Stranglethorn Valley is a humid and sultry rainforest with a very impressive density of vegetation.
When passing over the dense forest, you cannot see the scene in the forest through the dense branches and leaves.
In order to find Cheng Bo who had arrived first in the rain forest, Sarlayan and the other three could only descend into the forest and walk through it, searching carefully along the way.
Following the winding river, they came to a small lake. Seeing that it was already getting late, the three of them, who were tortured by the sultry weather, planned to rest here for the night.
As an experienced adventurer, Sarlayan knew very well that he could not camp directly near water sources.
In this hot and humid rainforest, the human body loses water very quickly, and so do animals.
The indigenous people living in Stranglethorn Valley will often come to rivers and lakes to replenish water. If you are not careful, you may encounter wild beasts that come to drink water.
Sarlayan is not afraid of wild beasts, but there is no need to waste time and energy on them. It is more important to find someone.
According to previous adventure experiences, Sarlayan usually hangs sleeping bags on big trees near water sources.
Living in trees cannot completely eliminate danger, and there are many wild animals that can climb trees.
But generally speaking, carnivores will not settle near water sources. The only ones you need to worry about are the snake-like creatures coiled in the trees.
There are many kinds of venomous snakes in the rainforest, and you even occasionally encounter huge pythons.
Before entering the sleeping bags, Stellagosa cast spells on the sleeping bags of the three of them. All nearby wandering creatures would instinctively avoid this place.
The movement of this spell is very small and cannot be detected without careful inspection.
But it also has weaknesses. It only works on animals and insects, and cannot repel intelligent creatures.
As a rule, the three of them would take turns to watch the night to avoid having their heads cut off by the jungle trolls that climbed up the trees while they were sleeping.
The first half of the night was difficult, so Sarlayan volunteered to let Stellagosa and Valeela fall asleep first, while he opened his eyes and watched the surroundings vigilantly.
The Stranglethorn Valley rainforest at night is not quiet at all. Even if you don't mention the constant chirping of insects, you can occasionally hear the sounds of nocturnal creatures when they go out to hunt.
The first half of the night passed smoothly, and around 2 o'clock in the evening, Sarlayan keenly captured some unusual sounds among the roars of insects and beasts.
"Shasha~"
'Is someone approaching?'
The sound of rubbing plant leaves was getting closer and closer to Lake Neferiti where the three of Sarlayan were resting. Judging from the scale of the movement, it should be some kind of swarm of creatures.
Valeera does not have the keen senses of dragons, but she sleeps very soundly now.
Stellagosa's experience in adventuring outside was not as rich as Sharlayan's and Valeera's, and her alertness during sleep was relatively low, and she was not awakened until the other party came close enough.
In the dark night, Sarlayan narrowed his eyes slightly, paying full attention to the direction from which the sound came.
"Shua~"
Not long after, a tall fanged monster holding a metal battle ax walked out first, looking around cautiously.
After confirming that there was no danger, he waved silently behind him, and more companions followed his footsteps and walked towards the lake.
'Sure enough...jungle troll.'
All jungle trolls are nominally affiliated with the Gurubashi Empire and are governed by the overlord clan, the Gurubashi.
The Kingdom of Stormwind had some friction with the Gurubashi Empire long before the orcs invaded. At that time, Medivh, Lothar and Prince Lion, who were still young, once invaded the Gurubashi Empire's fortress and turned the city upside down.
As foreign invaders, the orcs treat all races in Azeroth equally.
Just hit it.
After Stormwind City was captured, the orcs invaded Stranglethorn Vale and fought a battle with the jungle trolls of the Gurubashi Empire.
In the end, no one can do anything to defeat anyone.
Black Hand, the first chief of the tribe, was unwilling to give in and wanted to continue to take down these difficult fanged monsters in one go.
But when Orgrim, the second-generation warchief with a better strategic vision, took office, he decisively gave up his entanglement with the trolls and instead headed north, making the defeat of the Alliance the tribe's primary goal.
As long as the alliance, the biggest threat standing in the way of the tribe, is defeated, there will be plenty of opportunities to slowly deal with the jungle trolls.
Due to many objective factors, Orgrim's plan failed to be implemented as expected.
The Kingdom of Stormwind and the Gurubashi Empire, which were also severely weakened, have been recuperating in the past two years.
