the hang of it.

Masruk stared at him blankly for several moments before throwing a rock at Krivax's chest.

"Ouch," said Krivax, more in surprise than anything else. The rock had not actually been thrown hard enough to damage his carapace. "What was that for?"

"You need to train your reflexes," Masruk said smugly. "Being able to teleport won't help if you get hit before you can finish casting your spell or after you finish it."

"That's not fair. You just caught me by surprise. I've gotten pretty good at casting that spell."

"Oh?"

This time Krivax was ready for Masruk to throw the rock at him, and he Blinked out of the way.

"Ha! See?"

Krivax hurried to dodge the next rock that Masruk threw; while he had learned how to Blink, casting the spell several times in quick succession was beyond his current abilities.

The next several minutes were spent with Krivax doing his best to dodge and Blink away from the random items that Masruk threw at him in the name of 'training.'

"Excuse me."

Krivax and Masruk's impromptu game was interrupted as a young tuskarr approached the two nerubians and called for their attention.

"Chieftain Anogut has called for the two of you."

Krivax had not spoken to the Chieftain very often since they concluded their negotiations, so he was surprised that the man was calling for the two of them. Chieftain Anogut was an extremely busy man, after all.

After signaling their understanding to the messenger, Krivax and Masruk began making their way to the Chieftain's home.

Once they arrived, Krivax was surprised to see the Chieftain speaking to Orfus, given that the Kamaguan warrior usually spent most of his time in Mao'ki Harbor.

"Good evening, Chieftain Anogutt," Krivax said respectfully. "I was told that you called for us?"

"Ah, you're here! Good!" said the boisterous Chieftain. "I called because Orfus here has some news I thought you would like to hear as quickly as possible."

"I do," said Orfus as he turned his attention to the two nerubians. "The shamans in Moa'ki Harbor told me that the foreigners from across the sea have nearly arrived. I came to tell you as soon as I heard."

Once Krivax finished processing what Orfus had just said, he froze in shock and was only brought back to reality by the worried prodding of Masruk.

He glanced at his friend in thanks before addressing Orfus. "Let's get going. It would be best if we arrived in Moa'ki Harbor as quickly as possible so that we might have some time to prepare."

After offering Chieftain Anogut a short but respectful farewell, their group of three exited Indu'le Village from its southeastern gate and started heading back towards Moa'ki Harbor.

The three of them were interrupted by a small group of wolvar, but fortunately, Krivax's flyers spotted them coming and the resulting fight was short and barely affected their journey.

It took them some time to make the trip, but when they reached there, Krivax could see that the merchant ship had still not arrived yet. As soon as they walked into Moa'ki Harbor, one of the Elders immediately approached their group.

"You arrived quicker than I expected," said Elder Si'uigo. "Come with me to the Chieftain's home. We have made preparations for your introduction to the foreigners."

"Why do we need to go to the Chieftain's home?" asked Krivax, confused.

"Well… it would be best if the foreigners were warned about your appearance before they met you," said Elder Si'uigo after only a moment of hesitation. "Much like our warriors were warned by Orfus when you first arrived on Green Island. I'm sure you have learned by now that your people's form can be unsettling to our people without warning. I do not know for certain how the foreigners will view your appearance, but I suspect their reactions will be similar to our own."

Krivax winced in embarrassment. That was not something that he should have forgotten. The tuskarr had all reacted in shock once seeing them, but Krivax had gotten used to it and the tuskarr adjusted very quickly once they realized that the two nerubians were not hostile.

Still, there was something he wanted to see before Elder Si'uigo escorted them to the Chieftain's home.

"If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to take a look at their ship before I go with you."

Elder Si'uigo looked at him strangely for a moment before shrugging.

"Very well. I suppose if you have never seen one of their wooden ships before then it could be an interesting sight. I'm not much of a fan of their ships myself. Rowboats and kayaks are easier to control and turtles are much more convenient."

Soon enough, their group had made their way to the docks and Krivax was staring at the incoming ship through a borrowed spyglass. Spotting the three-masted sailing ship in great detail, he was suddenly filled with conflicted emotions.

He had already been aware that the merchant ship was scheduled to arrive at any moment, but it felt strange to be confronted with a moment that he had been working for his entire second life.

Today would go down in history as the day that a citizen of Azjol-Nerub contacted a citizen of the Eastern Kingdoms for the first time, and Krivax could not help but feel the weight of that knowledge settle on his shoulders.

After a few moments, Krivax pushed down his tumultuous emotions and nodded to Elder Si'uigo.

As he followed the elderly tuskarr to the Chieftain's home, he couldn't help but look back at the incoming ship and wonder about the people who were onboard.

---

If you want to read ahead or support me, then feel free to check out my patreon

Discord is also available if you just want to chat.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Fizzicks]

Thanks to massgamer for beta reading. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

---

Trixie Tinkwrench huffed in annoyance as she checked the battery on her Poultryizer. It was unfortunate that the battery required sensitive internal components that were highly sensitive to temperature. Already the cold of Northrend had rendered one of her favorite gadgets useless.

There was nothing Trixie loved more than turning her enemies into chickens and watching them run around in panic, but it seemed that she would have to rely on her trusty Shrink Ray until she returned to the Eastern Kingdoms. She had hoped that the new components would stand up to the cold better than they did, but unfortunately, they did not.

With a sigh, Trixie put away the useless gadget and began preparing herself to disembark from the ship. They had almost reached Moa'ki Harbor, and she was one of the few people who spoke the tuskarr language, so she would need to be ready to greet the natives as soon as they arrived.

Trixie moved over to the mirror and quickly tied her pink hair into two pigtails; pink was not her natural hair color, but one of her little brother's gadgets had malfunctioned and changed her hair to the color it was now. She didn't mind the color and reversing it would be too much trouble, so she had just left it the way it was.

Once that was done, Trixie put on her tinker goggles and quickly tested their functions so that she could be sure they wouldn't fail her when she needed them most.

Taking a look in the mirror and deciding that she was ready, Trixie exited her cabin and made her way out onto the deck.

The first thing she saw was Malzie Stonehallow standing at the bow of the ship and looking through a spyglass toward Moa'ki Harbor.

Trixie weaved her way through the Lordaeronian sailors who were rapidly preparing the ship to dock and made her way to the only other member of the Explorer's League on the ship.

"How's everything looking, big man?" Trixie asked the middle-aged dwarf man. "Does it look safe to continue approaching the village?"

"Aye, lass. Everything looks fine," said Malzie as he put away the spyglass. "The tuskarr have a few of their warriors waiting to welcome us at their port, but that's nothing special. Chieftain Ko'nani's there waiting for us as well."

Trixie hummed before flicking a switch on her goggles and turning her gaze to the tuskarr village. Her vision instantly zoomed in on the port as if she were looking through a spyglass.

As Malzie said, there were several tuskarr warriors patiently waiting by the port alongside their massive Chieftain. One of the tuskarr was waving a large green flag signaling that the ship had their permission to dock.

Trixie didn't notice anything different about this from the previous times she had sailed to Moa'ki Harbor, so she switched her goggles back to their normal setting and turned her attention back to Malzie.

"So have you had any luck in convincing the merchants to stick around any longer? The more time I have to scout, the better."

Trixie's role was to survey as much of Northrend's land as possible in preparation for a larger expedition that would take place sometime in the future.

The Bronzebeards were keen to explore the continent for lore about dwarven history and had instructed the Explorer's League to plan an expedition, but such things took time. Logistics and funding for the expedition were currently being planned and argued over in Ironforge's Senate, but the Explorer's League thought it prudent to gather as much information about the continent as possible beforehand to make things easier.

Given how quickly they managed to find evidence of ancient structures, it seemed that there was something worth studying in this frozen hellhole at least.

Unfortunately, without that funding, she and Malzie were forced to travel with merchants who did not share her goals. The Lordaeronian merchants occasionally sailed to Northrend in order to trade relatively cheap metal ores for exotic furs, whale oil, waterproof hides, ivory, and alchemical herbs with the tuskarr and the native humans.

It would likely be a very profitable venture if not for Northrend's extremely hostile environment.

