Chapter 4

The waves of the Crystal lake gently swayed back and forth, reflecting the midday sun in kaleidoscopic arrays of colors. Corben stood by the shore trying to look into the water for signs of the kelp growing near. Eldum was sitting in the grass behind him in a seemingly trancelike state with his eyes closed.

The hunter was using one of his default abilities on Corben's request, and was surveying the area with an eagle eye skill. Lonaraa and Osbeorn were both standing a short distance away as lookouts for possible ambushes from either murlocs that had their crude, crooked wooden camps littered all around the great lake or Defias bandits that lurked around the forest.

The murloc was a bipedal, amphibious, semi-intelligent aggressive race residing along coastlines, lakeshores, and riverbeds. Murlocs possessed bulbous bodies, large mouths lined with rows of sharp fangs, and slime-coated skin. Individuals ranged in coloration from turquoise to darkish grey. While the average murloc was only about a meter tall, some of them could reach up to two-meter height with some extreme cases growing even larger than that.

Depending on the variety, murlocs may lean towards a closer resemblance to frogs or to fish.

Not wanting to rely only on Eldum's observations, Corben took a deep breath, put a translucent shield around him to not get wet, and jumped into the water to look around. The water was clear enough to see at least fifty meters away and by the looks of it, small patches grew here and there.

There was enough to make a full box of invisibility potions, but it would take all day to gather enough.

He quickly returned back to the surface and removed the shield to start breathing again. Diving under the water to gather kelp surely was an option but he was banking on another possibility. Maybe murlocs had done all the hard work for him and all he had to do was to sneak into one of the camps and just snatch away the valuable herb from them.

Finally, Eldum opened his eyes with a calm exhale. "Good news. I located a large pile of the grass ye are lookin for on the island over there." he pointed at the patch of land about a half kilometer from the shore.

"It's rather far away from the shore. Did you see a safe spot to get on the land without alarming murlocs?" Corben asked as he eyed the distant island.

"Here, let me draw a map for ye." Eldum took out a notebook from his pack and quickly scribbled a rudimentary map of the island with all the murloc camps he noticed while observing it.

Corben took the map and looked at it critically. There were at least three points from where someone could sneak in unnoticed. The problem was how to get back once the murlocs were alarmed. Going with a full group and fighting their way through was not an option. The nasty creatures would overwhelm them with sheer numbers. It meant that it had to be a stealth mission with a quick retreat option.

Even though the recent battle experiences had expanded his abilities to some degree, he wasn't on a level to use either teleport or portal. Yet there was a lesser spell that might do the trick. 'I could use recall to flee, but that means I will have to go there myself. Oh well, time to see how good I'm at solo missions.' He mused.

Corben gave the map back to Eldum and motioned for Lonaraa to come closer. "Looks like it will have to be a solo mission, so you two will have to stay behind as I infiltrate the island and get back."

"But you are not good with close combat. Murlocs are dangerous creatures." Lonaraa said with a hint of worry in her voice recalling the short encounter with the creatures they had on the way to the lake.

"I don't plan to fight them. I will put a recall spot right here and freeze murlocs in the spot while gathering the kelp. Besides, I have enough resources to make one invisibility potion." Corben replied, oozing confidence.

"Please be careful. We won't be able to help you from here if something goes wrong." Lonaraa pleaded.

"Don't worry, I'm not planning to kick the bucket just yet. I have an entire list of races to bed before that." Corben chuckled, earning an annoyed grunt from Lonaraa.

"Come to think of it, I have one more race to add to the list." He said matter of factly.

"You…" Lonaraa's face got a shade darker once again. "We… you… you are being crude again. I don't like it!"

"Calm down. I'm not proposing a quickie before a mission, just pointing out that now I have to put a draenei girl on the list as well. And if you don't fancy the experience I'm sure you have a friend or two who would." He continued taunting the draenei.

She crossed her arms and looked away putting her nose up. "I would never… with someone like you! Such a crude man is beneath the women of my kind!"

"She's a feisty one!" Eldum let out a hearty laugh as he nudged Osbeorn. The bear in response also let out a sound that also resembled a laugh.