After the Horde was defeated, Varian returned to his homeland with the people of Stormwind Kingdom.
Although the Stormwind Kingdom is temporarily unable to expand into Dusk Forest, the local militia organization Night's Watch has not relaxed its vigilance against evil neighbors.
Before the three Sarlayans bid farewell to Varian, Onyxia and the others and set off from Stormwind City, Mathias Shore brought the information given by Varian.
This information was submitted to Stormwind Fortress by the Night Watch in Dusk Forest and handed over to Varian. It was mainly about the movements of the Gurubashi Empire in the past two years.
The fighting style of the jungle trolls is extremely brave. In the war with the orcs, the Gurubashi clan who charged forward as usual suffered heavy losses.
Seeing that the overlord clan was in decline, other jungle troll clans living in Stranglethorn Vale began to get ready to take action, and came up with the following ideas to defeat the superiority.
The Jungle Trolls believe that the strong should be respected. As long as they can prove that their clan is stronger than the Gurubashi, the status of the clan leader is not out of reach.
Of course, the Gurubashi clan could not just sit back and watch their younger brother rebel. Under the advice of a scheming sorcerer, the two big jungle troll clans started fighting each other under the secret instigation of the Gurubashi.
Bloodscalp and Skullsplitting, these two clans are only inferior to Gurubashi in strength, and each occupy a large territory in Stranglethorn Vale.
The two major clans fought fiercely. They were able to persevere with their abundant capital, but the nearby small and medium-sized clans suffered disasters. Many small clans had disappeared under the flames of war.
As a last resort, the remaining members of these small clans had no choice but to leave their homes and break out south, intending to find a relatively peaceful territory to live in again.
The Darkspear clan is one of them.
Among the many jungle troll clans, Darkspear is one of the most inconspicuous clans, and is not even noticed by big clans such as Bloodtop and Skullsplitting.
According to the information provided by the barrage, in the original history, because the Darkspear clan embraced the new tribe, it gradually grew into a very important clan among the jungle trolls, and its power even surpassed that of the declining Gurubashi.
Danmu doesn't know if the Dark Spear clan will have such an encounter in this timeline.
At least for now, they are still running around in Stranglethorn Valley like bereaved dogs.
The jungle trolls that appeared on the shores of Lake Neferiti are from the Darkspear clan.
Seeing more and more old, weak, sick and disabled people walking out of the forest, Sarlayan made a rough estimate. The total number of people in this clan, old and young, was only a few hundred, and only a few dozen had strong fighting ability.
That's all.
Sarlayan did not turn on the eagle eye to spy. According to past experience, these trolls with "stronger" combat power are only around level 20 at most, and they have very few elite-level combat power.
The Darkspear Troll, who was traveling all night, did not intend to stay at the lake for a long time. He only filled a little water at the lake and hurried south.
They seemed to be planning to head to the relatively peaceful southern cape area, far away from the growing civil war in the northern part of the jungle.
But it's easier said than done.
Referring to the power map of Stranglethorn Vale provided by Mathias Shore, from Lake Neferiti to Gurubashi Arena you need to pass through Bariaman, the lair of the Skull-Splitter Troll.
This should be the reason why the Darkspear Trolls travel at night, in order to avoid the peak period of activity of the Skullsplitter Clan.
Sarai Ancheng said nothing and watched silently as the Darkspear Troll finished fetching water and continued southward silently.
Although the Darkspear trolls remained silent as much as possible, the noise they made while fetching water still woke Valeera and Stellagosa.
Valeera, who was lying on her sleeping bag on high alert, asked through the soul link: "Do you want to take action? As a local aborigine, this small clan may have information about Cheng Bo Stormstout."
"Not urgent."
Sharlayan glanced at Stellagosa, and Little Star immediately summoned a crow familiar with understanding, hanging far behind the Darkspear clan moving south.
"You'd better rest first and regain your energy. We'll follow the familiar's guidance and set off tomorrow morning."
Seeing Valeera getting back into her sleeping bag sleepily, Sarlayan and the already energetic little Xingxing looked at each other, and they both sighed at the same time.
'After this trouble is over, I must go to Wyrmrest Temple and ask Alexstrasza about the process of blessing of life.'