The Journal of Mal’koreth Cinderstorm
Records from the Rebellion
Entry 1 – Fourth Moon, Early Summer
Arrived at Sen’jin Village today. The journey from Pandaria gave me time to think, but nothing prepared me for what I found waiting.
Vol’jin’s village is bustling with activity that has nothing to do with normal troll daily life. Warriors, shamans, hunters moving with the urgency of serious military preparation. But what caught my attention immediately was the lone human woman standing near Vol’jin’s hut, flanked by nervous-looking guards from both sides.
Vash’ta met me at the docks. “Told you it be getting interesting, mon. But even I not be expecting… dis.”
He nodded toward the human. Even from a distance, the tension was obvious – Horde and Alliance representatives in the same space, neither side comfortable with the arrangement but both recognizing its necessity.
“Dat be Jaina Proudmoore herself,” Vash’ta whispered. “Been here since yesterday, and everyone be walking on eggshells. One wrong word and dis whole thing could explode.”
He led me toward Vol’jin’s hut, where I could see the Darkspear chieftain and Jaina in what appeared to be a carefully formal discussion. Both leaders looked like they’d rather be anywhere else, but the gravity of the situation was keeping them at the table.
They broke off their conversation when I entered, the relief at the interruption obvious on both faces.
“Ah, Mal’koreth Cinderstorm,” Vol’jin said, rising to greet me. “Da Dark Lady be waiting for you. She arrived dis morning.”
As I left to find Sylvanas, I heard Jaina comment quietly, her voice tight with barely controlled unease: “If he’s who you think he is, this arrangement might actually work.”
The fact that Alliance leadership is here at all tells me everything I need to know about how desperate the situation has become.
Entry 2 – Fourth Moon, Early Summer (Later)
Met with Sylvanas in the village’s war planning tent. Seeing her again after so long brought back memories of Silverpine, of watching her die and rise again. But this was different – not the commanding general addressing troops, but something more personal.
“You look well,” she observed. “Pandaria has been… beneficial to your health, it seems.”
Sharp as ever. She’d noticed the effects of the ritual, though she didn’t press for details. Yet.
“The situation has moved beyond what any of us anticipated,” she continued. “Garrosh’s corruption is complete. The Heart of Y’Shaarj has made him something other than orc, other than Horde. He must be stopped.”
“Vol’jin and I have been coordinating resistance efforts for months,” she said finally. “But we lack intelligence from inside Orgrimmar itself. The Kor’kron have sealed the city, eliminated most of our contacts. We need someone who can get inside, establish themselves, and feed us information when the time comes to act.”
“And you want me to be that someone.”
“You have the perfect background for it. Veteran shaman with recent Pandaria service, no obvious connections to ‘troublesome’ leaders like myself or Vol’jin. Your record shows loyalty to the Horde above personal politics. Exactly the kind of soldier Garrosh’s people would welcome.”
The plan is simple enough. Return to Orgrimmar, request reassignment due to ‘concerns’ about the alliance between rebels and Alliance forces. Play the part of a loyal soldier disgusted by Vol’jin’s ‘treachery.’ Get embedded in the city’s defenses and wait for the signal.
“When the siege begins,” Sylvanas said, “you’ll be our key to getting inside. But understand – this is not a mission you can abandon halfway through. Once you’re in Orgrimmar, you’re committed until the end.”
I accepted without hesitation. Some choices are easier than others.
Entry 3 – Fourth Moon, Mid-Summer
Arrived in Orgrimmar three days ago. The city has changed dramatically since I was last here – Kor’kron guards at every gate, checkpoints on major streets, an atmosphere of paranoia that makes even loyal citizens nervous.
My cover story worked perfectly. Reported to the duty officer claiming disgust at Vol’jin’s ‘alliance with Alliance scum’ and requesting reassignment to ‘real Horde service.’ The young Kor’kron captain ate it up completely.
“Finally, a veteran with proper loyalty,” he said, stamping my orders. “Too many of the older soldiers have been corrupted by soft thinking. We need orcs who understand what the Horde truly represents.”
I’ve been assigned to the city’s inner defenses – specifically the underground tunnels that connect major defensive positions. Perfect for my actual mission. They think they’re putting a loyal veteran in a position of trust. In reality, they’ve just given their enemy a detailed map of their most vulnerable points.