Seeing that she was outnumbered, Lonaraa just gave up and sat down on a nearby rock looking away from the group.

"Relax, we are just joking around." Corben said to the pouting draenei.

"I'm used to your vulgarity!" She waved him off in annoyance. Not seeing a reason to poke her even more and potentially make her very mad again, Corben returned his attention to the task at hand.

'First things first.' He gulped down a mana potion to get enough reserves and cast a recall point in the spot he was standing. With most of the reserves gone, he drank a few more of them and put the empty bottles back in his backpack. The next step was to prepare himself for a half a kilometer swim.

For his two more physically oriented companions, it likely would have been an easy task, but for him, it would take some boosting to even make it.

He put an invisibility potion in his pocket for easy access and drank an increased stamina potion. Just in case, he put one more in the pocket in case he ran out of juice before reaching the island. Increasing the bubble around him wasn't a hard task, the same as temporarily making an opening for the air to get in.

With all the preparations done, he jumped in the water and started to swim towards the island. Keeping up the rhythm of doing a few strokes and then putting his head above the weather to take a breath, he inched closer to his destination.

Some larger fish swimming around came dangerously close from time to time, but even they resolved not to attack such a large target and just went after the smaller fish that swam around the lake in large pools.

When about two-thirds of the path was crossed, he had to stop to drink the second stamina potion. Mages weren't exactly known for their physical prowess and he was no exception.

Other than that, Corben had no problems reaching the small island. The moment he was back on the land, he quickly drank the invisibility potion and sneaked towards one of the murloc camps he knew would be to the east.

The island itself was rather small and mostly covered with trees. It was no wonder that the island was uninhabited by intelligent races as it would simply take too much effort to live there.

Making sure he was making no sound, Corben crept past murloc patrols that stopped and sniffed the air in confusion. The animalistic creatures clearly relied on their sense of smell but that sense was not enough for them to figure out that someone was present as their dull minds didn't understand the concept of invisibility.

The camp they lived in was no different from the ones scattered around the lake. Small wooden buildings made of branches and driftwood, rows of fish left dry in the sun, and of course, many smaller ones running around and playing.

The kelp he was looking for was left drying on crude grass ropes. Not wanting to waste any time, he crept towards it, past a circle of larger murlocs that were seemingly discussing something in their language that was more of a noise than anything else.

However, just as he reached the kelp and prepared to set off the deep freeze to keep the creatures in place, he heard someone speaking in common.

"As you can see, gentlemen, the Mglrgrn clan is in dispute with the gnolls over the eastern part of the forest. Don Gllmngh asks for the temporary alliance to deal with those dogs and in exchange, he offers to help your clan to gain control of the river in the Northshire Abbey."

For a moment, Corben froze on the spot. His mind simply wanted to deny what he had heard. One of the mindless creatures had not only spoken in common but also spoke of alliances and territorial control. 'Just what in hell is going on? Maybe it's for the best to just leave.' The thought of caution crossed his mind.

The thought of intelligent murlocs was too outlandish to even consider. 'My mind is just playing some tricks on me. Maybe an unforeseen side effect of the invisibility potion.' He rationalized what he just heard and activated the deep freeze, immobilizing the whole murloc camp. The creatures would sustain some damage, but nothing major, and deaths were unlikely.

He quickly dropped invisibility, started to collect the kelp, and put it in the bag when one of the murlocs shouted. "That human was snooping on us. He knows! Eliminate him, NOW!"

'Shit! It is real.' Corben picked up the pace. He had minutes, maybe less, until they would start to break out of the icy prison that held them down. The dread of knowing that he had stumbled on something he shouldn't have rose with each second as the murlocs were angrily shouting in their gargled language.

'Just a few more.' he frantically continued his work. The bag was almost full and it was time to leave. Corben looked at the murloc circle, and despite them pretty much looking the same, he could pick out which one was speaking common. There was a murloc whose yellow eyes were fixated upon him with a dreadful intelligence deep within.

Just in case, Corben shouted. "I didn't hear anything. Just stealing some kelp from regular murlocs."