"Nay, not much luck there," said Malzie with a wince. "The humans just want to trade and leave as quickly as possible. Not much appetite for adventure amongst them."

"I guess that's to be expected," said Trixie. "Maybe if we're lucky, you'll find a gold vein. That'll have the continent completely covered in humans and we'd be able to come here whenever we want."

"Ha! You're not wrong, lass, but I doubt we'll get so lucky."

Trixie and Malzie spent the next few minutes making plans so that they could scout as much as possible within the limited amount of time that they had.

Their discussion was interrupted by the loud bellow of the ship's captain.

"Prepare to dock!"

Experienced human sailors got to work as they prepared to tie down the ship as they approached Moa'ki Harbor's port. Trixie did her best to keep out of the way of the Big Folk as they went about their business. She had learned the hard way soon after leaving Gnomeregan that humans did not often look down, especially while they were distracted.

Soon enough, the ship was pulling into a dock and the human sailors were throwing ropes to the tuskarr so that they could tie them around the dock cleats.

The whole process took nearly quite a while to complete, but the ship was eventually docked and the captain was approaching Trixie after leaving the ship's helm.

"Good evening, Explorer Tinkwrench," said Captain Stanton Prescott. "Will you be handling the translation for the negotiations between the walrusmen and the merchants?"

The man was hired by a noble family to captain their trade ship and was competent enough to learn the language of the natives, but Trixie could tell that the man preferred to interact with 'primitives' as little as possible.

Prescott was supposed to be the one responsible for handling the translation, but once he found out that Trixie and Malzie could speak tuskarr, he was more than happy to pass on the duty to them. Trixie was the more diplomatic of the two, so the responsibility was effectively all hers.

"Yes, Captain Prescott," said Trixie, hiding her annoyance with the human. "I will handle the translations."

"Very good," said Prescott, turning away and leaving without another word.

Once the human was gone Malzie muttered a dwarven insult under his breath that had Trixie struggling to hold back laughter.

Once the gangway was lowered, Trixie did not hesitate to leave the ship alongside Malzie and the human merchant who was a young man named Oscar Smythe. The rest of the ship's crew would need to wait for them to finish greeting the tuskarr Chieftain before they could be given shore leave.

"Greetings, Chieftain Ko'nani," Trixie said politely in the tuskarr language as their group approached the Chieftain and his warriors. "I am happy to see you again. Thank you for allowing our ship to dock in your village's port."

"Greetings, Explorer Tinkwrench," said Chieftain Ko'nani, struggling to pronounce her name. "Much has happened since the last time you visited our shores, but I am glad to see you as well."

Much has happened?

Trixie was just about to ask the Chieftain what he meant by that when she was interrupted by the human.

"Ask the walrusman if he has prepared the trading goods for the ores."

Trixie huffed in annoyance but translated the merchant's words, although a tad more diplomatically.

Her curiosity only grew when Chieftain Ko'nani hesitated for a moment before speaking. "I'm afraid we will need to renegotiate our current trade agreement in regards to your ores."

Trixie couldn't help but widen her eyes in surprise. She knew that the tuskarr dearly needed metal ores in order to make weapons that they could use to fight off tribes of wolverine people and those giant four-legged marauders who regularly attacked their villages.

What had changed since the last time that they were here?

Predictably, the merchant puffed up in outrage the moment Trixie finished translating the Chieftain's response.

"Renegotiate?! Why should we have to renegotiate after traveling so far? Ridiculous!"

Trixie barely held back an exasperated sigh. Even if the Chieftain did not speak much Common, he would still be able to understand the human's body language and tone of voice. Nonetheless, she did her best to relay the human's question as diplomatically as possible.

"Our village has made a trade agreement that has opened up another source of metal ore for our people," Chieftain Ko'nani said evenly. Trixie was impressed that she could only see a small amount of smugness in the Chieftain's expression. "Our new trading partners are able to offer us sufficient amounts of ore for our village more cheaply and regularly, so if you like to continue trading with our village, then we will need to renegotiate."

Trixie and Malzie looked at each other with wide eyes.

Who else could possibly supply the tuskarr with large amounts of ore? Goblins?

"Chieftain Ko'nani, if I may ask, who has your village started trading with?" Trixie asked without translating for the human. She wanted to figure out what was going on before the merchant had the chance to say something stupid. "As far as we are aware, there are no other merchants traveling to Northrend from the Eastern Kingdoms."

"That's because they are from Northrend," said the Chieftain. "Our new trading partner is a large kingdom by the name of Azjol-Nerub."

Once Trixie finished processing the Chieftain's words, she could barely hold back a gasp and had to resist the urge to jump up and down in excitement. She could tell that Malzie was similarly enthusiastic.

As far as the Explorer's League knew, the only intelligent life that inhabited Northrend were the tuskarr, a few scattered villages of humans, some kind of bison people who the tuskarr referred to as taunka, and the ice trolls.

There were also the wolverine people, the giant marauders, and villages of murlocs, but those could hardly be considered as 'intelligent life.' There were also the occasional sightings of Naga, but that had yet to be proven.

But if this 'Azjol-Nerub' was a large kingdom, then where did they come from and why had Trixie never heard of them before?

"Just to be clear, Chieftain, are the people of Azjol-Nerub of a race that you had never met before?" asked Trixie, giving voice to the biggest question on both her and Malzie's minds.

"Yes, they are." Chieftain Ko'nani confirmed with a calm that Trixie currently envied. "Their people are called nerubians, and according to them, they live in an underground kingdom that spans most of the continent."

This time Trixie was unable to control herself as she let out an involuntary gasp and her eyes grew wider than they had ever been. She turned to Malzie and sure enough, he was in a similar state to her own.

If what the Chieftain said was true, and there truly was such a large underground kingdom on Northrend that was civilized enough to trade with outsiders, then the implications would be… massive.

Trixie was quiet for long enough that the human's patience wore out and he started making a fuss about being ignored. Once she finished explaining the situation to him, however, he quickly quieted down as he understood the significance of the situation. Trixie could practically see little gold coins dancing in the merchant's eyes as the human thought about the possible trading opportunities this previously unknown kingdom could offer.

For Trixie and Malzie… this was the kind of thing that would get their names written down in the history books.

"Quick! Ask him to tell us what we need to do in order to speak with these 'nerubians.'"

Trixie eagerly relayed the human's question.

"As it happens, the nerubians wish to speak with you as well," said the Chieftain. "Once they learned that our village traded with people from lands across the ocean, they became quite interested in meeting you."

No sequence of words could have made Trixie more nervous than the ones that just came out of the Chieftain's mouth. She had come to Northrend to scout out the lands for a future expedition, not to lead a diplomatic meeting with a powerful kingdom that she had never heard of before!

She wanted to turn the responsibility over to Captain Prescott, but it only took a moment of thought to realize that would be a terrible idea. Not only was the man undiplomatic in the extreme, but it was unlikely that the man would agree anyways. If Prescott were some kind of ambitious noble, then he might take over the meeting so that he might gain as many benefits as possible, but the captain was a retired antisocial navy sailor that barely cared about anything aside from his ship.

She didn't even consider leaving the matter to Oscar. The only thing that the merchant cared about was money.

I'm not trained for this! I never took any diplomacy courses at Gearshaft University! I only took engineering and combat classes! What if I do something wrong and I make them hate us? What if I get us all killed or imprisoned?!

Trixie turned a panicked expression to Malzie

"It'll be alright, lass," Malzie said reassuringly. "I ain't going to lie to you and say that this ain't a big deal, but I'll be there with you every step of the way. You're a clever one and you've got a natural talent for talking to people. I'm sure everything will be alright."

Hearing the older dwarf's words reassured Trixie enough for her to take a deep breath and begin calming herself down.

He's right. I'm Trixie Tinkwrench! I'm a badass who graduated top of my class in combat and I've been an Explorer for nearly a decade! I can handle talking to people.

After giving herself a little pep talk, Trixie turned her attention back to the Chieftain.

I can do this. I can do this.

