The Syndicate and the Stonesplinter Ogres

Every move made by the Syndicate was watched by the Assassins League of the Hillsbrad Foothills. Though the Syndicate was an assassin organization, compared to the Assassins League, they were like infants to adults.

Members of the Assassins League had long since reported the Syndicate's movements to Jorach Ravenholdt.

"The Syndicate? Heh, they are nothing more than a bunch of fallen nobles who fail to recognize their own reality." Jorach Ravenholdt first sneered at the Syndicate, then thought of the suddenly changed Galen Trollbane, and smiled as he said, "Galen Trollbane, I must see how you handle the Syndicate's sneak attack. If you can't even pass this trial, how will you ever revive the Kingdom of Stromgarde?"

Jorach Ravenholdt chose to remain a bystander, neither stopping the Syndicate nor helping the Kingdom of Stromgarde. He wanted to use the Syndicate to test Galen Trollbane's abilities.

The Kingdom of Stromgarde had not yet established an intelligence organization like SI:7, so they had not learned of the collusion between the Stromgarde nobles and the Syndicate. Galen Trollbane was completely unaware and was currently directing the people of Stromgarde to relocate to Refuge Pointe.

Because the Kingdom of Stromgarde lacked a rogue organization and had mediocre anti-stealth capabilities, coupled with the fact that the Syndicate members were mixed in with the massive number of refugees participating in the work-relief program, Galen Trollbane simply could not detect them.

However, the ones who had sneaked into Stromgarde were not just the Syndicate; the SI:7 of Stormwind City was there as well.

As it happened, the rogues of the Stormwind SI:7 and the rogues of the Syndicate encountered each other inside Stromgarde. Both sides mistook the other for Stromgarde rogues and directly initiated an attack.

A rogue's combat was the most rapid, yet their tangled skirmish still drew the attention of the Stromgarde militia guarding the city.

Consequently, both the Syndicate and SI:7 chose to abandon retrieving the bodies of their fallen compatriots and temporarily retreated.

"These are the Syndicate and SI:7!" There were Alterac refugees and former members of the Defias Brotherhood within Stromgarde, who quickly identified their identities.

When Duke Falconcrest, who had sneaked into Stromgarde, learned that they had been exposed, he decisively ignited a signal flare, then drew his weapon and stirred up a riot within the city.

Lord Aiden Perenolde, who had just managed to pass the inspection of the Stromgarde militia units at Thoradin's Wall and entered the Arathi Highlands, saw the flare. He instantly realized they were exposed and could not help cursing in his heart, but he had no choice. He gathered all the Syndicate members who had sneaked into the Arathi Highlands and joined forces with the Stonesplinter Ogres of the Arathi Highlands to launch an attack on Stromgarde.

The Stonesplinter Ogres had been rescued together when the New Horde liberated the internment camps, except that the Stonesplinter Ogres were not taken along to Kalimdor and were instead left behind in the Arathi Highlands.

Since the vast majority of the New Horde's main force had headed off to the ancient continent of Kalimdor, leaving behind only fifty thousand orcs in Hammerfall, the Stonesplinter Ogres broke away from the Horde's control and once again became independent.

Ogres could be said to be the epitome of stupidity. Aside from individual two-headed ogres, single-headed ogres generally had low intelligence and only food on their minds.

Lord Aiden Perenolde, the leader of the Syndicate, seized upon this exact point, promising the Stonesplinter Ogres that once they conquered Stromgarde together with the Syndicate, all the food inside the city would be given to them, thus securing the help of the Stonesplinter Ogres.

Combined, the Syndicate and the Stonesplinter Ogres numbered over sixty thousand, surpassing the Stromgarde militia forces currently organized by the Kingdom of Stromgarde.

Marshal Oslett was currently stationed at Thoradin's Wall, in charge of the thirty thousand Stromgarde militia guarding Thoradin's Wall and Durnholde Keep.

As for the five thousand Stromgarde militia remaining in Stromgarde, their commanding officer was a female general named Amaren.

Due to its population size and fierce martial culture, the Kingdom of Stromgarde had a large number of female warriors within its militia, and Commander Amaren was the most prominent one to rise through the ranks.

Facing the attack of the sixty thousand Syndicate members and Stonesplinter Ogres outside the city walls, Commander Amaren did not panic in the slightest. She ordered the five thousand Stromgarde militia to close the gates of Stromgarde and hold their ground relying on the city's ramparts.

Though Stromgarde was an ancient city with narrow walls and outdated facilities, it was nonetheless easy to defend and hard to attack.

Because the old city of Stromgarde had only one main gate, and a moat had been dug outside of it with only a narrow road available for travel, this severely limited the enemy's numerical advantage. It forced the five thousand Stromgarde militia to face an enemy force actually smaller in number than themselves, which was precisely the reason Galen Trollbane dared to leave five thousand men to garrison Stromgarde.

Under the command of Commander Amaren, the five thousand Stromgarde militia methodically defended against the attacks of the Syndicate and the Stonesplinter Ogres.

Although the Syndicate and the Stonesplinter Ogres possessed a tenfold numerical advantage, their quality was uneven.

A few elite members of the Syndicate had once been regular soldiers of the Kingdom of Alterac, while the vast majority of the rest were merely refugees who had joined later.

As for the ogres, needless to say, apart from their innate physical size advantage, they could not be called an army at all. Without having to engage in frontal combat, the disorganized Stonesplinter Ogres were mere targets, and their threat was even lower than that of the Syndicate.

Furthermore, due to their premature exposure, not all Syndicate members had yet entered the Arathi Highlands, with a considerable portion still remaining in Hillsbrad. At the same time, they had failed to construct siege equipment in time, and were currently relying entirely on throwing lives away.

Commander Amaren possessed absolute confidence that relying on the five thousand Stromgarde militia was sufficient to hold off the sixty thousand rabble of the Syndicate and the Stonesplinter Ogres for several days. During this time, Prince Galen Trollbane would even have enough time to pull back the main force of the Stromgarde militia garrisoning Thoradin's Wall.

However, Commander Amaren did not know that Duke Falconcrest had already sneaked into the city of Stromgarde.

Fewer than a thousand Syndicate members launched a surprise attack from within the city against the five thousand Stromgarde militia defending the main gate.

Commander Amaren and the five thousand Stromgarde militia had their attention entirely drawn by the sixty thousand-strong rabble coalition of the Syndicate and Stonesplinter Ogres outside. Ambushed by fewer than a thousand Syndicate members, they fell into a disadvantageous position.

With no other choice, Commander Amaren had to temporarily leave the ramparts of the main gate and organize a thousand Stromgarde militia to wipe out the Syndicate faction that had sneaked into the city.

The Syndicate members who had sneaked into Stromgarde were elites, but their forte lay in assassination and stealth; fighting head-on against the fiercely martial Stromgarde militia made them no match at all.

Stripped of the protection of shadows, warriors practically crushed rogues.