Brill after the Battle for Lordaeron
By now, everyone has surely heard about the Battle of Lordaeron. The Alliance forces overtook the place, swarming through the ruins like rats scurrying through a tomb. The Warchief had no choice but to call for her Horde forces to retreat.
When Baine sounded the retreat, the Commander of The Grim gave the order for his members to fall back to the Grim’s halls in Brill to defend their base there. They broke off from the rest of the Horde and headed for where the Gallow’s End Tavern once stood. The town was already in ruin, and the secret entrance to the Grim’s headquarters was exposed. After the Mandate’s followers were inside, the door was sealed with magic and stone.
Some Alliance, namely the Twilight Empire, saw The Grim breaking off the main group of Horde and pursued. It did not take them long to break through the barriers at the entrance of the guildhall, and soon members bearing the colors of Twilight Empire clashed with those of The Grim just inside the entrance.
Meanwhile, other Grim were deeper in the catacombs, retrieving documents and artifacts and other important items. Eventually, knowing they were outnumbered with all the Alliance outside, Awatu, the Grim Commander, gave the order for the Grim to abandon their guildhall of many years and find their way to safety. Most of the Grim exited the halls through portals, summons, and back exits. A few remained to stall the Alliance intruders for a few more precious moments, sacrificing themselves so the others could get out.
Grim who spoke about the whole incident had varying emotions. Some were angry, some were indifferent.
“It was… not unexpected, considering the result of the Ashenvale offensive,” Commander Awatu Stonespire of The Grim said. “While effective, the Warchief continues to make… questionable tactical decisions. As for the loss of the Halls, they are simply rooms and corridors. We can rebuild and rejoin the war effort. We lost a battle, but a war still needs to be fought.” Commander Stonespire has since called for the search of a suitable location for a new Grim guildhall.
High Inquisitor Qabian Grimfire had a bit more than that to say on the subject. “Our guild hall was a stuffy, gloomy place that wasn’t worth spending any more time in than absolutely necessary, but it was useful enough with its history and its use as a gathering point that it was frequently absolutely necessary. Gathering points are easy enough to replace, but the history we built is gone.
“Perhaps on some level it was inevitable that Stormwind would try to reclaim Lordaeron from the people who paid the price of their very lives to remain in their own homeland,” Qabian continued. “Humans have always been idiotic on the basest of levels, prone to taking things that don’t belong to them. However, I for one am convinced that they never would have had the courage to march through Tirisfal and ruin the lives we’d built if it weren’t for the things I’m hearing about the reappearance of a Menethil.
“The individuals who chased us through and ransacked the place we had made ours, on the other hand,” Qabian went on some more, “I believe did so for deeply personal reasons, because they took offense to the various effects the Mandate had on their lives. That also has an edge of inevitability. The Mandate is not in the business of diplomacy or goodwill. We will always make the kind of enemies who would gladly end our lives with their own hands, and if they are given the opportunity to exploit any weaknesses we may suffer, as the Battle for Undercity provided them, they will never hesitate to strike. Never doubt that for a moment. Therein lies the importance of seeing the Mandate through to its ultimate goal. Should we fail, our survival, as individuals, as a collective, as nations, as the Horde itself, all of it is on the line.”
Aureilya Raindawn, Keeper of Grim scrolls and documents, scowled when asked about it. “It matters not,” she said. “Let them have the blight infested land, it’s worthless to them anyway. It doesn’t matter to the Mandate what location we hold. The loss of the guildhall changes nothing. Our numbers continue to grow, even now. Let their blood soak the earth of whatever new location we procure.”
A flash of rage passed through Gavril Nikolaev’s eyes when asked about it, but the Grim warlock quickly regained his composure. “We lost the guild hall. We lost the Undercity. I pray we recovered enough from our archives and vaults that the loss cuts none too deep. Sentimentality favors us not, but the fact of the matter is that we are at a severe tactical disadvantage.
“We Forsaken are not well-loved by the other members of the Horde,” Gavril continued. “The loss of the Undercity is not something about which most orcs, trolls, Tauren or elves will think twice. The burning of Teldrassil, however … Will either galvanize the Alliance, or burn away at their faith … We need a new guild hall, or our enemies will chip away at us and eventually destroy us. We are nomads. Homeless. Exposed to the elements. This must needs be rectified before anything else.”
“The battle was a mess,” commented Umbra Longheart, warrior of The Grim. “The Alliance caught us with our pants down, nobody suspected they would stoop to our level when they flattened Brill. It’s not the first battle I’ve been on the losing side of, though some could have saved themselves some grief by following Awatu’s orders clearly. In the heat of battle, a clear chain of command needs to be adhered to, even a bad plan can succeed with everyone working in lock step.”
Umbra went on to add, “I never spent much time there as i never felt entirely… safe… I’ve done a bit of leg work finding some nice out of the way, forgotten by time locations throughout Lordaeron that would be suitable for modification, I’ve already handed the list off to Qabian though I’m sure he’s forgotten about it if he even had time to read it while beating the war drum.”
Aquizit Shadesoul, Seeker of The Grim, did not seem too concerned when asked about the loss of the guildhall. “It’s a shame, solely for the fact of needing to find somewhere else to store and house the things and people who need it. I think, as a whole, it is insignificant. This organization does not suffer those who can’t take care of themselves, and the Mandate is enduring beyond paper, parchment, or records. It’s good to have a hall, for presence’s sake alone, to tell the world we exist, and that we endure. But for one individual hall? It’s just a symbol, not the heart.”
Aderlee said “I tink de Grim fought well. We ‘ad very liddle casualties and we kept de Alliance away for a good while. De wards were strong but not strong enough. Dat was a weakness I ‘ad found last year at Khorvis’ request, but I don’t know if anyting was done ta make dem stronger. Da guild hall itself was fine, but it’s a loss dat we can replace. Losing Brill and Lordaeron exposed dat it was not in a strong position. We can do better. We got de important bits and artifacts and Grims out. Dat’s more important den stone and dirt.”
Lord Pincus Dorian, longtime warlock of The Grim, gave only three words in comment: “Unfortunate, but necessary.”
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The Grim and Twilight Empire
OOC~
Before the storyline kicked off, The Grim and Twilight Empire met to have some fun PVP skirmishes outside of Brill. This was The Grim’s last event on Twisting Nether/Ravenholdt servers. Thank you, Twilight Empire, for being a part of it!