"If the nerubians would like to meet with us, then we are more than willing, Chieftain," Trixie said with a tone of confidence she didn't truly feel.

"I'm glad to hear that," said Chieftain Ko'nani. Trixie didn't like the sudden glimmer of amusement that she could see in the large tuskarr's eyes. "There is just one thing that you should know before I take you to meet with them. The nerubians have an appearance that I suspect you will find to be… greatly unsettling."

Trixie could feel her growing resolve stutter at the Chieftain's words.

"Oh? How so?" Trixie asked hesitantly.

"The nerubians are a race of giant spiderlike people."

I can't do this. I can't do this.

"I see," said Trixie, mustering all of her courage for her impending meeting with a race of giant spider people who belonged to a kingdom that allegedly spanned more land than any civilization in the Eastern Kingdoms. "Are they… friendly?"

Chieftain Ko'nani hummed in consideration as Malzie translated for the human. In any other situation, she would have been amused by how quickly his face paled.

"They are more friendly and diplomatic than some outsiders I've met," said the Chieftain, glancing unsubtly at Oscar. The human had remained quiet once Trixie started to ask about the nerubians, but it was obvious that the Chieftain had not forgotten his previous outburst.

"I understand, Chieftain," said Trixie. "I would like to meet with these nerubians."

Chieftain Ko'nani simply nodded and started leading them into the village. One of the tuskarr Elders went to tell the sailors that they could leave the ship and then followed after them a moment later.

The walk to the Chieftain's home, where the nerubians were presumably waiting for them, was not long enough. As the Chieftain ushered the three of them inside, Trixie did her best to suppress her fight or flight instinct as she prepared to meet the giant spider people.

It turns out that was probably for the best since she simply froze in terror when she laid eyes on the nerubians. If she hadn't prepared herself, Trixie was certain she would have already fired her Shrink Ray and tried her best to smash them with her wrench.

The two nerubians were nightmarishly large creatures with the lower body of a spider and an upper body that was shaped similarly to a gnome's, if one ignored their terrifying faces. One of the nerubians was wearing a full set of armor that was well designed for their body and the other was wearing a set of robes that would not seem out of place in Dalaran.

Trixie was used to living in a world where most things were bigger than her, but she couldn't help but feel like spiderlike creatures should not be allowed to grow so large… and she had seen actual giant spiders!

Trixie was suddenly the focus of sixteen eyes as the creatures that she wished did not exist turned their attention to her.

"It's so small," said the large armored spider thing. The armored spider held up one of the toys that she had left for the tuskarr children during her last visit. "Greetings tiny creature. Do you have any more of these amusing devices?"

Before she could even hope to formulate an answer, the robed one started speaking with an overenthusiastic voice.

"Hello!" said the robed nightmare in the tuskarr language, opening and closing their giant terrifying mandibles as they spoke. Their accent was strange and their voice was too cheerful in Trixie's opinion. "My name is Krivax, and I'm happy to meet you. What's your name?"

Trixie tried her best to muster a response, but all that left her mouth was a terrified whine.

---

If you want to read ahead or support me, then feel free to check out my patreon

Discord is also available if you just want to chat.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Fizzicks]

Thanks to massgamer for beta reading as always.

I wanted to take a second to explain my thoughts on omakes before moving forward. In the future I'm going to make sure that they are closer to side stories and are not necessary for anyone to read to follow the story. The next one is like that. I haven't had experience with dealing with them before, but this is how I think I'd prefer to handle it.

The previous two will stay in the main threadmarks since they give a few details that effect the main story, but subsequent ones will be placed in Side Story, since that is what they will be and that is closer to what I think people expect when they hear the term 'omake'

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

---

The first thing Krivax did once Elder Si'uigo escorted him and Masruk to the Chieftain's home was to ask the Elders for a private room he could use to contact Vizier Hadix. The shamans were all perplexed by his ability to communicate over such large distances, but he had a feeling that the Elders were growing accustomed to being surprised since they pointed him to a room without much fuss.

The Vizier had ordered him to inform him once the foreigners arrived, so he would do so. Krivax recognized that Hadix was taking this very seriously and was placing a great deal of importance on this matter. The Vizier would not appreciate it if Krivax had the chance to contact him and failed to do so. He asked Masruk if he would like to join him, but his friend was not particularly interested in speaking to the Vizier if he did not have to.

Once he was safely in one of the nearby rooms Krivax reached into his spatial pouch, pulled out the scrying crystal, and set it up in the center of the room. After Krivax cast the appropriate spells, Hadix responded almost immediately.

"Initiate," said Vizier Hadix as his visage appeared in the scrying crystal. "I assume you are contacting me about the wooden ship currently approaching the tuskarr village?"

How does he know that? Krivax wondered dumbfoundedly.

"Yes, Vizier," said Krivax. "The ship has nearly arrived and the tuskarr will bring the people from the Eastern Kingdoms to meet with me. If I may ask, how did you know they were here?"

"I asked an acquaintance to send a flyer to surveil the tuskarr village," Hadix said dryly. "Obviously, I could not leave such an important matter to chance. Just as I will not leave your upcoming meeting to chance, Initiate."

Krivax did not like the sound of that. He also wondered how the Vizier was able to find out what the flyer saw so quickly, but now was not the time to ask such questions.

"Do you intend to meet with the foreigners yourself, Vizier Hadix?" asked Krivax, hoping that wasn't the case. The Vizier was many things, but diplomatic was not one of them.

"No, Initiate, I do not," Hadix said evenly. "I recognize that you have a… talent for communicating with the surface races. It would be foolish of me not to utilize that. Instead, I have something else in mind."

Before Krivax could formulate a response, a bright violet light began to shine next to the scrying crystal. For a moment, he was worried that the Vizier had once again decided to teleport into a tuskarr village without permission, but when the light dissipated, he saw something unexpected.

A violet, see-through figure of the Vizier was standing in the center of the room looking like a ghost or a hologram.

"Only you will be able to see and hear this projection, Initiate," said the illusionary figure of the Vizier. "As long as the projection does not travel too far from the scrying crystal, I will be able to observe and oversee your meeting with the foreigners."

Krivax had no idea that the Vizier was capable of doing something like this, nor was he truly expecting the Vizier to participate in the meeting. The look on his face must have been one of extreme surprise because once the Vizier looked at him, he huffed in amusement.

"I fail to see why you are so astonished, Initiate Krivax," Hadix said sardonically. "Did you really believe I would allow an Initiate who has not lived for even half a decade to be in charge of a meeting that could potentially impact our entire kingdom without even the slightest supervision?"

Well when you say it like that, you make me feel like an idiot.

"Of course not, Vizier," Krivax said unconvincingly. "If I may ask, are you certain that the tuskarr Elders will be unable to sense your presence?"

"Remind me to teach you how to lie properly once you return to the city, Initiate," Hadix said derisively. "As for the shamans, don't insult me. Those 'Elders' would need to study magic for another century before they could even hope to sense me if I did not want them to."

Please stop speaking like a villain, Vizier Hadix. You're making me feel nervous about my future.

"As you say, Vizier," Krivax said readily. "Do you have any instructions or guidelines for this meeting that you would like to share with me?"

"Yes, I do," said Hadix, his tone growing more solemn. "After you first approached me with what you discovered, I decided to share the information with only a few select individuals while further evidence was gathered. It was only after you brought me the map of the Eastern Kingdoms and the toy made by the gnome that I approached Underking Kuk'arak, Queen Mel'ras, and Vizier Silvos. I'm told that a few of my associates in the capital approached High King Anub'arak and his council as well."

"Really?" asked Krivax excitedly. Queen Mel'ras was the highest-ranking Queen in Kilah'kuk and Vizier Silvos was the Underking's most trusted advisor and the city's most influential administrator. "How did they react?"

"They didn't believe any of it," Hadix said bluntly. "Both Underking Kuk'arak and Queen Mel'ras cared little for the claims of a tuskarr shaman, although Vizier Silvos seemed to keep a more open mind. It was only after I presented them with the physical items that you acquired from the tuskarr that they began to consider the possibility."

