"We're going to kill Horde? Invite me now. I'm flying to Menethil Harbor right away. Wait for me."
Gabryell and the others had already gathered at Menethil Harbor. Smooch arrived a little late, but after hearing they were going to fight the Horde, there was no chance she would sit this out.
By the time she flew over, David and the others' corpses were already cold.
"Desert, summon her."
Gabryell didn't want to waste time, so he had DesertWanderer open a summon portal and pull Smooch directly to Menethil Harbor.
It was Smooch's first time experiencing a warlock summon, and she was amazed.
"Hahaha, that's awesome! Desert, from now on you're my best friend. Wherever I want to go, just summon me there."
Gabryell said, "Don't dream too much. A warlock summon needs three people to click the portal."
People only appreciate warlocks when it's time to run dungeons, especially raids. A bunch of lazy players would stand around in town doing nothing, just waiting to be summoned. Then they'd shout, "WL, summon please!" Afterward, the warlock would hand out Healthstones, and everyone could get lost.
Gabryell formed a raid group and pulled everyone in. David's five-man party was invited as well, all of them in ghost form.
David and Susie resurrected and rushed out to hold back the Horde players.
The moment they revived, they were instantly flattened by attacks from more than ten enemies. Their raid status turned back to ghost form again.
Carlos said, "David, Susie, hold on. We're coming to avenge you."
SevenDays said, "The Horde has gone too far. More than ten people bullying a few of us. If you've got guts, fight us one-on-one. Trash. You couldn't beat us 5v5, so you called a crowd to gang up on us."
DeathScum said, "Once I hit max level, I'm camping the Horde capital every day. If I see a lone Horde player, I kill them."
Rogues and Druids could both stealth into enemy capitals and kill isolated players flagged for PvP. Rogues were safer thanks to Sprint and Vanish. When the Honor System first opened, most of the earliest players to reach Rank 10 were Rogues.
TwinBleeds said, "Count me in. You camp Orgrimmar, I'll camp Undercity."
StyleOverStats said, "Too bad I'm a Priest and can't stealth. Otherwise I'd go with you guys later."
Gabryell said, "Priests learn Mind Control at level 30. It lets you control players and humanoid NPCs not too much higher level than you. It's one of the Priest's top-tier skills. You can control Horde players and make them jump into the sea, lava, or off cliffs. If they die from the fall, their gear loses durability."
"Damn, that overpowered?"
StyleOverStats was thrilled.
"I have to hit 30 as fast as possible."
He was only level 29 now, one level short of learning Mind Control. Otherwise, this time he could have controlled the Horde players instead of killing them. That kind of torment was worse than death.
"Everyone follow me. Destination: Hillsbrad Foothills. Mission codename: Saving Private David."
Gabryell led the group out of Menethil Harbor. Without mounts, they could only run on foot, so they couldn't waste time there.
Lunatori shifted into Travel Form. She was one of the few level 30 Druids in the game.
"What a cute leopard."
Smooch's eyes lit up. She was charmed by Lunatori's yellow panther form.
"Lunatori, can you turn into that bear with the big butt?"
She had seen other Druids use bear and cat forms before. Of the three forms, she thought bear form was the cutest, especially the bear's huge backside.
Lunatori switched into Bear Form.
Smooch circled around her once and voiced every Hunter's dream.
"Lunatori, why don't you just be my pet? Follow me while we level. We'll eat well and live well together."
Any Hunter who didn't want to tame a Druid as a pet was a fake Hunter.
As she spoke, Smooch cast Tame Beast on Lunatori. After one failure, she refused to give up and tried again, only stopping once she confirmed there was truly no way to tame a Druid.
Lunatori was so startled that she deliberately kept her distance from Smooch, afraid she might actually get caught and turned into a pet. After all, Gabryell had once said when Hugo's Hunter used Eyes of the Beast to pull mobs that a Hunter's pet takes the harshest beatings and does the hardest work.