The murloc continued glaring at him as the first cracks in the ice appeared. "We will remember you!" he said in a threatening tone. With great effort, he tore one of his legs out of the ice and struggled to get the remaining leg free.

Corben instinctively gulped and activated recall. Within the blink of an eye, he was standing next to his team. Lonaraa jumped to her feet, reacting to the fearful expression Corben had. "Did something go wrong?" Lonaraa immediately asked.

"We have to go! Now!" He shouted and practically pushed Lonaraa and Eldum away from the lake.

"Calm down, lad. Did the beasties scare ye that bad?" Eldum asked with a chuckle.

"One of them talked in common! And they know I heard them! We have to freakin' leave before they catch us with us!" Corben raised his voice, sounding frantic.

"Ye have drunk ane too much o thae potions o yours." Eldum said, not letting himself get pushed forward anymore. Meanwhile, Lonaraa was generally confused about why Corben was so worked up.

Corben got in their faces and continued to shout, adding exaggerated hand movements on top of his already frantic behavior. "I am not high. I know what I saw. There was a freaking murloc who spoke in common. They talked about territorial disputes like bandit clans. Trust me on this!"

"Murlocs dinnae talk common. Ye must be…" Eldum stopped mid sentence and just started at the lake shore that was only about a hundred meters away or so. Hundreds of murlocs emerged from the previously calm waters and charged in their direction. It took a second to process what he was seeing, but once he did, Eldum gasped. "Run!"

How long they ran from the mob of angry murlocs was hard to tell but at some point, the creatures stopped giving chase. Considering they were amphibians, they needed to be close to a body of water and would not steer too far from it no matter the reason.

Only when the group was absolutely sure they were not followed anymore did they stop. While Lonaraa and Eldum just stood for a while, panting heavily, Corben slumped down against the tree and closed his eyes.

Lonaraa was the first to talk. "Can someone explain to me what just happened?"

"I told you. I heard them speak in common, and they know I know their secret." Corben said, panting.

"Murlocs dinnae speak common, lad. At least they shouldnae speak. Something weird wis going on there." Eldum chipped in.

"I hope it's just some demon possessing one of those little fuckers. Otherwise, we know something we shouldn't." Corben mumbled before adding with a whisper. "I need a nap."

"We can't stay here. What if they catch up with us?" Lonaraa said as she looked around in fear of seeing the creatures.

"Just bury my corpse here." Corben let out a barely audible mumble and then a light snore.

"Looks like he's oot. Osbeorn, watch him while A will gather firewood an ye, lass, better get a bit of rest as well. We are no oot of the woods yet." Eldum first gave commands to his pet and then addressed Lonaraa, who was not as exhausted as the poor mage but also was far from being at her peak performance.

"But murlocs?" She protested.

"Thae beasties will not stray that far from the lake. Osbeorn will wake ye up if somethin will get near." Eldum reassured her.

Reluctantly, she sat down beside Corben, who was already sleeping, exhausted from both the swimming and the running.

In the warm mid-day sun, her eyelids got heavy in no time.

Corben awoke only when a pleasant smell of meat roasting over the fire hit his nose. "Did ye rest well?" Eldum greeted both as he sat by the fire and roasted a pair of hares over the small campfire he had made. Osbeorn was laying down beside his master and lazily chewing a raw, skinned hare of his own.

"Yes." Corben responded with Lonaraa soundly asleep and leaning against him. He carefully stretched his legs and right arm with a long yawn and added. He glanced at her before resting his head against the tree once more. "I'll let her sleep for a bit more. There is no hurry to leave. We still can hit the farm and get back to Goldshire way before the sun goes down."

"Aye. Sae, whit's wi the murlocs?" Eldum asked. The whole thing of them talking like humans was far too strange to ignore.

Corben quickly retold every single detail of the whole encounter and the only thing Eldum could say in response was: "Strange business that wis. Better not stick our necks too deep in that."

"Agreed. Whatever the hell they were doing, I don't want to get involved." Corben remarked.

Once the hares were fully cooked, Corben gently nudged Lonaraa to wake her up and the group had a quick meal. Despite all the strangeness, Corben had enough kelp to not only give the young lovers a decent enough stockpile of invisibility potions but also had enough for his own use.

