F
For the first time, everything was clear. My adventure has been filled with many exciting dangerous feats, yet nothing was of any true consequence. Every dungeon, every landscape I fought across lays unchanged. Every individual I’ve helped remains stationary in their place. These things may be as they were, yet I am not. Now I am ready to take back what we once had.
Early the next morning I picked up my things and flew back to Valiance Keep, where I picked up my thawed out mechanostrider. I then boarded the ship once again bound for Stormwind Harbor, leaving my gryphon behind once again. I anxiously paced as the freezing northern air began to give way to a warm sun-filled sky. It had been months since I felt the familiar sea breeze of the harbor. I took a deep breath and rode out to the Deeprun Tram.
To my surprise I was met with an enormous crowd of heros, gathering around High Tinker Mekkatorque himself. We gnomes have always been such a passive race. It filled my heart with pride to see such support. “Greetings, friends! Please gather as many gnomes as you can! Today, we take back Gnomeregan! To Steelgrille’s Depot!” The great king yelled.
Wasting no time, I gathered a group of five eager gnomes and together we rode through Ironforge down to the depot, where an even bigger group amassed. The depot had been transformed into a makeshift military camp where Gnomish officers prepared weapons and troops for the invasion. The crowd spread out into several platoons performing different techniques as instructed by Gnomish officials, and I followed suit. After a short bit of training. I was sent on a flying machine to the ruins of Gnomeregan to join the others.
It was clear that Thermaplugg was aware of our plans. The place was swarming with leper gnomes and malfunctioning robots, but they did not attack, as if they were waiting for something to happen. Suddenly the crowd erupted into applause. “Citizens and friends of Gnomeregan! Today is the day we take back our glorious city from that vile traitor Thermaplugg! Gather around me as we prepare to reclaim our homeland! Operation Gnomeregan begins now!”
High Tinker Mekkatorque ran ahead and we mounted up and followed closely behind, with our flags raised in the air. Immediately I felt more powerful than ever before. Together we became an unstoppable force, bringing down Thermapluggs missle launchers one by one. Next, we made way to the command post to the left of the Gnomeregan’s entrance. This area was heavily guarded by leper gnomes and cannons protected behind a glowing green forcefield. As we fought off an army of leper gnomes, flying machines hurled bombs disabling the shields temporarily. Seizing the opportunity, we destroyed what was left of the defenses, then ran to the entrance as Mekkatorque disabled the remaining radiation fields.
These things may be as they were, yet I am not. Now I am ready to take back what we once had.
The surface was eerily silent as we awaited our brave leader. My mind raced with thoughts of my homeland being rebuilt into a the great technological marvel it once was. With his arrival came words of encouragement. The final phase of the attack was upon us. Once we attack the heart of the city, Gnomeregan would be ours once again!
We began to charge forth, but were interrupted by a large, modified alarm bot. “NEVER! Gnomeregan is MINE, Mekkatorque. You think you’ll just march into MY city? Activate the Expendable Atomic Defense System: DRIVE FORTH THE TROGGS! Hundreds of troggs came pouring out of the city.
In the chaos, I somehow made it into the tunnel alone. In the pit below, a massive creature stirred. Emerging from the shadow was the biggest trogg I’d ever seen. I turned to run, when suddenly my mind was back in Coldridge Valley, as I ran frantically out of the cave with troggs close behind, but this time I was not alone. I rejoined Mekkatorque’s army and together we destroyed the trogg invasion and triumphantly proceeded down the path.
After parachuting to the main area, we were met with more toxic offenders. Troggs and leper gnomes, glowing green with noxious gas put up a strong resistance, but we remained steadfast. At last we made it to the final chamber. Mekkatorque called for tools as he casually worked on the hardware. From over the loud speaker, a mechanized voice called out “Attention. Emergency. You now have ten seconds to reach minimum safe distance.” Startled, Mekkatorque dropped his tools to the ground, “Lapforge, beam us back, quickly!”
A bright light filled the room, and we were instantly back in Ironforge. Even with the assistance of hundreds of heros, it seems Operation Gnomeregan was not a complete success. “Curses! We had to fall back. But Thermaplugg’s lost, and he knows it…he’s only bought himself time. We hold the surface, and when the radiation clears we’ll assault and recapture Gnomeregan with a force twice this size.” Despite our loss, to assist in the retaking of my home was without a doubt, my greatest achievement. I was certain it was only a matter of time before Gnomeregan would become a great city once again.