Krivax hummed in consideration as he processed the information. It was not particularly surprising to him that the nerubian leadership needed a lot of evidence for them to begin changing their worldview. Krivax was about to ask the Vizier how any of this related to his impending meeting with the people from the Eastern Kingdoms when a scary thought suddenly caught his mind.

"Vizier Hadix, you said that your acquaintance was surveilling Moa'ki Harbor with a flyer and informed you when the ship arrived," Krivax said nervously. "Did your acquaintance inform anybody else?"

"I'm surprised that you caught that, Initiate," said Hadix, faintly amused. "He did. I expect that by now the information is slowly spreading throughout Azjol-Nerub's leadership. The wooden ship is unlike anything that the civilizations we know about are capable of. Soon enough, that ship will be the foremost topic of discussion for all of the kingdom's leadership. Once they move to gather information on the matter, I suspect you will become very famous."

Krivax suddenly felt as if his legs had turned to jelly.

He had known that this was a possibility from the day that he had decided that establishing contact between Azjol-Nerub and the Eastern Kingdoms was one of the best ways that he had available to protect himself and his new people against the threat the Lich King, However, when confronted with the fact that he had attracted the attention of large portions of Azjol-Nerub's leadership and that he was likely about to be pulled into a maelstrom of politics, Krivax couldn't help but feel nervous.

"I see," said Krivax after he composed himself. There was no point lamenting his circumstances when he had willingly and knowingly set himself on this path. "In that case, what goals should I have for this meeting, Vizier Hadix?"

Something like approval flashed through the Vizier's eyes before quickly fading away.

"That is a good question," said Hadix consideringly. "It depends greatly on how the discussion amongst the kingdom's leadership progresses. The leadership will understand that this is significant, but they will be greatly divided in how they wish to respond. If we wish to further our goal of initiating diplomatic contact with the Eastern Kingdoms and establishing a presence on their continent, then we will need to present our ideas to the leadership and shape the narrative to our favor."

…Our?

"Vizier Hadix, I did not know that you had such goals as well," said Krivax, confused.

Vizier Hadix looked down at Krivax assessingly for several moments before speaking.

"I do have such goals," said Hadix. "One day I will explain to you why, but that day is not today. Although, if things progress as I expect them to, then that day might be sooner rather than later."

Krivax had no idea how to respond to such an ominous statement.

"As you say, Vizier," Krivax said hesitantly.

"For now, put such things out of your mind," said Hadix. "If our objective is to convince the kingdom to send a diplomatic envoy to the Eastern Kingdoms, then your goal should be to secure the assistance of these foreigners. Not only are they the only ones who know how to operate their wooden ship and navigate to their lands, but their testimony on the potential benefits of diplomacy would be invaluable. Greed will be our greatest ally in combating the isolationist tendencies inherent to the kingdom's various political factions."

Krivax felt like that was a good point, and he believed the same. The foreigners would know best what resources the Eastern Kingdoms would be willing to trade, and if the leadership saw that they were reasonable, then diplomacy would seem like a much more attractive idea.

Privately, he thought that as long as the leadership fully understood the benefits of diplomacy, they would make the right decision. Krivax trusted in the power of sapient greed.

"I understand, Vizier," said Krivax. "I will do my best to secure the assistance of these foreigners."

"Good," said Hadix, pleased. "Our time for conversation is over, I can sense that the foreigners are approaching and that none of them are skilled with magic. I will watch over the meeting and direct you as necessary. Nobody aside from you will know that I am there."

After nodding his understanding, Krivax left behind the scrying crystal and made his way to the building's center room.

"I'm back," Krivax announced as he entered the room. He could see Elder Si'uigo and Elder To'a quietly talking to each other while Orfus laid back on a pile of pillows in a corner. "Are the foreigners on their way yet?"

"They are," said Elder Si'uigo. "The spirits have informed me that their group consists of a gnome, a dwarf, and a human. The gnome will probably be the one to speak for them and assist with translating for the human if things are the same as they were last time."

Krivax was just about to respond when he was interrupted by Vizier Hadix.

"Instruct the shaman to translate the conversation with magic," Vizier Hadix said imperiously. "This meeting is too important to risk potential misunderstandings caused by a lack of proficiency in a common language."

He had already asked the Chieftain once why they did not use magic to translate between them and the merchants from the Eastern Kingdoms. According to him, the tuskarr considered it a matter of respect for outsiders to learn and use their language while in their lands. Not only that, but the ability to create an area of translation like Wumni did during their first meeting was not as simple as Wumni made it look. If the Elders of Moa'ki Harbor wanted to accomplish the same thing, they would need to work together to do so.

It was for this reason that negotiations with the merchants from the Eastern Kingdom were generally done in a combination of the tuskarr language and Common, which Elder Duuqni had a passable proficiency in.

Still, it wasn't as if he could say no to the Vizier's orders.

"Elders, I understand that your people usually prefer not to use translation magic during your negotiations with the merchants from the Eastern Kingdoms, but could I ask you to make an exception this time?" Krivax asked respectfully. "This is our first meeting with these people, and I would like to avoid as many potential misunderstandings as possible."

The tuskarr Elders discussed quietly for a moment amongst themselves before answering.

"We will grant your request as this is primarily a meeting between you and them," said Elder To'a. "However, you will need to wait for Elder Duuqni to return before we are able to cast the magic."

"Thank you, Elders. I am grateful."

"Your gratitude is appreciated, but unnecessary," said Elder Si'uigo. "In comparison to what trading with your people has done for this village, this is a small matter. I recommend that you prepare yourself. They are about to arrive."

Hearing the Elder's warning, Krivax moved to stand next to Masruk and turned his attention to the building's entrance.

He didn't have to wait long, because the group of people from the Eastern Kingdoms walked into the building.

The person at their front was a pink-haired female gnome with pigtails and engineering goggles strapped to her face. She wore a warm-looking coat over a practical set of leather armor that seemed like it had seen some use. Krivax could also see what seemed to be a wrench strapped to her side along with some kind of strange device that was vaguely shaped like a gun.

Behind her followed a middle-aged male dwarf who was also dressed in a practical manner and a young human man in heavy furs that could only be the merchant. Krivax had long since grown used to being a nerubian, but seeing a member of his former species after so long was an extremely strange experience.

Following right behind them were Chieftain Ko'nani and Elder Duunqi.

"It's so small," muttered Vizier Hadix incredulously.

"It's so small," muttered Masruk disappointedly, however, he quickly got over the gnome's weak appearance and asked a question that had been on his mind. "Greetings tiny creature, do you have any more of these amusing devices?" he asked as he held up the gnomish toy.

Krivax held back a snicker at the Vizier and Warrior unintentionally mimicking one another and moved to greet the gnome. She seemed to be very nervous, so he thought it would be best to act as friendly as possible to put her at ease.

"Hello!" Krivax said kindly. "My name is Krivax, and I'm happy to meet you. What's your name?"

Krivax began to grow concerned when the gnome's only response was a strange whining noise. What was wrong with her? She did speak the tuskarr language, right?

"Now that Elder Duunqi has arrived, we can use our magics to aid in translation," said Elder Si'uigo. Chieftain Ko'nani raised one bushy brow but didn't comment.

After a few moments of the three tuskarr Elders chanting in some strange language, a wave of magic washed over the building.

Once Elder Si'uigo nodded to him to indicate that the magic had taken hold, Krivax turned his attention to the female gnome and decided to try introducing himself again.

"Greetings," Krivax said in nerubian, pulling back some of his enthusiasm and allowing the magic to translate for him. "My name is Krivax and this is Masruk. What are your names?"

"I-I'm Trixie Tinkwrench of the Explorer's League," said the pink-haired gnome, visibly struggling to compose herself. "These are Malzie Stonehallow, also of the Explorer's League, and Oscar Smythe, a merchant under the employ of House Ashfort."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Krivax said politely. "Once I learned that the people of Moa'ki Harbor were trading with people from across the ocean, I knew that I had to meet you."

"Oh? Why is that?" Trixie asked nervously.