Their next goal before returning back to the Goldshire was a small farm to the south where they needed to kill a huge prized pig without the owner being a witness to their dark intentions.

Once again, Eldum's eagle eye came in handy as he could survey the area and find the pig. The massive beast was happily gorging on a pile of pumpkins on the edge of the farm with the farmer working on the field nearby.

The plan they devised was simple. Osbeorn would act as a distraction and scare the people, forcing the people to chase him off. While there were no witnesses, Lonaraa would taunt the pig and lead it away from the farm so all three could kill it without risk.

Unlike how things went at the lake, the plan worked like a charm.

The farmer and his farmhands chased after Osbeorn the moment he tried to snatch one of the smaller pigs roaming the field. The tricky bear easily managed to avoid their pitchforks and rather amateurish attempts at shooting him with bows and led them away from the farm.

Lonaraa, meanwhile, taunted the pig by using a piglike squeal that enraged the pig and made it run after her. She led the angry animal into the frost trap where Corben and Eldum helped to finish it off.

Since they didn't have much time. They quickly took the collar of the dead animal as proof of the deed and while the owner was still none the wiser of what had happened to his prized pig, Eldum cut out the best parts of the meat.

Before anyone could stumble upon the crime scene, all four conspirators were gone without a trace.

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All four were standing before the entrance of the Fargodeep mine. After hearing the recount of their previous experience with kobolds and the mine, Eldum was just as reluctant to go inside.

Of course, this time they had a stronger motivation to get the job done.

The local marshal had promised a much greater reward for merely assessing the state the mine was in and what sort of threat the kobolds dwelling within its tunnels offered. Not to mention that two of the local merchants had offered an additional reward for the kobold candles and the gold dusk some of them carried. Finally, there was a kobold with the golden tooth that had taken the necklace.

"Remember, if I say run, we run. No bullshiting around!" Corben warned his group while staring at Lonaraa.

Unlike the small mine in Northshire Abbey, this one was much larger and had a labyrinth of tunnels; anyone foolish enough to go in without a map could easily get lost. Fortunately, the marshal had provided them with a map and instructions on how to not get lost in the numbered tunnels.

They stumbled upon the first kobold not even five minutes into their descent. Dispatching it was an easy job as the candle burning on his head served as an easy target and the small rat-like creature got shot in the face by Eldum.

This, logically, alarmed the nearby rodents but in the tunnels, their numbers didn't mean that much. With Lonaraa and Osbeorn holding the line, Corben and Eldum could easily dispatch large numbers of the creatures, racking up the potential reward money with each kill.

The main problem they faced was finding the kobold with the gold tooth. There wasn't exactly a pin on the map where the creature was hiding. Even if they would find another gigantic kobold like the one they faced in Northshire, the current setup of their group was enough to easily kill the creature on its own, not to mention that both Lonaraa and Corben had grown in power due to all the combat experience.

Of course, everyone had a hard limit on how powerful they could grow and there wasn't a way to determine it beforehand, but some of the strongest champions of the alliance were powerhouses that could stand against armies on their own.

Tunnel after tunnel, they sought out the particular kobold to no avail. The gold-toothed rat was seemingly aware that it was being hunted and avoided them like a plague. Yet, even its luck ultimately ran out and the group cornered the rodent in one of the deepest tunnels.

With the usual phrase, "You no take candle." He charged them in a desperate rush, only to be met with the powerful paws of Osbeorn and get unceremoniously killed.

"Looks like that's it. We can leave this palace and hope we don't need to get into a mine any time soon." Corben remarked as he picked up the necklace.

"Dinnae jinx it, lad." Eldum warned him.

"There is only one additional mine in the whole forest and… dammit, I jinxed it, didn't I?" Corben swore.

"We didn't find any nasty surprise in this one, so I'm sure that the last one won't be any different." Lonaraa said with a reassuring smile in a chipper tone.

"Why do I have a feeling you would describe even the worst hell hole as a mild challenge without any surprises." Corben asked.

"You don't have to be that gloomy and sarcastic, you know." Lonaraa shot back.

