Marshal Windsor

After leaving the interrogation room, the adventurers returned to the central hall. This time, they entered the first cavern on the right.

Unlike the neatly arranged interrogation room, this cavern was much rougher, still looking much as it had when it was first excavated. Cells of various sizes had been carved into both sides. They were so makeshift that some were not even square inside; strictly speaking, the smallest barely qualified as recesses in the walls. The uneven floor and jagged stone walls spoke everywhere of its crude construction. Clearly, the Dark Iron Dwarves had never intended to provide their prisoners with comfortable surroundings. The only similarity was that most of these cells had sturdy iron doors that even the strongest ogre could not force open.

Almost all the prisoners captured by the Dark Iron Dwarves were held here. From dwarves to orcs, from ogres to humans, any creature that trespassed into Blackrock Mountain without permission would be imprisoned here. Sometimes, Dark Iron Dwarves who opposed the Firelord's rule were locked up here as well.

This enormous prison had fewer guards than people might have imagined, because the Dark Iron Dwarves believed its defenses were already strong enough.

Many years ago, during the excavation of Blackrock Depths, an enormous earth elemental-Rocknot-had been discovered. The Dark Iron Dwarves soon realized how powerful this creature was. After tremendous effort, they imprisoned it, and seven Dark Iron Elders bound its will with spells. From then on, Rocknot was assigned to patrol the prison in the outer city. Any prisoner hoping to escape would have to face the test of Rocknot's heavy stone fists.

The earth elemental's intelligence, however, was clearly a serious weakness. When fighting intruders, it made no distinction between friend and foe. The Dark Iron Dwarves had learned this through countless painful incidents of friendly fire, though it was hard to tell whether Rocknot had caused them deliberately. Anyone could see that the earth elemental had not the slightest affection for the Dark Iron Dwarves who enslaved it.

For intruders, however, fewer Dark Iron Jailers was definitely good news. They only had to avoid the earth elemental.

Diago, Masley, and Khanifa were quietly hiding around a bend in the cavern, listening as Rocknot's enormous, rumbling footsteps gradually faded into the distance.

"This way." Diago pointed to the left side of the cavern. In the dim yellow torchlight, they could just make out a solitary cell about fifty yards away. It was the only cell here without an iron door. In fact, it was not used to hold prisoners.

They approached the entrance. Masley, in his black panther form, twitched his nose and turned to give Diago a suspicious look.

"Are you sure we need to go in there? It doesn't smell very good," he said hesitantly.

"Then we're in the right place, Masley. What we're looking for is in here."

"All right. I hope you're right," Masley said helplessly. After a moment's thought, he changed back into his humanoid form-the smell here was far too devastating to a hunting cat's keen sense of smell.

Diago went in first. His shoulders were shaking uncontrollably, however, which made Masley strongly suspect he was being made a fool of.

The room was small, about two paces square. A long, narrow pit lay in its center, so dark that its bottom could not be seen. Scraps of rotten paper, strips of cloth, and similar things littered the floor. A foul stench filled the entire room.

This was a latrine. That was Masley's first impression upon entering. When he looked at Diago in disbelief, the latter nodded in agreement.

"That's right, it's a latrine. But I never said what we were looking for couldn't turn up in one," Diago said. He crouched down and sifted through the scattered paper on the floor with his bayonet.

"You're disgusting, Diago. I really can't believe I've been traveling with someone this disgusting for so long," Masley complained. He still seemed to be brooding over that appalling incident from before.

"The honor is mine, Mr. Masley," Diago said mockingly. He seemed to have finally found something. Masley leaned closer out of curiosity and saw a palm-sized scrap of paper covered in yellow stains.

Holding the edge of the paper between his thumb and forefinger, Diago carefully offered it to Masley, looking terrified of getting his hands dirty.

"Keep this safe, lad. It's the key to rescuing the marshal," he said solemnly.

"If you dare lie to me, human, I'll make sure you never forget your own lies," the Night Elf vowed through gritted teeth as he took the paper.

He took a small pouch from his pocket and stuffed the paper inside in disgust. He looked close to the limits of his endurance. Once he had finished, he practically fled the place.

They continued along the seemingly endless cavern, surrounded by deathly silence. No one spoke or caused trouble in any of the cells, as though they were all empty. But Diago and Masley both knew that every cell here was packed full.

Despair permeated the place. The prisoners lacked even the interest to stand up and look through the barred windows to see who was passing outside. At last, they stopped in front of a cell. It looked no different from its neighbors. Without Diago's experience from his previous life, they would have struggled to find it among the hundreds of cells.

Diago felt along the door to locate the lock, then took the Silver Key from his bag. But the thought of meeting that legendary figure made his excitement difficult to contain. His hand shook, and it took three attempts to fit the key into the lock.

With a soft click, the lock opened. Diago pulled the heavy iron door open with all his strength and looked into the cell.

