1. Journals

Chapter 34: The Plight of Malaka'jin

The next day after their meeting with Tsunaman and their bloody battle with the Twilight's Hammer cultists, the party made their way back down the mountains to where the Horde's main roads ran through the Stonetalon valleys. Once they reached that point, they made a decision to split up for now; Yuma Stonehoof would travel north with Tsunaman to see the elemental's safe return to Sun Rock Retreat, while the others would make way south to Malaka'jin.

For Yuma's part, the journey went without a trouble. He had a chance to speak more with the elemental, and eventually introduce him to Unknown and his fellows once they reached town.

For the rest of the party, it took a few days to reach Malaka'jin; the calm and quiet little troll hunting camp near the foothills of Stonetalon, almost stepping back out into the Barren plains again. It was a bito ut of the way, off from the road, and nestled into a defensible little ravine. The people there seemed to be lounging about in the mid-day sun when the party arrived, though they were quick to seek out figures of interest and ask questions about the Grimtotem.

They were pointed to the leader of the camp, the wisened Witch-Doctor Jin'Zil, at what looked to be the central building for the camp as a whole -- a large, round structure with plenty of space for the camp's residents to gather, eat, and socialize. Jin'Zil himself had a private chamber further in the back, behind beaded curtains and lit with mellow, enchanted lights.

He seemed happy to hear that the party was in Malaka'jin to help with  the recent bandit raids, which he could tell them in great detail about -- caravans arriving late and empty handed, all with stories of skull-painted tauren descending upon them from the hills, usually following some form of bluff about wounded friends needing aid.

He could also convey that some of his scouts had been sent out not too long ago to track down the Grimtotem's and figure out where they had been hiding. It would still be a while before they would return, however, so he suggested they could spend their meantime being useful to the camp if they would so please. As chance had it, the camp's butcher Denni'ka was running out of supplies thanks to the caravan raids and some meager hunts as of late.

When they then found and spoke to Denni'ka, she introduced them to a camp tracker named Rhajon, who had spoted a wyvern nest up in the nearby mountains some hours away from the camp. The two had been hatching a small scheme to get up there and retrieve some eggs from said nest, and the party's appearance at the camp would make that a lot easier if they had the chance to help.

After all, with the caravans failing to appear, the camp had a fair bit of coinage they could spend to acquire supplies in other ways.

The party chose to accept, and joined Rhajon on a trek south of Malaka'jin and up in the mountains. It took some hours, leading to their arrival at the nest by early evening. It seemed the wyvern-nest's adults were nowhere to be seen, with only a single hatched egg in the nest -- a small wyvern cub startled by the party's presence. Thinking quickly, Zachariah Hallowhold cast a spell that blanketed the area in impermeable void, blocking both sight and sound well enough that Gan Jedi and Jung-Won Oxhide could together pilfer the nest for its eggs.

And on top of that, the half-eaten corpse of a dwarf that the wyverns had previously managed to claim. Its boots looked decidedly magical, and Jung-Won had no intention of letting that opportunity go to waste.

The party made a daring escape, fleeing from the nest together with Rhajon, and safely returned back to camp. Their victory became a story for the whole camp to hear, and as thanks for their efforts Jin'Zil prompted them an offer to identify any unknown magical items for free if they should need it.

Now all they had to do was wait for a while, both for the camp trackers to return and for Yuma to re-join them.

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