Saturday (15 Dec) - Dominance Offensive

Saturday (15 Dec) - Dominance Offensive

The Dominance Offensive is a special set of twelve interconnected quest chains that became available with the last patch. The Priest Lao has been recruited for this dangerous expedition. This is Lao's story:

With the patch that showed up less then a month ago there opened up a new area of exploration, or, as it turned out, exploitation. Lao woke up at the Shrine of theTwo Moons in Pandaria to find a message waiting for her: Get to the Krasarang Wilds and meet with Hellscream. Now. Garrosh Hellscream is the leader of the Horde.

Not that she would ever say this out loud, but Lao is not a big fan of Hellscream. She usually tries to stay off his radar when she can, but the missive was not one to be ignored. Lao went.

When she arrived she found Hellscream with the crew that Lao had landed in Pandaria with. More like crashed in Pandaria, but what's one wrecked Zeppelin or two. The Horde are claiming the lands in the southern area of Krasarang Wilds before the Alliance can take a foothold.

At this point Vol'jin (the Troll Leader under the command of Hellscream) showed up, demanding to know what was going on. In a sneering and condescending voice, Hellscream told him. Hellscream wanted the resources of the Wilds and he wanted to show the Pandarens his might by crushing the Alliance, thinking this would make them side with the Horde.

"It won't work, mon." Vol'jin said. "You will just drive them away with your bloodthirst."

Hellscream sneered back, "This is why Thrall did not leave you in charge. You are weak and don't have what it takes to lead. But I have a job for you, if you want to see what is going on, scout out this cave and report back."

This is where things started to get interesting. Not trusting Hellscream, and wanting to get away from him, Lao joined Vol'jin in the a cave and discovered there was a way to amass an army of "made" creatures of hate. Vol'jin was appalled, but a trusted ally of Hellscream who joined us was not, this is exactly what Hellscream wanted. In the ensuing fight Vol'jin was gravely injured but alive and Hellscream's ally was killed.

Swearing a blood oath to Vol'jin, Lao went back to report to Hellscream, claiming that Vol'jin was dead. Vol'jin tasked Lao to keep close and gather data. She would find allies along the way, but be wary.

What Hellscream has told any of the other leaders, Lao does not know. But, while out at Domination Point, she received a summons from Vol'jin. Flying to him she found him still gravely injured but being tended to by Stromstout. Vol'jin felt that his people were under attack, and to go find Thrall.

Thrall and Lao traveled to the Echo Islands, the home of trolls, and found it under marshal law, by order of Hellscream. The orcs there even attacked Thrall. Lao was not pleased. Thrall and Lao took back the Echo Islands from Hellscream. Lao was sent back to Domination Point, while Thrall thought what to do.

Meanwhile, Hellscream commissioned the Bloodelves, lead by Theron, to find out the secrets of the Ancient Mongu race that once ruled Pandaria. In their digs they uncovered a story of a Bell. The Bell gives the Mongu more hate and anger, and also makes them better fighters. Hellscream wants this Bell, and sent Theron's people after it into areas they were unprepared for, costing them lives. Theron is not happy with Hellscream and, when Theron questioned Hellsream's orders, Hellscream was not happy with Theron, either. Lao cannot tell where Theron's loyalties lay. Is he playing along with Hellscream, like Lao, or is he in support of his activities?

Lao has received missives from Vol'jin, each time getting paranoid that this might be found out. Vol'jin knows about Hellscream's search for the Bell. Baine, the leader of the Taurens, has been keeping close to Hellscream and reporting back to Vol'jin, but Hellscream does not trust Baine, so who knows how open Hellscream will be.

So far Vol'jin has Thrall and Baine on his side. Lao is not sure where Theron stand. As for the goblins, they are pretty mercenary, so they could fall either way, but in the end they will fall probably to the side they see keeping their skins alive. Sylvanas has yet to enter the picture.

Lao is returning to Domination Point daily. She's playing the good loyal Bloodelf, but is also keeping an eye out for further orders from Vol'jin.

More to follow, Lao is sure . . .