The Great Thief

The fragments were placed by Lu Li’s side. The others didn’t really know what they were, and Lu Li had no interest in explaining it to tens of thousands of people.

For the ordinary players who had participated in the battle, defeating this Boss was like freeing Tyr’s Hand from the Scourge. Quite a bit of Prestige was awarded in addition to the guild points given by Lu Li. Everyone had gained something.

Almost no one expected to receive the equipment that the Boss dropped.

As for the equipment dropped by the quasi-Bosses and the Elite monsters, the players could buy them with their guild points.

The rewards were quite bountiful, and over a dozen Epic equipment had been dropped. This equipment was even more powerful than the equips that dropped after a Stronghold battle. There were hundreds of Dark Gold equipment, and no one ended up with a net loss after the fight.

Dawn wasn’t about individual people. The gaming industry placed great emphasis on the importance on economies of scale.

If Lu Li didn’t have these 20,000 players, then not only would they be unable to claim Tyr’s Hand, but they also wouldn’t have gained so many items. After all, equipment wasn’t dropped if an NPC killed the monster.

Unfortunately, the Epic equipment dropped was quite basic. They were very good for the ordinary players’ standards, but Lu Li couldn’t put any of it to use, except the set equipment.

“All this was thanks to the people you brought,” Tirion Fordring said gratefully.

“You are too kind. I hope that your companions are okay,” Lu Li replied as he directed everyone to clean up the battlefield and to search for the imprisoned Paladins.

However, they couldn’t find the Paladins in the prison of the town.

“Rest assured – no one will be able to leave the town. My people have the place surrounded,” Lu Li said.

“The lost comrades and loved ones will only make our anger even more intense,” Tirion Fordring sighed as he looked at the dead bodies in the town. There were many people hanging on the pillars, some of which were broken. These bodies would soon transform into Undead or Patchwork Monsters.

The adventurers collected the bodies and burned them in pits dug outside the town. Burning the bodies prevented them from being used by the Scourge.

To the adventurers, these bodies belonged to the NPCs, so at most, they felt sympathy that was akin to watching a sad movie. However, Tirion Fording and the Paladins felt these losses deeply as they were the people that they had vowed to protect.

“We have found many civilians,” Lu Li reported to Tirion Fordring after hearing the news.

“Where?” Tirion Fordring asked hurriedly. He had though that the people of Tyr’s Hand had all been killed.

Lu Li led him through several buildings and stopped in front of a large, collapsed house. Tirion Fordring’s face looked anxious – what was under the house?

After a few seconds, he followed Lu Li down a hole from the side. Then, he saw an underground hall, which was noisy and filled with distraught humans. He estimated that there were at least 3000 people still alive.

The population of Tyr’s Hand was only four to five thousand people, so it was great that three thousand had survived.

The owner of this home might have accidentally dug into a cave when excavating a tunnel, which meant it could accommodate many people.

Originally, they thought that these people were hiding here, but after questioning someone, they discovered that these people had been trapped here by Heigan Lavender. They were imprisoned for the Cult of the Damned’s experiments.

The Cult of the Damned was now conducting live experiments, which were said to be improving the quality of Undead after they transformed.

The Scourge had always been unable to maintain a proper advantage against the Alliance, mainly because of the low combat power of their troops.

If an undead Soldier and a human soldier fought, the Undead would probably win. If it was a two on two, it would be harder to tell. However, if it was a five on five, then the Undead would stand no chance. They were helpless against the resilient cooperation of intelligent creatures.

Therefore, raising the base level combat ability of these troops was the current topic of the Cult of the Damned’s research.

The existence of these three thousand people meant that Tyr’s Hand could be quickly rebuilt, and their defenses could be reinforced. The Undead would be unlikely to give up on the town so easily next time.

After all, Tyr’s Hand was like a thorn in the side of Arthas and Kel’Thuzad.

However, it was also unlikely that it would be another mass invasion. Tyr’s Hand was not an easy location to attack, otherwise, the Scarlet Crusade wouldn’t have been able to hold it for so long. The Scourge would also be under pressure from the Alliance army, so they couldn’t break off too many troops to deal with this location.

