By the game's classifications, the Giant Bloodfang Boar was probably the largest boar on the continent of Azeroth outside Dustwallow Marsh and the Razorfen Highlands. Unlike ordinary boars, however, Giant Bloodfang Boars weren't found everywhere. They lived only in Westfall, with perhaps a few in the Redridge Mountains, and nowhere else.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk was judging solely by what he had previously known about Azeroth. He knew that Giant Bloodfang Boars were the largest breed of boar, but he had no idea how big they actually were.
He hoped they weighed over three hundred kilograms. He knew that Eurasian wild boars on Earth were considered large at around a hundred and fifty to a hundred and eighty kilograms, and didn't exceed two hundred. He had heard, though, that the largest wild boars on Earth were giant forest hogs weighing two hundred and seventy-five kilograms. But Azeroth wasn't a particularly rational world, and its wild animals tended to be larger.
Take the lynxes of Quel'Thalas, for instance. They were a full size larger than Earth's cheetahs. Just how large would a boar with "giant" in its name be? He had originally planned to look around Stormwind City, but curiosity somehow kept him at the inn instead of leaving right away.
He asked the innkeeper to bring some food and good wine, then chatted with him while eating. When it came to the number of Giant Bloodfang Boars, the innkeeper proved as silver-tongued as any merchant, pouring out one story after another. After all, these elves were generous customers, and they also had a profitable business arrangement together.
Nothing in Westfall was more famous than the gold mine known as the Deadmines. It was controlled by the nobles of Stormwind City, and Moonbrook owed both its origins and its growth to that mine.
At first, there had been no settlement at Moonbrook at all. Once gold was discovered, the nobles of Stormwind City went mad, sending wave after wave of people to the mine. As their numbers grew, a village gradually formed. Later, iron veins were discovered in addition to the original gold deposits, and members of the blacksmiths' guild began moving in as well. Over time, it developed into Moonbrook, one of the larger towns in the Kingdom of Stormwind.
Giant Bloodfang Boars were among the area's original inhabitants, and its rulers as well. Even establishing Moonbrook hadn't allowed humans to drive them away. On the contrary, clearing wilderness to grow crops had caused their numbers to increase considerably.
Their temperament wasn't as vicious as that of beasts like leopards and wolves. As long as people didn't try to kill them, they would simply amble around right in front of them. When the crops were nearly ripe, they could often be seen sneaking into the fields and feasting away. One careless night was enough for a whole boar family to eat everything clean. Even if the villagers discovered them, two or three people could do nothing. They couldn't even chase the creatures off; the boars just kept their heads down and ate, ignoring them completely. If provoked, a single charging rampage could destroy all the crops and finish off the people as well.
The villagers could only gather more people and frighten them with gongs and drums. The beasts were clever, too. Once they saw a crowd, they neither lingered nor charged, but simply swaggered slowly back the way they had come. The villagers were helpless, and these shameless creatures bred all too well, producing ten or more piglets in a litter. It made people grit their teeth with hatred.
Only when their numbers became unbearable would the residents pool some money to hire troops to cull them. The nobles of Stormwind City were hardly charitable souls. Without something to gain, they would never send soldiers to help for free. The residents had still been worrying over the boars when, unexpectedly, a whole group of seemingly foolish High Elves arrived.
The innkeeper had always wondered why Yu Lin Bloodhawk was buying so many Giant Bloodfang Boars. Yu Lin Bloodhawk lied, telling him that for some reason, many elves in Quel'Thalas had recently taken to training lynxes as pets. But lynxes ate meat, and the forests of Quel'Thalas had no wild boars and not enough meat, so they had to come out and purchase some to take home.
The innkeeper exclaimed in amazement that High Elves were truly impressive, keeping lynxes as pets and outdoing even the nobles of Stormwind. How much money must their meat alone cost? Fortunately, Stormwind's nobles didn't keep fierce beasts as pets, or life would be miserable for the commoners. Offend a noble, and instead of setting a big dog on you, they would release a tiger or leopard-something that could kill a person with one bite.
Could Stormwind's nobles really kill commoners so casually? Yu Lin Bloodhawk was deeply shocked. The answer was ambiguous: the law forbade it, but in practice it happened often. It was a familiar scenario, yet the innkeeper's endless examples cast it in a bloody red light.
"Honored Baron, are you saying that many of your elves enjoy keeping fierce beasts as pets? Then why don't we work together on another business venture? I could catch some beasts for you, and you could handle selling them back home. What do you think?" The gleam of gold coins suddenly appeared in the innkeeper's eyes.
"What other fierce beasts do you have around here? I don't remember this area having any large ones!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk said, searching his memory.
"Of course there aren't any here in Westfall, but there are plenty of grizzly bears and lots and lots of wolf packs around Goldshire and Duskwood!" the innkeeper said.
"Grizzly bears count, but surely wolves don't! They're like big dogs. I doubt they could even beat a murloc. You don't really expect a High Elf noble to keep a pack of wolves as pets, do you? That's hardly different from keeping a dog," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
This wasn't a game. He really had little interest in such relatively small carnivores.
"How could they not beat murlocs?" the innkeeper said anxiously. "You're talking about little wolf pups. Adult dire wolves regularly prey on murlocs. I've even heard there's a wolf king called Lupos in Duskwood who's more formidable still. All the murlocs over there have fled across the river onto Goldshire's land. Not one dares venture into Duskwood on the other side."