There was only one prisoner in this cell, a human. He looked strong and appeared to be middle-aged. He wore a linen vest and a pair of tattered trousers with nothing remaining below the knees. His skin had turned grayish pale from his long imprisonment away from sunlight. Unable to groom himself for so long, his beard had grown like weeds all over his cheeks and face. Only his brown hair still stood stiffly upright like steel wire, much like his unyielding fighting spirit.

Squinting at the sudden light from outside, he was studying the uninvited visitors at his door.

"Marshal, sir, Diago Asnar salutes you," Diago said, almost choking on the words. He bowed deeply, paying the highest respect to this living legend.

"Masley Bearhide salutes you. May Elune's radiance be with you always." Behind him, the normally proud Night Elf bowed with equal reverence. The fact that the goddess Elune had revealed that this man must be rescued was enough on its own to inspire his profound respect.

"You are...?" Windsor asked with some uncertainty. In this place fraught with danger, he could hardly trust a stranger readily, even a fellow human.

"We're here to get you out. You need to return. Stormwind City needs you," Diago urged, though he knew it was futile. The marshal would not leave so easily. This true nobleman, who worried for his country and its people, was concerned about other things, not his own safety.

"We've lost our last hope. What good would getting out do? Would that woman sell me to the Dark Iron runts again?" the marshal sneered. Stormwind City's fractured state filled him with pessimism. He could see no glimmer of hope now. During his years of imprisonment, he had worked through the causes and consequences of everything. After connecting all the events, he had finally seen the true face of the mastermind behind them-but he had also seen the enemy's despair-inducing power.

Diago and Masley looked at each other, speechless. Masley did not know what to say, while Diago knew very well how things would develop next. He knew he did not need to say anything.

Windsor's voice grew louder and louder. He needed to vent, but now he was no longer merely complaining. He was roundly cursing his immediate superior.

"Bolvar is an idiot. All this time, I've been gathering 'evidence' about that mastermind so I could defeat her once and for all. But Bolvar is a brainless clown. The evidence was piled two feet high in front of him, and he turned a blind eye to it. If I can recover that Tablet and get out of this damned dungeon, the first thing I'll do is go to Stormwind City and cut that fool in half to see whether his skull is filled with nothing but shit!"

"Uh, well, Marshal, sir, I don't mean to interrupt, but I think you should look at this first," Diago said haltingly. He gestured with his lips for the Night Elf to give the marshal the paper. The latter reluctantly complied, pinching his nose.

The marshal took the scrap suspiciously, then began reading it by the torchlight from the passage outside. He seemed perfectly familiar with dwarven cuneiform, and he did not mind the strong smell of the paper either.

The note was covered in stains, and its writing had become blurred, but its general meaning could still be made out:

"...sweet irony...

...the disintegration of the Alliance...

...if not for General Angerforge's hard work, we might still not have found a way to decipher it...

...Agamand is almost finished deciphering Windsor's Intelligence.

Our master will return from the depths and destroy all that remains...

-Dagran Thaurissan."

As he deciphered more and more of the dwarven writing, the marshal's eyes grew brighter. When he finally finished the note and looked up, the adventurers could see the excitement filling his face. Hope had returned to his heart.

"Do you know what this means? Perhaps they haven't gotten everything yet!" he growled softly, waving the scrap in his hand. It fluttered like a little flag, flying as high as his suddenly rekindled fighting spirit. "What I can say for certain is that two Dark Iron Dwarves-General Angerforge and Golem Lord Agamand-are deciphering my intelligence right now. I don't believe we'll be able to recover it very easily. I hope you're ready for battle. Find those two villains! Kill them, then bring back my missing intelligence."

I knew it would turn out like this! Diago lamented inwardly. Easier said than done. This would be a task so difficult it was almost impossible. But the Night Elf fighting for his goddess seemed entirely unconcerned.

"What should we do?" he asked firmly.

"Next, we need to go to..." Sitting in a pile of rotten straw, Windsor frowned as he worked through their next steps, but Diago interrupted his thoughts. Under his astonished gaze, the human hunter rose from the ground and bowed deeply to the marshal.

"Let's go, Masley. I know what to do," he said through clenched teeth, his face bearing the heroic resolve of a man going willingly to his death.

Masley followed him out with complete trust. In truth, the Night Elf had grown accustomed to his companion's occasional foreknowledge and believed in it without question. Often, he could not help wondering whether this human was a transformed dragon of the Bronze Dragonflight. According to ancient legends, these dragons possessed the ability to control time and foresee the future.

"Close the cell door and pretend nothing happened. We'll be back soon," Diago turned and reminded the marshal.

Windsor stared at the two of them, dumbfounded. This was completely outside his plans!

Note: You may notice that a few little details in this chapter differ from the game. As someone who has always stayed faithful to the game, I can only say helplessly: sometimes, these differences are necessary.

In the game, this note was originally a random drop, but for the sake of the story, we need it to be in a fixed location-even if that location is a little... Otherwise, how would the adventurers find it? Steamroll their way through like in the game and wait for a random drop?

Just hold your noses and go along with me~~~