The Great Thief

The Wildhammer Dwarves of Lordaeron also had a land of their own. They created their home in the Hinterland of Eagle Nest Mountain and dedicated their lives to protect it. Compared to the Plaguelands, the Hinterland was a green region filled with tall oaks and maple trees.

The Hinterland was surrounded by mountains, so no one thought there were any routes through to it. Only the Dwarves’ Griffin had contact with the outside world.

The Hinterland remained untouched for many centuries. In the Second War, after losing Grim Totem, the Wildhammer Dwarves moved to Eagle Nest Mountain. The Griffin Knight of the Wildhammer Dwarves was a legend, and in the second and third wars, he was the lucky star of the Alliance.

Lu Li notified Wandering to gather people, then prepared some necessary things.

Lu Li and Tirion Fordring appeared in the Hinterland. Along with them were a dozen or so Paladin NPCs, who all used to be a part of the Silver Hand. Alsace had used his status as King and convicted Uther of treason, declaring the dissolution of the Silver Hand.

The members of the Silver Hand were forced to leave their training grounds and garrisons. Some joined the Army of Lordaeron, while others retired and went home.

After Alsace returned and killed King Terenas II, a myriad of natural disasters swept through Lordaeron. The Paladins could not stop the tide of natural disasters and eventually, all perished.

These dozen Paladins were not all of the Silver Hand members, but were the ones that could be gathered by Tirion Fordring at such a short noticed.

They had already prepared themselves for death. Each one of them looked solemn and faced death calmly.

Even though they were old, they were not so incapacitated that they required a walking stick to move. The ones who were a little older were no more than 40 or 50 years old, while the younger ones were around 30 years old. These people had pious beliefs and rich combat experience, so they were of great help to this operation.

When Lu Li looked at these people, he could let out a sigh of relief.

In a new place like Tyr’s Hand, the Scourge Army definitely would arrange for powerful guards to watch over it. If that was the case, then a Boss battle would take place.

The Boss would be very powerful, capable of desolating a large area in a second. If there wasn’t the help of these NPCs, then Lu Li and his team would surely die several times.

It would be different with these dozen-or-so Paladins.

They could at least help with attacking the Boss, and the players didn’t need to worry about them drawing aggro.

Any of these people would be a quasi-Boss in and of themselves.

If you wanted to borrow the passage, then you needed permission from the Wildhammer Dwarves. This passage was firmly controlled by them. Recently, in order to prevent the Spreading Plague, they had made it more dangerous.

Eagle Nest Mountain!

The city of the Wildhammer Dwarves was deeply embedded in these huge mountains.

The city was located in the Northwest area of the Hinterland, near Longmir Lake. Eagle Nest Mountain looked like a huge Griffin head, with its eyes and nostrils being passages to the outside world. The Wildhammer Dwarves had dedicated their lives to this statue. It grew more vivid in their hands, and even individual feathers could be made out clearly.

Their castle and defences extended from the inside of the cliff all the way to the outside.

If the Dwarves suddenly turned hostile, then Lu Li and his team might not even be able to fight back.

Fortunately, the Wildhammer Dwarves clearly knew who were friends and who were foes.

Wildhammer Dwarves were much friendlier than Elves. They believed that these arrogant creatures were cuter than humans. Lu Li was an Elf, and was one that brought delicious alcohol with him.

When a dozen bottles of alcohol was placed in front of the gates of Eagle Nest Mountain, hundreds of Dwarves crowded around them instantly.

At first, they thought Lu Li was a vendor, but once he said that all of this fine alcohol was given to them for free, they instantly felt that this Elf was indeed the greatest person in this world, other than the Dwarf Wildhammers.

Once Lu Li asked to see Lord Metz Drakrep, they immediately took him in.

Lord Metz Drakrep was an old Dwarf with a very long beard, but he had no hair. Lu Li recalled someone saying that Dwarves were hairy creatures. This was evident as there was no other race like the Dwarves who had beards when they were born. There was also no other race whee even women could grow beards, but as they aged, their hair would also fall off due to lack of nutrition.

However, their beard wouldn’t fall. Lu Li didn’t know why this was the case.

“This Elf friend brought all sorts of fine spirits that even I had never heard of,” the Dwarves said, introducing Lu Li to their leader.

 “Grimm, not all spirits can be classified as fine. You ought to go and tour around. At least go have a look at Steel Stove Castle.”

Lord Metz Drakrep seemed to no longer bear grudges regarding the Three Hammers War and enlightened the young Dwarves.

 “Your Excellency, the alcohol that I have brought is no ordinary alcohol. I can promise that you can’t have tasted all of them before,” Lu Li said.

 “Haha youngster, do you know how old I am? How many types of spirits I have tried? I dare say that there is no other more knowledgeable than me in fine spirits alone,” Lord Metz Drakrep laughed.

 “Honourable lord, I am a mere young Elf Adventurer,” Lu Li responded, shamelessly pretending to act innocent with a hint of ambiguity, “But I do not believe that you could have tasted all of the world’s finest spirits.”

“Youngster, how about we make a bet? Let me taste these fine spirits and tell you of their origins. How about that?” Lord Metz Drakrip had no idea that Lu Li had already studied him thoroughly. This old Dwarf has three loves in his life: fine spirits, bets and minerals.

Lu Li only had only provoked him a little with his words and he had immediately suggested a bet.

The dozen spirits were carried over by the young Dwarves and each bottle was placed in front of the throne. Metz Drakrip took a deep intoxicating breath.

It wasn’t that Lu Li wasn’t able to collect more fine spirits, but that there was simply no need. The alcohols he had brought was all from Hachi Chan, and they were all very rare.

Hachi Chan had all sorts of strange, exotic things, mostly from the quests she completed. Lu Li, as someone reborn, wouldn’t know what these spirits were if Hachi Chan hadn’t introduced them to him.

Lu Li wasn’t sure if they were enough to win over Lord Metz Drakrep, but he really didn’t know what else could.