Lupos? Yu Lin Bloodhawk's mouth fell wide open. Damn, even a rare silver elite has shown up! "Is he really that powerful?" he asked curiously. He genuinely wanted to know.
"Why would I lie to you? Why else would he be called the wolf king? He always travels alone. All he has to do is stand there, and a whole crowd of murlocs gets so scared they flee to the Goldshire side," the innkeeper said smugly.
"Could he be caught?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk's eyes lit up. This creature dealt shadow damage-no small thing. He was an arcane archmage among wolves, a warlock among beasts, with attacks that ignored defense.
"It should be possible, but ordinary residents couldn't do it. He's too powerful," the innkeeper said.
"What sort of people could catch him?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked.
"It would take some real warriors and powerful professionals!" the innkeeper said.
"You've got me interested. I want to catch him and keep him myself! How much would it cost?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked.
"A lot!" the innkeeper said hesitantly.
"Tell me how much!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
"Two gold coins!" The innkeeper held up two fingers.
"How much?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk thought he had misheard.
Two gold coins really wasn't that much, but to someone like the innkeeper, it was a considerable sum. After all, it was only a wolf. Had Yu Lin Bloodhawk not been using public funds, he would certainly have thought it was a lot himself.
"It really would cost that much! Those warriors and professionals charge very high prices," the innkeeper said.
These were peaceful times, and prices weren't especially high. Two gold coins could buy a great deal. Ordinary commoners generally used silver coins at most; only nobles used gold.
"If I give you three gold coins, can you catch him and bring him to me?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked.
"Yes, absolutely!" The innkeeper thumped his chest. Of course! Three gold coins could buy sixty Giant Bloodfang Boars, he told himself.
"I've thought about your pet business, and we could give it a try. What purchase price would you suggest for those grizzly bears? If it's too high, I don't want them. They won't sell!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
"How about seven silver coins?" the innkeeper asked.
"That won't do. Grizzly bears are much more dangerous than giant boars. How about this: I'll give you another silver coin, for nine silver in total. They must be adults. Buy a hundred to start with, and we'll see how well they sell," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
It wasn't that Yu Lin Bloodhawk had money burning a hole in his pocket. Grizzly bears truly were more dangerous. They didn't have the temperament of Giant Bloodfang Boars; they were aggressive beasts. Yu Lin Bloodhawk worried that capturing them would be so dangerous that no one would bother, and everyone would simply catch boars instead.
"What about wolves?" The innkeeper was dazzled by the shower of gold.
"Wolves?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk frowned. "Can those wolves really beat murlocs?"
"They can, they can! Plenty do. The villagers have seen it with their own eyes," the innkeeper said.
"Tell me about it!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk's interest was piqued as well.
He certainly wasn't thinking of using wolves to equip his combat-pet force. He was thinking of the murlocs on Shalandis Isle. Damn it, I don't have that many people, but there are so many murlocs. Then I'll just turn a pack of wolves loose on them.
Murlocs were a little weak, but he couldn't simply leave himself undefended! Guarding against wolves would be easier than guarding against murlocs. After all, those murlocs were humanoid creatures with some intelligence. Otherwise, how could they use weapons? They were probably much like humans in the Stone Age. And they could swim, diving into the water whenever they couldn't win a fight.
The innkeeper knew that as long as he interested this High Elf, the deal was almost certain to succeed. As a merchant, he had a gift for persuasion, and as an innkeeper, he had heard and seen plenty. Most of his stories were things he had heard from others, yet he told them as vividly as though he had witnessed them himself.
Through the innkeeper's extravagant descriptions, Yu Lin Bloodhawk gradually understood. Although they were all wolves, there were several varieties here, broadly divided into two types: worgs and dire wolves.
Worgs were large, with sturdy limbs, thick waists and legs, good endurance, and considerable speed, but they weren't particularly agile. In the innkeeper's words, they were a little stupid. These later became mounts for orcs. The other type, dire wolves, were somewhat smaller than worgs, with broad chests, narrow waists, and slimmer limbs. They had good endurance, ran extremely fast, and were very agile. Many later became the orcs' combat pets. Lupos, the wolf king, was actually a type of worg, which left Yu Lin Bloodhawk somewhat dissatisfied. Both worgs and dire wolves also had many subdivisions of their own.
For instance, the dire wolves here fell into two main categories: Duskwood Dire Wolves and Forest Dire Wolves. Duskwood Dire Wolves lived in Duskwood and were white all over. Forest Dire Wolves lived in Elwynn Forest, with pale gray-blue fur, white bellies, and a dark gray-blue stripe running down their backs to the tips of their tails.
Really, all he needed to distinguish was whether they were worgs or dire wolves. Their subdivisions were mostly based on where they lived, and there were no major differences beyond their fur color. It wasn't like the game, where one region was level one to ten and another was level twenty to thirty.
After thinking it over carefully, he understood. Earth was enormous, yet he had never heard of the same species differing so greatly from one region to another. As long as they were the same breed, the differences were generally small. This made him suspect that Azeroth wasn't a game world at all, but a real one. The people he met weren't NPCs, but living, breathing people-people every bit as alive as he was.
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