By the end of the event, the NPCs and monsters in the Plaguelands had returned to normal, and

Tyr’s Hand had even become a safer place.

Soon, the adventurers would be rushing into Naxxramas, and the Scourge would not have the freedom to deal with Tyr’s Hand. Even if Arthas knew about the threat of Tirion Fordring, it didn’t mean that he would lose.

Lu Li was a little relieved as he thought he would have to defend Tyr’s Hand.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to defend it, but that the players were not like real soldiers. If they had to defend NPC-territory everyday, they would go mad.

Of course, if the NPCs were the main ones doing the defending and just asked for the players’ assistance in exchange for rewards, then that would be no problem.

After asking the survivors, Tirion Fordring found his Paladin veterans in a deeper part of the crypt. Only a dozen of them had survived. Almost all of them were injured, and some of them were comatose. Ten of them had been killed and their bodies were displayed in a line, waiting for the Lich to transform them.

Given the number of casualties, it was clear that these Paladins were difficult to capture as they would have rather died.

Tirion Fordring had apparently expected such a result. He personally healed the injured Paladins and promised to avenge the deaths of the others.

“Boss, let’s stay with the Paladin group,” Drifting Rain suggested when he found Lu Li.

Drifting Rain was in charge of one of Ruling Sword’s Paladin groups. He was a member of the Night Watchmen camp and had participated in many Darkshire quests, assisting the Night Watchmen on the frontlines against the Scourge army.

There was a group of them who had mastered fighting on horseback, and could really complement Tirion Fordring’s fighting style.

“I will stay too,” Her Tears said. He was also a Paladin, but was the head of the group which specialized in open field combat. The people in his group were PVP madmen, and were very passionate about fighting. This meant that Tyr’s Hand was very attractive to them.

Lu Li and the others obviously couldn’t stay, as they needed to continue developing the strategy for Blackwing’s Nest.

Although the First Clear had been taken by them, they had the Dragons Slayer’s Roar when fighting the little Red Dragon, and had gotten a bit lucky with the final Boss Nefarian. When cooldown refreshed, it was unclear as to whether they could do it again.

The other clubs were still stuck fighting the little Red Dragon.

As for the activities of the Plaguelands, it was unlikely that they would meet a Boss of Heigan Lavender’s level. Even if you did, you wouldn’t be able to defeat it without help. If you looked at the records of any club, you would know the devastating costs of these Bosses.

There had been many First Clear announcements over these few days.

One after another, the Scourge Bosses had been killed, but they didn’t drop any valuable items.

The return on these Bosses were so disproportionate that Ruling Sword didn’t want to focus on doing Plaguelands activities.

Lu Li bid Tirion Fordring farewell, and promised to leave no less than 2000 people to assist with the defense of the town before his reinforcements arrived. In addition, Lord Metz Drakrep would also be sending troops to defend the town, so there would be no concerns for Tyr’s Hand.

“Thank you, my friend,” Tirion Fordring said as he embraced Lu Li. “I am glad that you were who I thought you were. You are a zealous and just man, even if you walk among the shadows.”

“We are friends, my Lord. One day, I will build a Stronghold in these lands to fight these damned Scourge, for all of Azeroth,” Lu Li said seriously. If the other players didn’t know what he was doing, they might have been touched.

“Really?” Tirion Fordring’s eyes lit up.

In fact, he didn’t know that the alliances he currently had were temporary. The soldiers would later be evacuated to Light’s Hope Chapel, leaving Tyr’s Hand defenceless. If Lu Li’s people were here in a Stronghold, then they could at least watch over the town.

“When that happens, we will still need your assistance!” Lu Li nodded.

“When I needed you most, you reached out to help me,” Tirion Fordring said, then solemnly promised, “So, my friend, the Silver Hand’s Paladins will fight for your Stronghold!”

Lu Li tried to hide his excitement as he shook hands with Tirion Fordring.