"Yeah, yeah." Corben just gave up arguing with her. If she wanted to be the shining embodiment of positivity in every situation, then there wasn't much point in preventing her from doing so. "Let's just get back to Goldshire and sell all the crap we have gathered."

"Don't we have to return the necklace first?" Lonaraa asked.

"Do we have to? It's not like there is a time limit." Corben said with a tired sigh, already knowing that she will not back down.

"But the necklace was so important to the lady. I'm sure it would be a good deed to return it to her as fast as possible."

"Fine, let's return the necklace, but you are carrying me if I get too tired." Corben groaned.

"Don't be lazy. I will not haul you back to town. You can ask Osbeorn." Lonaraa said with a deadpan expression. The bear growled and pointed back at her.

"He says the waif should carry the man, not him." Eldum translated for the bear.

"We are not… ahh, forget it! I will drag Corben back to town by the leg if he passes out on the way there." Lonaraa said. 'That sounded so cruel, but he would realize it's just a joke, right? I'm not being too insensitive, right?'

"And this is what I have to put up with. At least you still are my pal and would not leave me behind, right Eldum?" Corben asked.

"We are brothers in booze, lad." Eldum said with a laugh, clapping Corben's shoulder.

"They are getting wasted again, aren't they." Lonaraa said to Osbeorn who nodded with a grumble as both were following the pair of alcohol enthusiasts discussing what will be their choice of poison this evening.

Getting out of the now practically cleared mine was easy. Kobolds never were a real threat to decently prepared adventurer groups even if they lacked a healer. Corben was planning to find one once his group gained more recognition, but they were hard to come by as every group wanted to have one but their numbers were too low to fill every group with the much-needed slot.

For now, all they could do was make word of themselves spread, and returning the necklace to a poor widow was one such deed that would make them an established and trusted team.

Bernice Stonefield broke into tears when she saw her lost necklace and didn't pay much attention to the collar of the pig she had requested to kill. "You found it! Thank you." She quickly put the necklace around her neck and then ran inside the house. The group waited, and she returned a few minutes later with a small money pouch and a pair of large leather gloves with a plate covering engraved with a lion in her hands.

"Here, take this. Those were my husbands. He always said they were lucky. He forgot to wear them in his last campaign." She handed Lonaraa the gloves and gave the money pouch to Corben. "I hope this is enough for both services you have done for me."

Corben opened the pouch, looked inside, and smirked. Among the copper coins, a few silver ones could be seen. "Sure is lady. By the way," Corben smiled mischievously. "I think you would like to know that we implied that we would feed that little shit to my friend's bear if he steals again."

"I would say it would be better if your bear would have eaten him, but I am a kind woman and I do not wish for the poor animal to have such a horrible meal." Bernice said flatly. "Thank you again. I will never forget what you have done for me."

"Don't mention it, and if you need a reliable team in the future, ask for us." Corben said.

They found Tommy next and gave him a small crate full of invisibility potions. "Here you go, pal! Show your girl a good time. Just remember to give her potions as well." Corben said with a knowing smirk.

"Y-yes, thank you." Tommy stuttered, becoming red like a tomato while accepting the box. He quickly hid it behind the rock at the end of the field and then returned with a large bag.

"I know this isn't much, but they could catch a decent price at the market." he said as he opened the bag showing the dried fish inside.

"Lad, thon stuff is perfect wi a mug o cold beer. Ye have our thanks." Eldum snatched the bag before the rest of his team could respond.

"You sure seem enthusiastic about that stuff." Corben remarked.

"Fish is hard tae come bi in Dun Morogh, ye coud buy a full plate set if ye went tae right tavern at the right time." Eldum explained.

"Isn't there a lake to the west of the Dun Morogh?" Corben couldn't help but ask.

"All is bought up bi the border villages. Stuff rarely gets tae Ironforge."

"Fair enough. I guess we are having fish tonight." Corben said.

"Aye." Eldum said with a smirk and gave one fish to Osbeorn right away, as the bear was getting restless at the intoxicating smell.

Proofreading by Sad_Smiles and Visur Nyxan.