The reason why Sharlayan cares so much about the Old God of Draenor is that in addition to wanting to lift the curse and restore Anzu's strength, he also has a deeper intention.
Rehearsal of underwater combat.
As we all know, the only active ancient god in Azeroth is En'zoth, who hides in the deep sea.
En'zoth is not stupid. It obviously will not give up its home field advantage and fight to the death with the defenders of Azeroth on land.
No matter how much Deathwing and Varosen jump up and down, trying to seal En'zoth again, the final battle will inevitably take place near Ny'alotha, which is buried deep under the sea.
Not to mention that soldiers from various countries are not familiar with underwater combat, commanders including Sarlayan are also familiar with nine out of ten - none at all.
It is true that the orthodox Nagas headed by Azshara will definitely provide strong support in the final battle, but it is impossible for Sharlayan to place the key node of victory in the hands of Azshara, who has many feuds with the night elves. .
Let’s not mention whether Naga, who is still unsteady in his position, may defect before the battle. If Azshara seizes this pain point and puts forward unreasonable threatening conditions before the final battle, under the current situation of the powerful enemy, Azshara will Should Leian agree or not?
Therefore, Sarlayan decided to use this underwater battle with the ancient god of Draenor as a preview of the decisive battle with En'Zoth. He must at least have a rough understanding of the process and know-how of underwater battles. He cannot be like the night elves in Estor. Such arrogance and stupidity in the Rand War led to big losses.
After bidding farewell to the worried Vashj, Sharlayan took Onyxia and Jaina straight to Frostfire Ridge in the northwest of Zangarmarsh.
Frostfire Ridge is located in a remote area and has a harsh climate. The arrogant old tribe simply looked down upon the harsh mountains and rivers here.
After the ogres in the Blade Tower Fortress were eliminated, the old tribe's army withdrew without leaving any one behind, leaving almost no troops stationed here.
Therefore, relatively speaking, Frostfire Ridge is the least contaminated area in Draenor.
However, as the saying goes, no eggs are left unfinished when a nest is overturned. If the evil energy is allowed to continue to spread in Draenor, Frostfire Ridge and the far overseas Farallon Island will also be unable to escape erosion.
Ever since the Blade Tower Ogres were destroyed and the Thundergod Clan and Frostwolf Clan left Frostfire Ridge one after another, this extremely cold snow-capped mountain area has been neglected for a long time.
It wasn't until Solas led an army of undead who were not afraid of cold and heat, and did not need food or water supplies, to move here from Azeroth that Frostfire Ridge, which was covered with snow all year round, finally regained some of its "popularity".
Before setting off to Draenor, Sarlayan had already sent someone to notify Solas in advance.
The site of the original Blade Tower Fortress was transformed into a brand new undead stronghold by members of Free Will. When Sarlayan arrived at his destination, the top undead leaders headed by Solas had been waiting for a long time.
"Yo?"
Sarlayan looked at a big lich following Solas in surprise: "Kel'Thuzad, when did you come back from the Dark Temple? It's been a long time."
Kel'Thuzad chuckled and replied: "Not long ago, after I learned that you were coming to Draenor, I said goodbye to Shahrath."
"Ha~"
Sarlayan smiled meaningfully: "You kid always go to the Three Treasures Palace for anything. You must have come to me specifically because you need something to ask for."
Kel'Thuzad spread his hands and said, "I won't deny it, but for now let's discuss the serious matters that concern you first. I can leave my private matters for later."
Sarlayan nodded and turned to Solas and Fao: "So? Is there any result from the blanket search?"
Solas shook his head: "No, we searched almost all the volcanoes in Frostfire Ridge and found no trace of dragon eggs."
"Emmmm...that's weird."
Onyxia, who had been hiding aside and pretending to be asleep, took the initiative to step forward and asked: "Have you searched underground? It's possible that Sabellian buried the dragon eggs under the snow."
Solas replied helplessly: "Of course I have looked for it. The undead spider demon has drilled into the ground of Frostfire Ridge in all directions, but there is still no harvest."
Sarlayan tapped his forehead thoughtfully with his finger: "It seems that my guess may be wrong."
"Instead of burying the eggs in the best place for the hatchlings, Saberian chose to make secrecy a priority."
"It seems that we still have to make a trip to Blade's Edge Mountain."
"Blade Edge Mountain..." Solas frowned and reminded: "The free will scouts have gradually begun to leave Frostfire Ridge in recent months."
