According to Nathanos, they were a group of Shadow Magic users who had performed countless evil rituals in the nearby wilderness.
Before the Dark Portal opened, humans had never encountered the power of shadow. With the Orc invasion, those who wielded this profane and evil power had come to humanity's attention.
These shadow-wielding spellcasters had caused humans considerable trouble during the First and Second Wars. Nathanos, who had fought in the defense of Quel'Thalas, naturally remembered this power well.
After the war ended, some Orcs still roamed the vast lands between the Blasted Lands and Quel'Thalas. These Orcs posed a great danger to humans, and the spellcasters among them who wielded shadow posed an especially grave threat.
Rumors had begun spreading through human settlements that some humans had been killed with shadow spells by Orcs and sacrificed to certain evil beings.
Recently, these Orcs' activities had shown clear signs of spreading toward Marris Stead. Though they moved covertly, this had ultimately caused them to leave more traces.
As a ranger lord who had received further training in Quel'Thalas, Nathanos had lost none of his ranger skills despite leaving the rangers. Even without deliberately searching, he had still detected these cultists' movements.
According to Nathanos, he had actually been watching these shadow spellcasters for a long time. After all, their area of activity had expanded to the vicinity of Marris Stead. As a ranger, once he noticed their presence, he naturally had to investigate, and happened upon a group of wild animals that had clearly died from some strange power.
Nathanos said these people were probably in dire straits. They did not even seem to have a fixed place to stay, merely wandering the wilderness. But they were, after all, wielders of shadow, a power most people considered rather evil. If left unchecked, they might cause something bad to happen, yet Nathanos would have trouble dealing with them alone.
After all, he had left most of his equipment in Quel'Thalas. All he had on hand now was a crudely made wooden hunting bow he had fashioned in his spare time.
The arrows Nathanos currently used were also very simple things. They were fine for shooting birds, but would probably fall short against wielders of shadow.
Judging by the tracks Nathanos had followed, these cultists seemed to be preparing some sort of ritual. But because he could not investigate everything alone, he had been unable to uncover any more detailed information.
As a human ranger, however, Nathanos had only a very shallow understanding of magic, so he had not figured out exactly what these people were trying to do.
"Then why didn't you tell me, cousin? Couldn't I notify our order and bring people to wipe them out?" Nathanos's younger cousin asked. Only then did Aaron learn that this young man had already joined the Knights of the Silver Hand and was currently serving as a Paladin's squire. In a few years, once he came of age, he could formally become a Knight of the Silver Hand.
Nathanos shook his head. "I wanted to find their exact location before telling you."
According to Nathanos, though he had noticed their presence long ago, these evildoers were highly skilled at concealment. All he had tracked were the traces these cautious people left behind. As for the cultists themselves, Nathanos sighed. He had not found them at all.
"Wielders of shadow..." Aaron first thought of Natalie's followers, but it was not necessarily them. As far as Aaron knew, after Gul'dan died in the Tomb of Sargeras, a large portion of the shadow-wielding Orcs under his command had become followers of the two-headed ogre Cho'gall-the later Twilight's Hammer.
These Twilight cultists had a far greater presence than even Kel'Thuzad's Cult of the Damned. These servants of the Old Gods lurked behind many events.
The identity of the shadow spellcasters roaming nearby was still uncertain. If they were the Twilight's Hammer, the matter would require careful consideration. After all, Cho'gall was quite powerful. With only two rangers and two Paladins, dealing with these cultists would not be easy.
"Nathanos, where were the last traces those cultists left?" Vereesa seemed very interested in the matter and looked at Nathanos eagerly as she asked.
Nathanos answered, grabbed the longbow hanging on the wall nearby, and led the three others out of his home.
With Nathanos leading the way, the three followed him through the stretches of farmland at Marris Stead and out into the wilderness. They were now beyond the fields, in an uncleared wood. Fallen leaves covered the forest floor, and small animals could be seen scurrying away in alarm at any moment.
"Just up ahead." Nathanos gestured. "This is where I last found traces of them. Those people are extremely cautious when they move. I can never catch their trail."
Vereesa looked at the heap of assorted rubbish before her with some distaste. Her reaction was hardly surprising, as the refuse gave off a foul stench. Looking closely, they could see animal hides, gnawed bones, and the like piled there. Not far from the rubbish lay a long-burned-out campfire.
"This is the place. These people only operate in the wild. I found these traces three days ago. I haven't found any more recent ones yet," Nathanos said with some helplessness.
His main occupation was still farming, after all. He could not spend all his time tracking these cultists, and his intermittent pursuit meant that the traces he found were fragmented as well.
"Where are the other traces?" Though repelled by the smell of the rubbish, Vereesa still examined the area carefully. "I don't think there were many people active here. About four or five."
"Yes, there are also traces of sacrifices they left in the woods, in that direction." Nathanos pointed toward the nearby woods, then spoke as though testing her. "Vereesa, you still need more experience. From what I can see, three people should have rested here. However..."
Nathanos stopped halfway through, then pointed deeper into the woods and continued, "Come on. You'll understand once we go take a look."
Following Nathanos into the woods, they saw another campfire, with traces of activity still remaining around it. Nathanos pointed at these traces and continued, "Take a careful look here."
"At what?" Aaron and Nathanos's younger cousin spent a long while examining the area around the campfire, but could make nothing of it.
"Here... there were more people here than over there," Vereesa said immediately after a glance.
"Yes, the cultists' numbers decreased. We just don't know what happened among them. Perhaps they sacrificed their own companions too. All right, this way. Here's the altar they left behind." Nathanos nodded and led everyone deeper into the woods.
After following Nathanos through numerous twists and turns in the woods, the three saw the altar he had mentioned.
From a distance, the altar did not look very large. It consisted of just three tiers of piled stones, with the remains of several animals faintly visible on top.
These remains had shriveled as though drained of their life force, and a faint layer of black smoke still hung over their surfaces. Dark red bloodstains also remained on the altar, and an indescribable stench filled the surrounding air.
"This is desecration!" Stephen, who had undergone proper Paladin training, tightened his grip on the pitchfork he had picked up at Nathanos's home as a makeshift weapon and spoke bitterly as he looked at the sickening scene.
"Don't rush. Take a careful look." Aaron's reaction was fairly calm. He gave Stephen a reassuring look, then turned to Nathanos and asked, "What can we find here... wait, I..."
Aaron had just been about to ask Nathanos whether he had discovered anything here, but stopped halfway through. Just as the others were about to ask what was wrong, Aaron raised a hand to signal everyone to remain quiet.