"Because my people were unaware of the existence of the Eastern Kingdoms until recently," Krivax responded, not missing the momentary expressions of surprise and apprehension that passed over her face. "Once I learned about you, I realized the great opportunity for trade and sharing of knowledge that could be gained from cooperation between our people."

As soon as Krivax finished speaking, Oscar's expression changed from one of apprehension to one of a starving man who had just been escorted to a buffet.

"Of course! That sounds great!" said Oscar. "I'm certain that the Eastern Kingdoms and Azjol-Nerub have much to offer one another. House Ashfort would be more than glad to cooperate with you and your people."

Krivax was a bit taken aback, although not displeased, by the enthusiastic merchant. It would make it much easier to convince them to aid him if they were this eager for trade, but that was something that he felt should be discussed later.

"I'm glad to hear that," said Krivax. "However, we can talk more about trade later. If I've learned anything over the past few months, it's that such negotiations take a long time, and I think our efforts would be better spent learning more about each other for now."

"Of course. Of course. Forgive my enthusiasm," said Oscar, dialing it back a little.

"If you wouldn't mind, I would like to hear more about your people," said Krivax. "Naturally, I will answer any questions you have about Azjol-Nerub as well."

"That sounds alright," said Trixie, losing some of her nervousness.

What followed was a long discussion about Ironforge, Gnomeregan, and Lordaeron, with Krivax asking the occasional question under the direction of Vizier Hadix. Most of what he heard were things that Krivax already knew, but he could see the projection of the Vizier looming over the foreigners and staring at them with an intense expression as he took in the information. A part of him wondered if these people were being irresponsible by sharing this information, but it was likely that all of this was considered common knowledge.

Once they were done, Krivax answered any questions that they had about Azjol-Nerub as promised. Although there were a few things that he held back under the order of Vizier Hadix.

"Your people's kingdom truly spans half of Northrend?" Trixie asked with wide eyes.

"Underneath it, yes. From En'kilah in the west to Naz'anak in the north and my home city of Kilah'kuk in the east, our kingdom is quite large."

"Hmph. Your people sound smart then, lad." said the dwarf, Malzie. "Under the ground is the best place to live after all."

"Malzie, you can't call him 'lad,'" said Trixie, admonishing her colleague. "You have no idea how old they are."

"We are a bit over four years old," offered Masruk offhandedly.

Krivax imagined that if they were drinking anything when his friend said that then they would have spit-taked. Not only them, but the tuskarr Elders were also trading incredulous looks. The topic of their age had never actually come up in discussion before now. How strange.

"The two of you are… four?" asked Trixie in disbelief. "How long is your lifespan? When do you become an adult? Are all four-year-old nerubians like you?"

Krivax ignored the Vizier's huff of amusement.

"Nerubian lifespans vary depending on their caste," said Krivax. "The caste that I and Masruk belong to lives approximately as long as your average human, assuming the humans of your lands live as long as the humans here. Nerubians mature more rapidly than most sapient races we have noticed, as we are both adults by our standards. How long do your people live for?"

"Gnomes and Dwarves can both live up to four hundred years," said Trixie, still slightly bewildered by the ages of the two nerubians. "I'm not certain how long the elves can live, but I know it's at least a few millennia."

Vizier Hadix perked up at this information. "Instruct them to tell you more about these 'elves.'"

"Elves?" asked Krivax.

"Yes, the High Elves of Quel'thalas," Trixie elaborated. "They are widely considered by most to be the most powerful kingdom in the Eastern Kingdoms. They live for a very long time and possess extremely powerful magic. I don't really know much about them because they keep to themselves."

Krivax couldn't tell what Hadix thought when he heard that, but after a moment of contemplation, the Vizier told him to move on.

There was one topic in particular that Krivax wanted to discuss, and he felt like now was as good a time as any.

"If I may ask, are there any ongoing conflicts in the Eastern Kingdoms? Anything in particular that you feel like we should know?" asked Krivax as calmly as he could. Even if the answer to this question did not tell him exactly when in the timeline he was, it would at least tell him if the creation of the Lich King was imminent.

Trixie considered the question for a moment before she responded.

"Not that I'm aware of," said Trixie, ignorant of the immense feeling of relief her words invoked in Krivax. "There is always conflict with the trolls and gnolls, but nothing major to the best of my knowledge."

Trixie looked to her two companions, seeking their opinion.

Malzie shook his head, and Oscar did as well after a short pause.

"The human hesitated," said Hadix. "Question him."

"Oscar, are you aware of any large conflicts?" asked Krivax, silently praying that the answer would be no.

Oscar hesitated for a moment before answering.

"They are merely rumors, but I have been told by some of my fellow merchants that there may be some kind of conflict happening in Stormwind," Oscar said reluctantly.

"Who is the current ruler of Stormwind?" asked Krivax.

Oscar seemed a bit confused by the question, but he answered anyway.

"King Llane Wrynn. Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason. Merely curiosity."

Krivax could feel his earlier feeling of relief turn sour. There was no way for him to know for certain, but that conflict in Stormwind could very well be the First War. It was good to know that the Second War had not yet started, as far as these merchants knew, but that did not mean that he could afford to relax. After all, there wasn't much he could do to actually stop Kil'jaeden from creating the Lich King, and the time between the First and Second War was not as long as he would like.

Krivax thanked Oscar for the information and turned the conversation to lighter topics. They spoke briefly on a variety of topics, such as their respective histories, politics, House Ashfort's history of trade with Northrend, and the Explorer League's upcoming expedition.

There was even a moment where Trixie decided to show off her device—which was apparently a Shrink Ray—by using it on one of the lobsters that had been prepared for the nerubians. It was a moment that Krivax would cherish because it was the first time that he had ever seen Vizier Hadix so dumbstruck.

Eventually, the foreigners grew sufficiently comfortable with their presence and Hadix thought that it was time for Krivax to request their assistance.

He briefly described Azjol-Nerub's excessively isolationist nature—which explained to them why this was their first time learning of the kingdom—and then made his request.

"You would like to present us to your leaders and have us explain to them what they can gain from diplomacy?" asked Trixie, stunned.

"Yes, that is correct," said Krivax. "I believe that this would go a long way to convincing them."

Krivax watched as Trixie's expression alternated between concern and excitement.

"And you are certain that this is safe? If your people are so insular, then would they really be okay with an outsider entering their city?"

"Yes, of course. You will definitely be safe," said Krivax, lying through his mandibles.

There was no absolute guarantee that they would be safe if they entered Azjol-Nerub, but then again, they were in danger from the moment that the kingdom noticed them. At this point, there was already absolutely no possibility that their ship would leave Moa'ki Harbor without Azjol-Nerub allowing them to do so, not that they knew that, of course.

"My mentor has already secured permission for you to enter the city and meet with our leaders if you are willing," said Krivax, hoping for everyone's sake that they would be willing.

At least this time he was not blatantly lying. Vizier Hadix had already secured permission for this from the Underking.

Krivax watched as the foreigners turned to discuss the matter quietly amongst themselves. He could already tell that he would be receiving a positive response from their expressions. Trixie and Malzie both seemed to be excited about the possibility of being permitted into Azjol-Nerub, and the merchant seemed enthralled with the promise of great wealth that trade would offer him.

Sure enough, they seemed to reach a conclusion very quickly.

"We will need to discuss the matter with some of the people from the ship," said Trixie. "But I expect that we will be able to accept your request."

"Excellent," said Hadix, truly pleased.

"I'm glad to hear that," said Krivax, equally as pleased as the Vizier. "After you give me your full answer, I will need to contact my mentor to arrange for transportation."

Vizier Hadix caught his implied question and responded to him as the meeting turned to other topics.

"I will be ready to open a portal to transport you all to the city in a few days," said Vizier Hadix.

The Vizier was silent for a moment as his attention turned elsewhere before he refocused on Krivax.

"It is time for my participation in this meeting to come to an end," said Hadix. "The Underking has summoned me and I must go to him now. I can see that you have this matter well in hand, Initiate. Well done. Continue to gather information and be prepared to report it to me the next time we meet."

Krivax nodded discreetly to Hadix, signaling his understanding.