"Considering that the Nagas who rule Zangarmarsh are allies, the first stop we explored was the Blade's Edge Mountains near the border of Frostfire Ridge."
Sarlayan heard the depression in Solas's words, and asked with a slightly raised brow, "Have you met Gruul?"
"That's not true." Solas said with a wry smile: "His Gronn descendants alone have created a great obstacle to our investigation and exploration."
"And these Gronn's men also have a lot of one-eyed demons and ogres, which are difficult to deal with."
Draenor has been continuously affected by the evil energy eroding the land. In addition to the Arak Peaks being sunk by earthquakes and Zangarmarsh appearing out of thin air, the area formerly known as Gorgrond has been most affected.
Gorgrond was affected by severe geological activities at the same level as the Arak Peaks, and the height difference between different land masses was exaggerated, turning it into what is now the Blade's Edge Mountains.
Solas and Faol provided Sharlayan with a lot of information about Blade's Edge Mountain, including the current structure of forces in the Blade's Edge Mountain area.
There is no doubt that the powerful Draenor native demigod Gruul the Dragon Slayer is the largest force among them.
The name "Dragon Slayer" was not given to him by Gruul himself, but by Gronn and the Ogre who had witnessed the battle in which Gruul defeated Saberian. He deserved the title.
All the ogres and one-eyed demons in the Blade's Edge Mountains nominally respect Gruul as their master, but Gruul himself is not interested in the intrigues between these different forces.
Therefore, even among Gruul's subordinates, fights between different ogre clans occur from time to time, not to mention the stupider one-eyed ogres.
After years of infighting and cultivating gu, the Blade's Edge Mountain area has now entered the chicken-eating finals. Except for Gruul and his heirs, only the last four large forces are left in the entire Blade's Edge Mountains.
Fao: "These four forces are the Bloodmaul Ogres, the Blade Tower Ogres, the Orc Thundergod Clan, and the Orc Clan with ogre hybrid blood - Mok'Nassa."
"Moknasa..."
Sarlayan narrowed his eyes slightly and touched his chin: "Is it the Mok'Nassa where Beast King Rexxar is?"
"That's right."
Fao nodded and explained: "The Mok'Nassa clan is the Blade's Edge Mountains... or the native clan of Gorgrond. As early as many years ago, the Mok'Nasa clan began to intermarry with the ogres."
"Therefore, the members of this clan are far superior to ordinary orcs in terms of physical fitness. They are not inferior at all when facing evil orcs strengthened by evil energy. Rexxar Rema is one of the best."
"The Mok'Nassar clan has always been independent and stubborn. Both Blackhand and Ner'zhul have issued calls to the Mok'Nasa clan, but they have not received a positive response from Mok'Natha."
"Except for Rexxar, an outlier who acts alone, strictly speaking, Moknasa has nothing to do with the tribe at all, because they have never joined the tribe from the beginning... no matter which tribe it is."
"Is this so..." Sarlayan lowered his head and muttered: "Let me think about it first."
According to the information provided by Faol and Solas, the Bloodmaul Ogres and Mok'Nathal are both native forces of Gorgrond, while the Blade Tower Ogres and the orcs of the Thor Clan migrated from Frostfire Ridge. past.
Don't think that these four major forces will form an alliance with each other because of local plots, it doesn't exist.
As early as when they lived in Frostfire Ridge, the Thundergod clan had been fighting frequently with the ogres of the Blade Tower. Mok'Nasa, who was part ogre bloodline, had never been recognized by any ogre clan.
With Gruul himself not taking matters into his own hands, the last four large surviving forces refused to obey anyone in Blade's Edge Mountain. The indiscriminate melee gave Solas a headache. Until now, he has not been able to figure out how to march into Blade's Edge. The clue of the mountain.
"It's basically impossible to win over ogres. I don't believe in the brains and integrity of those fools."
Solas had no objection to this, because Sharlayan told the truth.
With the fall of the Gorian Empire, the surviving ogres lost the ability to mass-produce two-headed ogres.
Without the leadership and planning of the extremely intelligent two-headed ogre, today's ogre social rules are regressing crazily, gradually moving closer to the primitive settlements in ancient times.
To put it bluntly, whoever has the biggest fist has the right to speak. It is the law of the jungle.
Sarlayan rubbed his temples with a headache: "Thunder God Clan... I don't think that group of warlike lunatics can be won over."
"After doing some calculations using the elimination method, we can only try to start with the stubborn and xenophobic Moknasa, right?"