The atmosphere here is poisonous – nothing but good old-fashioned paranoia and hatred. “True orcs” versus everyone else. Guards eye each other suspiciously, citizens report their neighbors for “disloyalty,” and anyone who isn’t orc gets treated as a potential traitor.
Garrosh has built a city where fear and malice are the primary tools of control. Effective, but brittle. If you don’t have the strength of arms to protect this facade you’ve built, it only takes one crack to come tumbling down. And this kind of environment breeds dissent.
Entry 4 – Fourth Moon, Late Summer
Three weeks embedded in the city defenses, and I’ve learned more than Sylvanas and Vol’jin could have hoped for.
The tunnel system is even more extensive than the rebels realize – not just defensive positions, but escape routes, supply caches, even a direct passage to Garrosh’s private chambers. More importantly, I’ve identified the key chokepoints that could bottle up the entire Kor’kron response if properly collapsed at the right moment.
My position as a ‘tunnel specialist’ has given me access to areas most guards never see. I’ve been mapping everything, noting guard rotations, identifying structural weaknesses that could be exploited. They assigned me here because they trusted my loyalty, but that same trust is giving me everything I need to destroy them.
The paranoia grows worse daily. Found two guards yesterday convinced their squad mates were “Alliance spies in disguise.” Another beat a troll civilian unconscious for “looking suspicious.” The city is eating itself from the inside out.
Received my first coded message from Vash’ta today, hidden in routine supply paperwork. The rebellion is moving faster than anticipated. Alliance and rebel Horde forces are coordinating for a major assault within the month.
Time to start positioning for what comes next.
Entry 5 – Fifth Moon, Early Autumn
The siege begins tomorrow.
Spent the last week making final preparations. Key structural supports in the tunnel system have been carefully weakened – not enough to collapse them prematurely, but enough that a properly placed tremor will bring down entire sections. Guard rotations have been memorized, patrol patterns mapped, vulnerabilities catalogued.
Tonight I received the final coded message: “Dawn brings thunder. Open the gates when lightning strikes.”
Translation: the assault begins at first light, and I’m to provide entry points when the main attack commences.
Found myself thinking about Ariok tonight. About the brotherhood we shared in Silverpine, the lessons he taught about loyalty and honor. He’d approve of this choice, I think. Not the betrayal of oaths, but the protection of what the Horde truly represents. Sometimes loyalty to an ideal means betraying those who’ve corrupted it.
Sylvanas was right about one thing – there’s no going back from here. Tomorrow I either help save the Horde from Garrosh’s madness, or I die in the attempt.
But I’ve made harder choices than this. This… This feels like serving something worth protecting.
Entry 6 – Fifth Moon, Mid-Autumn
It’s over. Garrosh is dead, the Siege of Orgrimmar successful, and the Horde is free from his Tyrannical grasp.
My part went exactly as planned. When the assault began, I triggered carefully prepared collapses in the tunnel system that cut off reinforcement routes to the city’s outer defenses. Then opened the hidden passages that allowed just enough of the rebel forces to bypass the main gates and cause chaos. This allowed the main force to break through the outer defenses and make their way into the city.
The fighting in the tunnels was brutal – Kor’kron forces realizing too late that their ‘loyal veteran’ was working for the enemy. I lost count of how many I killed down there in the darkness, using every trick I’d learned in decades of violence. Skills honed as a bandit now served to liberate my people.
When I finally managed to make my through to Garrosh’s inner chambers, the battle was already ongoing. What I saw was barely recognizable as the orc who’d once been Warchief. The Heart of Y’Shaarj had transformed him into something monstrous, consumed by power and paranoia. His death was a mercy to everyone, including himself.
Afterward, as Alliance and rebel Horde forces sorted through the aftermath, Sylvanas found me in the tunnels where I was cataloguing the damage.
“Well done,” she said simply. “The Horde owes you a significant debt.”
“The Horde owes me nothing. I did what needed to be done.”
She smiled at that – not her usual calculating expression, but something that seemed almost genuine. “Spoken like someone who truly understands what service means.”
Vol’jin has been named the new Warchief. A good choice – he understands unity, respects the contributions of all Horde races, and has the wisdom to avoid the mistakes that led to this crisis. The healing can begin.
As for me… I asked one favor of my Dark Lady: To keep my name out of the History books. She obliged, and I think that had been her inclination all along. Somehow I imagine a grizzled orc shaman of little renown is of more use to her than any war hero.
[End of rebellion records]
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