"Good. Enjoy your last few days on the surface, Initiate. I suspect that these will be the most relaxing days you have for quite some time."

With those last foreboding words delivered, the Vizier's projection quickly faded away.

Krivax held back a sigh as he turned his attention back to the conversation. It seemed like they had finally reached the point where the foreigners were renegotiating their agreements with the tuskarr.

He agreed with the Vizier that his coming days were likely to be more eventful than his current ones, but it might be worth it if whatever was to come did not involve listening to more trade agreements.

As he listened to Oscar complain about the length of their trip and promote the reliability of their business partnership, Krivax couldn't help but hope that he would not have to attend another meeting like this in the future.

At least once the kingdom officially manages to establish diplomatic relations with the Eastern Kingdoms, I should be able to hand things like this over to someone else. Right?

---

The timeline has been revealed to be sometime before the Second War and during King Llanes reign, as far as the merchants know, and I just wanted to take a second to explain why I didn't set it closer to the War of the Spider.

I've been using Wowpedia's timeline to figure out when everything happened, and the Lich King was created very shortly after the Second War. A lot of stuff happened before that period of time that I'd like to get into.

Plus, if I chose to set the time right around the Lich King's creation, then there wouldn't be much time for Krivax to have adventures on the Eastern Kingdoms before he either had to go running around begging for help or go back to Northrend.

If you want to read ahead or support me, then feel free to check out my patreon

Discord is also available if you just want to chat.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Massgamer]

Have No Fear! We Come to Trade!​

Oscar was feeling a number of conflicting emotions today in rapid succession that he dearly wished he wasn't.

General discomfort and irritation of returning to unbelievably cold Northrend to trade with the primitive natives who barely understood the value of coin, excitement of the potential turn of profit they would get trading cheap ores for much more valuable exotic goods that would sell well back home, outrage at being told by these walruspeople that they would have to 'renegotiate' their standard deal with them, surprise at learning about their new trading partner, glee at the thought of trading with a proper kingdom and the opportunities it would open up in the market with him and his associates at the forefront of it, to terror to finding out these 'nerubians' were spiderpeople of all things, and finally now… desperately trying to maintain his years long honed trader's face as he tried to maintain eye contact with said spiderpeople.

It was easier said than done considering it was hard to figure out which set of eyes he should be focusing on.

Still, his pride as a trader would not let him lose such a valuable opportunity standing right before him, so even as he sweated in his heavy furs despite the cold of the continent he kept up his practiced smile and opened up talks of trade with this 'Krivax'. He was very curious what this Azjol-Nerub could potentially offer the Eastern Kingdoms after all, ideally making trading missions to this continent being much more worthwhile than previous visits. So when the nerubians were done speaking with the Explorers' League members and their discussions with the walruspeople were over, he took his chance and hoped for the best.

He was not disappointed, and it did much to distract him from his fear.

"This silk is marvelous!" he said in undisguised awe as he was shown several sheets of the material, something that apparently the nerubians could produce relatively cheaply, so most of the costs involved would end up being in transporting it.

"Thank you," Krivax said with what Oscar thought was a smile. Thankfully, the magics of the chieftain's hut allowed them to communicate freely so at least words were coming in clearly. "It's pretty basic compared to what actually skilled Weavers can do, but it has many uses even in its base form."

"I am aware since silk is a luxury material back home. Only Dalaran and Quel'Thalas.can produce it in any reasonable amount, and even then only the richest can afford it," Oscar explained. "I am slightly afraid that if it's as easy to produce as you say that you could crash the market for it back home."

"Oh… that would not be good I assume," Krivax said nervously. "We could limit the amount we can trade at a time to reduce overall cost but not totally devalue it if that helps."

"That would likely be best, but for now it is no problem since few traders come to Northrend as is for the moment, though sure that will change once word spreads," Oscar said. "Your ores won't fetch as high of a price due to Ironforge's high output rate, but the prices of certain ones remain consistent for the most part so long as you moderate that as well."

"Good to know," Krivax nodded. "There are likely many other things that my people can trade, but at this time this is the most I can offer personally."

"Of course, of course," Oscar waved him off. "This is plenty for the time being. Larger trade deals can be made later on as our relationship with your people grows."

"Sounds very good, though since we have no maritime tradition at this time we'll likely have to rely on your ships for transporting said goods." Krivax pointed out.

"We'll need to find enough ships and sailors for such, but sure that can be arranged in time as well," Oscar nodded as he idly tried to figure out the logistics of such a system.

"Good, good," Krivax nodded. "Now that we've gone over what my people can offer I suppose now it's your turn to do the same."

"That does leave the question of what do you need," Oscar fired back with an honest smirk.

"Not much to be honest, but magical reagents or luxury goods such as new foods and the like would likely interest my people and get more interested in the surface world. It's been working with the tuskarr and shellfish after all," Krivax shrugged. "I don't suppose you can offer tomes of knowledge, literature, philosophy, and arcane lore?"

Oscar came up slightly short but quickly recovered.

"While there are many tomes in the Eastern Kingdoms most are in the ownership of the Church of the Holy Light, noble houses, royal libraries and similar institutions who would be… slow to part with such things easily, even for large amounts of gold." Oscar explained. "And the vast majority of anything related to arcane magic can only be found among the High Elves and the mages of Dalaran."

"Hmmm, would they be up for a trade? Azjol-Nerub has vast libraries full of knowledge accumulated over the course of thousands of years. I am sure they would find something among our collection worth swapping for," Krivax asked curiously.

Thousands of years?! Are we dealing with elves in spider form?! Oscar's mind screamed, but he kept his features schooled.

"Perhaps, but that is something you would need to ask them directly since I am simply a humble trader and sadly have no ties to such groups," Oscar admitted, knowing it was never good to build up your own image too high or else you wouldn't be able to live up to expectations.

"A shame, but understandable, since it's not like you knew about us at all," Krivax shrugged. "Hopefully we can meet with representatives of said groups at a later date, but for now we would be happy to trade simple things with you that you are willing to part with such as maps, books, and anything else you have on you currently that can help us learn more about your people."

"I believe I can arrange that," Oscar said, knowing that the captain has a small library in his cabin that he would need to beg and plead with to give up at least a decent amount of it with the promise of a larger cut of the silk profits.

"Excellent, then I hope this deal is most pleasing and that we can partake in more in the future," Krivax said with a nod as they sealed their agreement with a handshake… which had Oscar shiver as the nerubian's clawed hand was placed in his own.

Good profit or not, this will take getting used to.

---

"... That is quite the tale, and certainly changes a lot," Captain Stanton Prescott admitted after Oscar gave the full version of events in private with the man.

After the League members and him had returned to the ship to report back on the meeting with the nerubians the former had returned to the village to continue speaking with their newest acquaintances while he remained behind to talk with the captain about how this changed their mission on behalf of House Ashfort.

"As it stands, even after negotiations with the tuskarr, we will be at a net loss for this whole journey, however this news of a brand new and apparently quite wealthy and powerful kingdom stands to pay us back hundreds of times over if we play our cards right," Oscar explained. "I will be going to the nerubian city-state in a few days, and while there I hope to broker a larger trade deal with the city leadership, perhaps as payment for transporting a diplomatic delegation back to the Eastern Kingdoms."

"Which will not only net us quite a profit, but House Ashfort has first grabs at any new trade routes made and the glory of helping establish diplomatic ties with a foreign kingdom," the captain summarized as he rubbed his beard chin. "Which aught to seriously boost their reputation among the Lordaeron upper class."

"Exactly! This will be a massive coup, politically speaking, and House Ashfort and the rest of us can ride the wave when it comes rather than be overtaken by it," Oscar couldn't help the slightly predatory grin that came to his face at the thought.

"Still sounds risky since these are giant spider people of all things, and from the sounds of it most of them are not the overly friendly sort," the captain pointed out as he took a drink of alcohol from his private stash he brought out during the report.

"Yes, but even the most isolationist kingdoms still want some things outside of their borders, for even the elves still trade with the human kingdoms despite not allowing us in theirs," Oscar pointed out.

