The Alliance raid pushed forward, sweeping through everything in its path. Horde corpses littered the ground wherever they passed.
Among the Horde players they rolled over, a few stubborn ones tried to rez at max range, only to get killed again almost immediately. Everyone else gave up and took rez sickness at the Tarren Mill graveyard.
"There are a ton of Horde in Tarren Mill. At least a few dozen, and more than half of them have rez sickness."
TwinBleeds was proving to be a reliable scout, constantly reporting the latest situation in Tarren Mill to Gabryell.
Tarren Mill's guards were level 55. Getting even slightly too close would break stealth. The fact that TwinBleeds had managed to avoid being spotted the entire time made him a rare Rogue talent.
"Main force, group up and head for Tarren Mill. Don't go inside. Dance outside the gates."
There were no Horde players left in the open, so Gabryell regrouped the raid and moved toward Tarren Mill. The Horde army was about to arrive from The Sepulcher. If they stayed scattered, they would be picked off one group at a time.
Gabryell had everyone move to Tarren Mill's entrance to provoke the Horde. He wanted to create the illusion that the Alliance planned to fight them to the death right outside Tarren Mill, making the Horde think they could come down from Silverpine Forest and pincer them together with the Horde inside the town.
The Horde didn't have unified voice comms. Only a handful of them were even on voice. Typing couldn't compare—orders got buried in chat spam too easily. When it came to coordinated raid movement, the Horde was bound to lag far behind the Alliance.
Tarren Mill's guards were level 55, with more than 5,000 HP. They weren't elites, but for a group of level 20–30 players, clearing them would still come at a huge cost. It simply wasn't worth it.
Gabryell would not take a bad trade. If too many Alliance players died to guards, the Horde inside Tarren Mill could easily counterattack. After all, the guards respawned, and at their current level, there was no way to clear them efficiently.
"Weren't we supposed to flatten Tarren Mill?" Igor asked.
Gabryell said, "At this stage, there's no way we're flattening Tarren Mill. Nobody can tank level 55 guards right now. Even Carlos would get two-shot."
Flattening Tarren Mill was just a slogan for now. The timing wasn't right yet. They could come back after everyone reached level 60 and Alterac Valley opened.
Gabryell said over Vent, "Everyone, /dance together. Try not to pull the guards."
Pulling one or two guards was manageable, but pulling too many would cause massive casualties.
Level 55 guards were terrifying. Everyone knew that, and no one was dumb enough to run up and pull them on purpose. Pulling guards at a time like this was basically announcing to every Alliance player: I'm a Horde spy. Flame me.
Two or three hundred players dancing together made for a spectacular sight. Outside Tarren Mill, Alliance players surrounded the town and danced in front of the Horde inside.
Unfortunately, this wasn't a full virtual-reality game, so they couldn't see the Horde players' real-life expressions. Still, it was easy to imagine how priceless their faces must have looked right now.
"Trash Alliance! If you've got the guts, come in and fight!"
"Damn it, Alliance scrubs are all cowards. You don't dare step into Tarren Mill. All you can do is put on a circus outside."
"Just wait. Once our guild's army gets here, I'm going to Southshore and dancing there too."
The Horde inside cursed like mad in public chat. Whether the Alliance could understand them or not didn't matter. Cursing was the only way they could vent their frustration right now.
There were quite a few PleasureWorld players in Tarren Mill. They had originally come as reinforcements, but now they had all been killed back into town and were too afraid to come out.
The biggest coward among them, Darkshiv, was hiding at the very back of the crowd. He was afraid that if he showed his face, he would become the target of everyone's anger. After all, he was the culprit who had triggered this Alliance-Horde war in Hillsbrad Foothills.
Faced with the Horde players' powerless rage, the Alliance became even more excited. While dancing, they spammed all kinds of strange emotes to taunt them. Some of the more aggressive players even typed in public chat:
"Come out!"
Gabryell was very satisfied with the current situation. Morale was extremely important in a raid battle. Their side was riding high, while the Horde's morale had hit rock bottom. If this dragged on, some Horde players might not be able to stand it and would either fly back to Undercity or log off, reducing their numbers without the Alliance needing to do anything.
"Leader, are you almost here? The Alliance is getting way too cocky. They've already surrounded Tarren Mill and are dancing at the gates to provoke us."
Every Horde player with a guild was asking for help in guild chat, hoping to bring more people to Tarren Mill and wipe out the arrogant Alliance outside.
