(2025-09-07) Updates from Paw'don

Details

Author:	MrMook
Summary:	Atley writes home to Ivrianna from Paw'don Village.
Rating:	T for Teen

Ivri,

I am well. This land is strange. We have indeed stumbled upon Pandaria itself, the fabled lost land the Tushui spoke of. It's riddled with pandaren as you might expect, but of a sort that's been separate from the outside world for some time. You would enjoy them. They are great cooks and brewers, who live for peace and good tidings. Their food is strange but good. I would like to take you here in peaceful times to explore their ornate villages and delve into their ways, together.

They are cautious of outsiders. Guarded. They have reason to be. Elements of the Horde arrived first. They stole pandaren children to force the locals to cooperate, and started pillaging their lands. We rescued the children and wiped out the Horde forces.

We are quartered in Paw'don Village, a small fishing settlement on the coast. They have guardsmen, but these pandaren are strangers to war. Many of them are soft. Still, it is upon them whether they like it or not.

The will of the Horde is still at work in this land. They have allied themselves with a local race, the 'Hozen.' They are savages, and sapient, talking monkeys. Literally. Their ways are barbaric beyond sense. They mock suffering. They torture prisoners for sport, even strangers, dragging it out to wring laughter from their own kind. Or else they throw them into pits with great beasts—tigers—just to watch the slaughter. It is cruelty for its own sake.

This union tells me the Horde is as eager for new allies in this land as we are, if only to bring it into their dominion. The Hozen are witless mongrels, but under Horde coordination, they could prove formidable. Their marauders already carry orcish steel.

We have encountered another race, the Jinyu. They are civilized and decent folk. River people that look like upright walking fish. They are able to see the future by having their sages look into sacred waters, and our arrival, and later alliance, was prophesied.

They are old enemies of the Hozen, and have agreed to fight beside the Alliance in the Jade Forest. They have been equipped with Alliance arms, and are learning swiftly. I have been spending time training them in drills and evaluating their own methods. It brings me back to days in the army. Beyond outstanding!

Our search goes well. Each mission, we get closer to accomplishing what we had set out to do.

There is a strange evil in this place, peaceful as it seems. The Sha. They are entities that spawn from powerful negative emotions. My dreams have been dark. They are a concern for me and the squads, but I am confident. I believe in my people. We watched as one Horde warlock was overtaken. Perhaps the Sha may claim more of them yet.

I think of you every day. I think of what here would make you laugh, or sigh, or recoil in disgust. Miss that way you make me laugh. Cheeky. Every time I leave you, I realize how pitiful a bed is without you in it. I yearn to hold you and be with you like an ache. You know I get irritable when I haven't had you for long enough. Headaches. If there is a Sha of lust I may be in trouble, woman. I am training with extra rigor to make up for your lack. Soon.

I also think of the little ones. Karson and his potbelly. Lila's laughter and the way she wriggles about on the ground like a worm. Each moment away from them can be something of a torment. Reassure our children that I will return in time, because I will. Tell them their father thinks of them and cares for them very much. Always.

I trust the family is well. Give Neila my best. Give our children an extra squeeze for me, and spare Fang a pat and a scrap at dinner time. However, let that mangy cat bugger off to the rafters. And give your bloody horse a name.

My heart is yours and theirs.

– Dane