"Elves don't eat people… as far as I know," the captain said. "I've seen actual non-talking giant spiders wrap up and suck the juices out of men before."

"From all accounts they have no interest in eating people, Captain," Oscar waved him off, but still couldn't get the image out of his head of the nerubians happily crunching down on a crab shell and all.

"Its your neck that you're risking, so it's your choice in the end," the captain shrugged. "Guess that means we'll be stuck here for a little bit while you work your magic. Gonna have to give the crew a bit of extended shore leave while gone, not that there is much to do here, and get them ready to most likely receive more… unique looking passengers then. Of course, if you aren't back in a week gonna assume the worst and sail off."

"Fair enough, but I assure you it won't come to that," Oscar said… and privately hoped.

"This is the risk you merchants all take for coin and glory, I suppose," the Captain laughed while Oscar chuckled since he couldn't deny that fact.

If all went well, then he would become one of the richest men in the Eastern Kingdoms in a few short years, an image that made any risk seem worth it.

 

[Fizzicks]

Thanks to massgamer for beta reading.

---

Trixie had spent the past few days oscillating between terror and exhilaration about her impending diplomatic journey to the underground kingdom of the spider-people. Terror because no matter how many times Krivax reassured her, she knew that there was always a possibility that she would not leave Northrend alive, and exhilaration because she was about to see things no gnome had ever seen before.

This was why she had chosen to join the Explorer's League instead of becoming a Tinker like the rest of her family… at least not as her main profession.

A part of her wished that they could have gone immediately after they finished negotiations with the tuskarr, but there were preparations that needed to be made first. However, today would be the day that she, Malzie, and Oscar would meet with the leaders of the spiderpeople and plead their case for a peaceful and diplomatic future between them and the Eastern Kingdoms.

Now she was just waiting in the middle of the tuskarr village for Krivax's mage mentor to teleport in and open a portal that they could use to travel to the spider kingdom. She did wish that he would hurry up though; unlike the spiderpeople, her clothes didn't completely protect her from the cold.

"Are you ready for this, lass?" asked Malzie, looking just as nervous and excited as she felt.

"As ready as I'll ever be, big man," Trixie said as confidently as she could. "How about you? How are you feeling about all of this?"

"Not entirely sure how I should feel," Malzie admitted reluctantly. "This ain't really something people can prepare for, is it? Still, if we make it out of here then we'll probably end up the most famous members of the League next to the Bronzebeard brothers and Muninn Magellas themselves!"

Trixie smiled at her friend's optimism. If she truly managed to become so famous, it would do a lot to help convince her family that she made the right decision in becoming an Explorer.

"Who cares about fame?" scoffed Oscar. The man was shivering and pulling on his fur coat, but that didn't seem to dampen his spirits at all. "If we succeed in forming a relationship with these spiderpeople, we could all potentially become fabulously wealthy. What does fame matter in the face of that?"

"I don't see how that would apply to me," Trixie said dubiously. "I'm an Explorer, not a merchant."

"That's simply because you lack vision," said Oscar bluntly. "If we make it back to the Eastern Kingdoms, then the three of us will be the ones who have the most experience dealing with these creatures. That fact alone will see any number of Merchant Guilds eager to solicit your aid at the least."

She thought about the merchant's words and decided that while they had merit, it didn't matter much to her. She wanted to be an Explorer, not run off to work for a Merchant Guild.

Trixie turned her attention to the spiderperson wearing black and red robes who was quietly speaking to his friend in his harsh chittering language. Two smaller spider-like creatures with a thin membrane between their legs were currently sitting on his back. According to him, the creatures were the same species as him, except they weren't sapient? Except when they were?

These two particular flyers were only about as intelligent as one of the hounds that humans seemed to like so much, but there were apparently some that were as intelligent as a person.

Trixie was doing her best not to think about it.

"Krivax, how much longer until your mentor arrives?" Trixie asked while speaking tuskarr.

"He should be arriving any time now," answered Krivax in the same language, turning his attention to her. "I'm not certain why he has not arrived yet, but Vizier Hadix has always preferred to… move at his own pace."

Trixie hummed in acknowledgment, even if she was not fully satisfied by the answer. She didn't appreciate being made to wait out in the cold, but Krivax was not the one who she should take her frustrations out on. He had been nothing but friendly and helpful these past few days and had done a lot to ease her worries.

Trixie was just about to ask more about what they could expect from the spider kingdom when a bright violet light suddenly began to shine a few feet away from them.

If she weren't wearing her goggles, then she would probably have been forced to turn her gaze away from the dazzling light, but as it was, she was able to watch as arcane glyphs formed on the ground and 'Vizier Hadix' appeared in the center of the light.

As Trixie strained her neck to look up at the spiderperson, she was once again befuddled by the variety of appearances of this race.

Standing at what she estimated to be ten to twelve feet tall, Vizier Hadix possessed four legs, four arms, and was wearing a set of extravagant teal robes and a headdress that would put even the wealthiest of mages to shame. He also seemed to exude a subtle air of danger that had the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

Trixie wasn't sure if it was just because she knew that he was a powerful mage, but her instincts told her that Vizier Hadix was not someone she wanted to get on the bad side of.

The Vizier completely ignored everyone aside from Krivax and began speaking to him in their language. Trixie had no idea what they were saying, but she could tell that Krivax was acting much more respectfully while talking to the Vizier than he had ever acted with her or even the tuskarr Chieftain.

After a few moments, their conversation seemed to finish and the Vizier immediately began to cast a spell without any further comment.

Trixie watched in awe as a portal quickly opened up a few feet in front of the Vizier, revealing several armored spiderpeople waiting for them on the other side. She was no mage, but she was fairly certain that creating a portal was not a simple matter.

"It's time," said Krivax. "Vizier Hadix won't hold the portal open for long, so we'd better get moving."

With that said, the two spiderpeople quickly made their way through the portal. After sharing a nervous glance with Malzie, she decided to follow after them.

The first thing Trixie noticed as she stepped through the portal was the relative warmth and complete lack of breeze. This was not particularly surprising given the fact that they were underground and there was a brazier in the corner of the room lit with a blue flame.

The second thing she noticed was the intense focus that the armored guards were directing toward her. Trixie had the distinct feeling that if she had not been explicitly invited that she would have already been skewered by their spears.

After a few moments, Malzie and Oscar stepped through the portal as well and were forced to hastily move out of the way as the Vizier followed behind them. The portal closed shortly afterward, leaving them with no way back

A few harsh clicks of spider talk from the Vizier sent the armored guards moving to take a formation around them.

"Follow us carefully," said Krivax. Trixie hurried to do just that as the spider people started to make their way out of the building they had portaled into. "According to Vizier Hadix, we need to start moving now if we wish to arrive there on time."

Once they stepped out of the building, only the threat of the armored guards surrounding them prevented her from stopping and taking in her surroundings.

Trixie was filled with a sense of awe as she looked at all the fantastical sights around her. She could tell that she was currently in a gigantic cavern that stretched farther than she could estimate and was filled with carefully constructed structures of an architectural style unlike any she had ever seen before. Gigantic webs of silk were carefully woven between different structures, serving as some kind of road for spiderpeople to travel along and groups of 'flyers' freely flew throughout the cavern.

There even seemed to be buildings suspended in the air purely by webs! Once she saw that Trixie couldn't help but try and calculate the approximate tensile strength of the spiderpeople's silk. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough information to do so and she was also busy trying her best to keep up with the rest of the group.

Keeping up with Big Folk was hard enough when they only had two legs like she did.

Thankfully, it seems like their destination was not far from wherever the portal brought them, because soon enough, they reached a massive ziggurat that was more ornately designed than the rest. It wasn't hard to guess that this was their destination.

A few more harsh clicks to the guards from the Vizier had their group entering without much fuss. Once they were inside, it was only a few more moments of frantically trying to keep up and ignoring the multitude of stares directed toward them before they reached the room that had been set aside for their meeting.

She could tell that this was the correct room because waiting inside was a massive creature that matched Krivax's description of a 'Spiderlord.'