I'mNotPikachu sounded miserable. "If reinforcements don't get here soon, some people might not be able to take it and log off. They might even delete their characters and reroll Alliance."
Windwalker understood how serious the situation was. If that really happened, the Horde would have a hard time holding their ground on the server in the future, and the realm would slowly become Alliance-dominated.
Windwalker would not allow that to happen. No matter who won or lost in the end, they had to fight the Alliance.
"We've already reached Southpoint Tower. We'll be at Tarren Mill soon."
The moment the Horde army entered Hillsbrad Foothills, Gabryell received a report from DeathScum.
"Leader, the Horde main force is here. There are a lot of them. I'd say seven or eight raid groups."
Seven or eight raid groups. It probably wasn't just Hall of Fame. There were likely smaller guilds and solo players mixed in as well. They had more people than Gabryell's five and a half raid groups.
Of course, while Fearless had five and a half raids, the smaller Alliance guilds and random players who had come to join the fun had also formed two or three raids of their own. They just weren't on Vent and were still roaming around Hillsbrad Foothills. If they ran into the Horde main force, they would almost certainly get wiped.
"Once the Horde main force has fully passed through, go to coordinates 51.2, 36.2 in Silverpine Forest. That's near the outskirts of The Sepulcher. Anyone coming from Undercity toward Hillsbrad has to pass through there."
Gabryell decided to push his scouts even farther out.
"Twin, go with DeathScum."
Tarren Mill no longer needed scouts. There probably weren't many Horde players who had unlocked the Tarren Mill flight path yet. The key now was watching for Horde reinforcements coming from Undercity.
The Horde vanguard was about to arrive. The two sides were about to clash, so Gabryell quickly arranged their tactics.
"Everyone leave Tarren Mill and head to the fork in the road outside Southshore. We'll wait there for the Horde reinforcements."
Fighting outside Tarren Mill was extremely unwise. Not only was it close to the Horde graveyard, they could also be attacked from both the front and rear, and they might accidentally pull level 55 guards. The chance of a wipe was high.
By taking the initiative and intercepting the Horde reinforcements at the fork outside Southshore, they could reverse the terrain disadvantage, put the graveyard advantage closer to the Alliance, and leave themselves room to retreat back into Southshore.
At the same time, reinforcements from Arathi Highlands could cut off the Horde players coming out of Tarren Mill from behind, preventing the Alliance from being pincered.
"Warriors, stand at the front. Paladins, Priests, and Druids stay behind and heal. Mages below level 25, don't charge in. Stay with the healers in the back and cast Blizzard. Mages level 25 and above, follow me. Blink into the Horde main force from the flank, Frost Nova, then Arcane Explosion."
In raid battles, Mages had two roles: cast Blizzard to slow the enemy, or rush in as a suicide squad and blow up the enemy formation.
A Mage who didn't dare Blink into the enemy formation, Frost Nova, and Arcane Explosion wasn't a qualified Mage. Only a Mage who wasn't afraid to die could create the greatest value for the raid.
"Hunters, place traps along the road. If you have Frost Trap, prioritize Frost Trap. If not, use Immolation Trap and Freezing Trap. After setting your traps, move freely along the two flanks. Use your range advantage, and whenever you can hit their healers, prioritize their healers."
"All Rogues stealth. Circle around from the outer edges of Hillsbrad Farm and Azurelode Mine to get behind the Horde main force. Pick off low-health ranged players and healers who fall back to eat and drink. Prioritize healers."
This was the advantage of unified Vent command. The raid wouldn't be left clueless, charging around like headless chickens.
After arranging the tactics, Gabryell sent Dreamshade a private message.
"You can come now."
Dreamshade replied, "Understood. We're leaving Stromgarde Keep right away."
Gabryell said, "Protect our rear. Prioritize killing the Horde coming out of Tarren Mill, then turn around and charge the Horde main force with us."
Gabryell did not trust the other Alliance guilds and solo players. Although they were also rushing over from Arathi Highlands now, they weren't on Vent, so once the battle started, they would definitely fall into chaos and fight on their own.
"The Horde is here!"
Carlos, who had mic privileges, fought down his excitement and shouted, "There are so many of them. Everyone, get ready for battle!"
Ahead of them, the Horde army surged forward like a massive wave.
Since World of Warcraft's launch, the server's first major Alliance-Horde battle was about to erupt.