Seventeen players marched out of Menethil Harbor in grand fashion, heading toward Dun Modr. Seventeen players above level 29, all from the same guild, immediately drew the attention of everyone nearby.
When they reached Dun Modr, Gabryell received a private message from Dreamshade.
"Where's your whole group headed? Scarlet Monastery?"
Dreamshade was preparing to organize a run to Scarlet Monastery. They had lost The Stockade race to Fearless, and he didn't want to fall behind again.
Gabryell replied, "No. Our people are in Hillsbrad Foothills getting corpse-camped by the Horde. We're going to rescue them."
Dreamshade said, "Fighting the Horde? Something this fun and you didn't call me? Wait there. I'm bringing people over right now. We'll help rescue them and kill Horde together."
Dreamshade wanted Madhouse to become the number one Alliance guild on King's Valley. To earn enough prestige among Alliance players, slaughtering Horde was clearly more effective than claiming a five-man first clear.
Gabryell actually didn't want Madhouse involved. If too many people showed up, the Horde would definitely call reinforcements. Then it would stop being a small conflict and likely turn into a full-scale Alliance versus Horde war.
What was Southshore most famous for?
Without question, the massive battles between Alliance and Horde.
On nearly every server during the first few days of the Honor System, Alliance and Horde would slaughter each other between Southshore and Tarren Mill until corpses carpeted the ground and blood ran like rivers.
This was the first true battlefield between Alliance and Horde. Compared to Alterac Valley and Arathi Basin, it was even more brutal and passionate.
Gabryell didn't stop Dreamshade, because he knew Dreamshade would come join the excitement no matter what.
"How many people are you bringing?" Gabryell asked.
Dreamshade replied, "I originally planned to bring ten people to Scarlet Monastery. But when seventeen high-level players from your guild left Menethil together, it caused quite a stir. Our guild was just talking about it, so I whispered you."
"Since we're fighting the Horde, ten definitely isn't enough. I'm bringing more people so they can broaden their horizons and see some blood."
Dreamshade continued, "There are probably plenty of spies in both our guilds. Once the other guilds hear about it, they might join the fun too. Especially Freedom. They lost a lot of face in The Stockade last time, so they probably won't miss this chance to rebuild their reputation off the Horde."
Things changed faster than plans. Since that was the case, they might as well go bigger.
Gabryell spoke in guild chat.
"All online guild members, listen up. Everyone level 20 and above, gather at Menethil Harbor in the Wetlands. Anyone below 20, keep leveling."
Fearless currently had 465 members. Around 300 were above level 20. Of the 396 players online, roughly 270 were level 20 or higher. Even if only seventy percent came, they could still field five raid groups.
Based on what Gabryell knew of Dreamshade, when he said he'd bring more people, he probably meant every capable fighter in the guild. Madhouse had similar numbers, so five raid groups would be no problem.
Add in other guilds and curious unguilded players rushing over, and another five to ten raid groups wouldn't be hard to form.
"Leader, what are we gathering for?"
"I just logged in. Is the guild organizing a boss run?"
Gabryell said, "Do you want to fight the Horde? Then gather at Menethil Harbor. I'll lead you to attack Tarren Mill, kill Horde, take their women, and burn their town."
The moment they heard they were attacking a Horde town, the guild members became wildly excited. One after another, they declared they would join and rush to Menethil Harbor as fast as possible.
"Mentor, can I come too?" Snowlily asked. She was level 20 as well.
Gabryell sent her a party invite. It would be easier to look after her in the same group.
"Come. Stay behind me and heal me."
With Gabryell's approval, Snowlily was overjoyed.
"Wait for me. I'm coming right now."
Smooch said, "Snowy, don't run. Have Desert summon you over."
Desert didn't dare offend two girls at once, so he could only summon Snowlily on the spot to Dun Modr.
Watching the lively guild chat, Gabryell said in raid chat, "We'll head to Hillsbrad Foothills first to rescue David, then regroup at Southshore."
Gabryell was the first to cross the bridge and enter Arathi Highlands.
For the honor of the Alliance, he would be the first to charge.