The twenty-foot tall creature possessed a bottom half that looked like a mixture between a beetle and a spider, a thick brown carapace, a large sharp horn, and scythelike arms that were larger than Trixie's entire body. As their group made their way further into the room, she was also able to make out a pair of wings hiding behind its carapace.

Of course. It's not enough to be a terrifying twenty-foot-tall creature that could probably take on a dwarven steam tank, but they can also probably fly.

Standing next to the Spiderlord was a similarly gigantic creature that Trixie assumed to be a Queen. In terms of appearance, she wasn't actually all that different from the two spiderpeople who she had spent the most time with… aside from her massive size and the giant bloated abdomen behind her that Trixie assumed to be filled with eggs. The Queen was also wearing jewel-encrusted anklets around her many legs, a set of pure white silk robes, and a wide fanning headdress similar to what the Viziers wore.

Trixie also noticed how the Queen was being constantly tended to by at least half a dozen of those smaller spider creatures which were sometimes people and sometimes animals that Krivax called skitterers.

She failed to hold back a shudder as she reduced the zooming function on her goggles. The Queen's massive size only made it easier for Trixie to make out the details of her terrifying face.

Standing behind and to the sides of the Queen and the Spiderlord were three large statues with lower bodies and heads that resembled large cats, upper bodies that were similar to gnomes with two large sets of wings, and were each holding a large crystal in their clawed hands.

Trixie assumed that they were larger versions of the magic crystals that she had seen Krivax use to contact the Vizier. The closest equivalent that her own people had was a gnomecorder, except a gnomecorder was unable to transmit visual images. Unfortunately for Trixie, they were also not powerful enough to establish communication between continents, otherwise she may have been able to ask for advice from someone who actually knew what they were doing.

Aside from the Spiderlord, Queen, skitterers, and the three out-of-place winged cat statues, there was also a multitude of spiderpeople spread throughout the room. Trixie could see several groups of Viziers standing off to the sides of the room and speaking quietly to one another, and several spiderpeople sticking to the walls with their webs or hanging from the ceiling.

After their group reached the center of the room and the spiderpeople that had escorted them slipped into the crowd, the Spiderlord silenced the crowd with a few words before gesturing toward one of the groups of Viziers.

Trixie watched with trepidation as the Viziers spread themselves throughout the room and began casting magic. Their purpose became obvious as an arcane glyph manifested itself across the floor of the room and the Spiderlord spoke words that Trixie was startled to find she could suddenly understand.

"Are you able to understand my words, outsiders?" asked the Spiderlord in a deep voice.

"Oh! Uh, yes we can, your… grace?" Trixie said in a rush, speaking up for the group. She held back a grimace at her jumbled words. She hardly knew how to properly refer to human aristocrats, let alone spider aristocrats.

"Good," said the Spiderlord, seemingly uncaring of her ignorance. "I am Underking Kuk'arak. With me is Queen Mel'ras, and we are joined by the various leaders of the city of Kilah'kuk. This meeting will also be observed via scrying crystal by High King Anub'arak and his council, as well as the leadership of En'kilah and Naz'anak. You are here to answer our questions about the land you refer to as the Eastern Kingdoms. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Underking Kuk'arak," Trixie said as politely as she could, struggling to pronounce the spiderperson's strange name.

"You will begin by introducing yourselves," said the Spiderlord, his tone brooking no argument.

"I am Trixie Tinkwrench of the Explorer's League," said Trixie, only just now realizing that her words were being magically carried across the large room. They had previously decided that Trixie would speak for them when possible, so she quickly introduced her companions as well. "With me are Malzie Stonehallow, also of the Explorer's League, and Oscar Smythe, a merchant under the employ of House Ashfort."

"Your first contact with our people was several days ago when you met with an Initiate of the Circle of Viziers by the name of Krivax, correct?"

"Yes, Underking," said Trixie.

"During this meeting, you shared details of your people and your lands with Initiate Krivax, correct?"

"Yes, that is correct, Underking."

"Repeat those details for those who are listening," ordered Underking Kuk'arak.

Trixie winced. This was probably going to take a while.

Trixie spent the next few hours answering all the questions asked of her in regard to the Eastern Kingdoms while doing her best to make the continent sound like one the spiderpeople would want to cooperate with. For the most part, the Spiderlord asked her about the Eastern Kingdom's politics, governments, and potential threats while the Queen asked her about its races, especially the elves and the trolls. Trixie answered what she could while Malzie and Oscar contributed by answering about subjects that they knew better.

Some of the muttered responses to their answers—the source of which she could never quite find—were very… interesting.

"It seems that these Eastern Kingdoms are politically stable enough and face only minor threats. Nothing that should drag us into anything unpleasant at first glance."

"So the foolish elves didn't wipe themselves totally out after all. We will need to update their status from extinct to merely misplaced."

"It is unfortunate that these new lands also have trolls. The Drakkari are an annoyance enough as it is. It's possible that their damned Loa knew about this the entire time."

"These other races sound fascinating. So much to study…"

Once they were done with those topics, one of the Viziers stepped forward and asked them questions about magic. Unfortunately, she was able to answer very few of those questions, although the Viziers did seem interested when she told them about Dalaran. After they finished answering questions about magic, the Viziers switched to asking about the Eastern Kingdom's technology. Thankfully, Trixie was more than able to answer questions like that and a demonstration of her Shrink Ray on an offered skitterer—which she was assured wasn't sapient—sent many of the Viziers into a short frenzy that the Underking had to calm down himself.

"How in the world did such a small device reduce the mass and density of a living creature to such a degree without killing it? Does it function similarly to the Reduce spell?"

"Not only that, but this technology can be used by anyone. It's not unlike some of the low-level spellweaves."

"This goes far beyond the device that we studied earlier."

"Apparently, the small ones are the most technologically adept races on the continent. This opens up many possibilities."

"This will no doubt lead to the Technological Research Division getting a raise in funding…"

The Vizier that Trixie recognized as Krivax's mentor stepped forward to ask about the potential for trade and Oscar stepped forward to give his best presentation on the subject. The merchant spoke at length about the value of the spiderpeople's silk and ores, and the various goods that the Eastern Kingdom could offer them in turn; focusing on foodstuffs, technology, and magical knowledge and supplies.

"To think these foreigners would be lacking in such basic resources. Pathetic."

"While it's doubtful that these lesser beings have much to offer that we can't produce ourselves, their knowledge and novelties might have some interest, at the very least."

"This 'Church of the Holy Light' seems like an interesting research subject."

"I very much doubt they have anything we could not replicate ourselves."

"I wonder if they have any foods as delicious as shellfish…"

By the time they were done answering questions, Trixie could tell that the Underking was the only thing keeping the audience from breaking out into loud conversation.

"Does anybody have any more questions for the outsiders?" asked Underking Kuk'arak. The room was quiet for several more moments before the Spiderlord continued. "Very well. The outsiders will be made to wait elsewhere while we discuss everything that we have heard."

"Thank you for your time, Underking Kuk'arak," said Trixie as diplomatically as she could. "I hope the future of our people's relationship is one of cooperation."

With that said, she and her companions turned to leave the room under the escort of the armored guards who had brought them there. Trixie had expected Krivax and Masruk to join them given they were the only ones who could communicate with them without magic. Apparently, they thought so as well since the two spiderpeople moved to follow them before Krivax was stopped by his mentor.

Trixie was barely able to hear what the Vizier said to Krivax as she passed by them.

"Not you," said the Vizier. "You need to be here for the rest of this meeting. Your Warrior friend will go with them."

"Yes, Vizier," said Krivax. After saying a few words to his friend that Trixie could not make out, Masruk nodded and moved to follow their group.

As they left the room, Trixie couldn't find it in herself to wonder about the little by-play, because she had more important things to think about. Trixie was not entirely certain what caused it specifically, but halfway through the meeting, her instincts started to tell her that she had seriously underestimated the xenophobia of the spiderpeople.

Trixie had a very real feeling that there was a chance that they would not be allowed to leave safely.

Now, the only thing she could bring herself to focus on was praying to any god that was listening that the discussion that the spiderpeople were about to have would result in a decision that would allow her to see her family again.

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