Another dawn had arrived in Translasia, and in the great beast's den in the smuggler's woodland, Lord Hogg, the Bloodclaw Chieftain who had been living a good life lately, moved his body out of his cave.

It wiped its cunning and intelligent eyes, wagged its short bald tail and put the hood of its "Assassin's suit" on its body, hiding its face in the darkness as usual.

It stood on the top of the great beast's den and looked down.

The day has just dawned, but the clan that has shown a very "diligent" performance under his own careful management has already woken up.

The Bloodclaw Hunters riding coyotes made their way around the woodland under the leadership of their respective captains, bringing back some fresh meat and fruits and vegetables for their people while completing their morning patrols, while the stronger Gnoll brute soldiers marched to the outposts on the outskirts of the woodland under the leadership of Captain Maltai Weak.

They had to complete the change of defense with the brutes under the command of Captain Van Gorey stationed over there, Martai and Van Goreh were the two strongest brute leaders under Hogg's command, and they also won Hogg's trust, of course, they were still a little worse than Nash, who was very good at guessing Hogg's thoughts.

And it's not just the barbarians who have already set out, but even the female jackals, led by several of the spouses of Chief Hogg, have gone into the caves below the den to complete their work, and the leather obtained from the prey in the forest needs to be processed and sent to the Crimson Keep in bulk through the channels of the Blood Rat Gang.

There is a full-time fur merchant from the Batasin Chamber of Commerce, who collects these "unknown sources" but has a very good texture and pays for them with grain.

Overall, under Hogg's leadership, the Bloodpaw Clan's gnolls are notoriously "industrious" and never sleep "lazy" after occupying the fertile smuggler's woodlands.

Hogg had assigned work to each of his clan members at the suggestion of his "dog-headed strategist", and as Reed had taught, Hogg didn't want to see his people wandering around with nothing to do.

Only by keeping everyone busy will they not have time to think nonsense.

Of course, Hogg, as a chief, was also able to lead by example.

It also has its own work!

When a group of young jackals, who should have been lively and stubborn, lined up in a neat procession and came to the chief's tent with a heavy heart to go to the grave, the "teaching" of the day began on time when the first rays of sunlight shone into the den of the great beast.

Chief Hogg teaches in person!

It also made redacted on the "textbooks" used by the Bloodpaw Clan's young gnolls, and after realizing that the young gnolls' incomplete brains could not comprehend more complex knowledge, Hogg shifted the focus of his teaching to the realm of "gnoll historiography".

Focuses on the experiences of the four Black Plagues and the rise and fall of the Lord of the Biting Bone.

It wanted to make its tribe's cubs realize that the Tranian Jackals and the Dark Mountain Gnolls were not "compatriots", let alone racial.

This is also the advice of his own "kobold strategist".

Reed sees Hogg as a friend.

She didn't want Hogg and his clan to be wiped out, so she suggested that Hogg "transform" the history and worldview of the Trantian gnolls from now on.

The gnolls of the Dark Mountains are undoubtedly bastards with wolf ambitions to occupy the continent, and should be brought down fiercely.

But these Translantian gnolls are also the "victims" of the Black Plague War, and they can be integrated into this land by breeding in Translania, precisely because the gnolls of the Dark Mountains are unwilling to give up their war behavior, which directly leads to them being implicated as "enemies of civilization".

Hogg was clever enough to be aware that the "rhetoric" provided by Reeds would be effective in improving the lives of the local gnolls once they were promoted.

The most important thing is that once you have made a "cut", as long as you wait for time to pass, you and your clan can naturally become a member of the land of Transencia under the command of Master Murphy, and from then on completely get rid of the fate of being hunted as prey.

However, this "cutting" is risky.

Hogg is well aware that in the current context of the impending Fifth Black Plague, once his active cutting behavior is discovered by the gnolls of the Dark Mountains, then what awaits him and the local gnolls will be a frenzied slaughter from "distant relatives".

Regardless of race, traitors are the most hated.

So this thing had to be done in secret.

The adult gnolls left them alone, their minds were solidified and difficult to reverse, but these cubs would naturally be able to achieve Hogg's desire to change the status quo as long as they were well educated and waited for them to be driven out of the clan and multiply elsewhere in Transasia when they reached adulthood.

These are seeds, and they represent beautiful things that will blossom and bear fruit in the future.

Of course, the premise of all this is that the Bloodclaw Clan must survive this black plague.

In fact, Hogg also made a "two-handed plan", while Master Murphy was still around, it would fulfill its mission and duties as a "pangolin", but if Master Murphy and his warriors failed, then as the leader of the local gnolls, Hogg would not have much problem leading the crowd to surrender to his distant relatives.

At the very least, it is guaranteed to exist!

Right!

Existence is the most realistic and important thing.

To exist is everything, all for the sake of existence!

In this contemplation, Hogg quickly told the cubs about the experience of the third black plague.

This "storytelling" approach is embraced by the little jackals who are averse to learning, and it is the most relaxing moment of their learning career, but after telling the story they have to learn to write and read, learning the Telantian script is difficult for the jackals, and their throat structure makes it difficult for them to pronounce the same words as humans.

However, the local gnolls did not have their own written language, and it was impossible for the gnolls of the Dark Mountains to teach them the language of the gnolls, so Hogg had no choice but to force them to learn.

After a morning of reading and writing exercises, there is also a "skills training" at noon, where the little jackals are taught survival skills such as skinning and skinning to collecting herbs and even catching fish and birds' eggs, depending on their area of expertise.

In the afternoon, they are taught to fight by the clan's brutes and hunters, and the combat practice continues until nightfall.

Hogg's "lessons" are modeled after Professor Malcolm's teaching model for human children at the Crimson Keep, and it feels that it is a very good way to pass on and nurture the cubs, and it can effectively prevent the cubs from growing into stupid and stubborn idiots like their parents.

The educational results of this period have been remarkable.

Although the cubs in the clan are no different from other cubs in appearance, they can already effectively complete the "mission" ordered by Hogg, and after the warriors of Translancia arrive at the beast's den, these cubs will communicate with them in half-baked Telancian language, and get some "feeding" while brushing up on "favorability".

It's a matter of killing two birds with one stone.

But today, blessed are the cubs, because Chief Hogg is going to the swamp today, so the morning literacy practice will be handed over to the chief's cronies, the kobold elder named "Golden Fang", to take care of it.

Although the Golden Fang is also very harsh, it is not a gnoll after all, and it cannot be subjected to the same "corporal punishment" method as Chief Hogg, which will make the cubs much better.

After two hours of "morning reading", Hogg finished his venison breakfast and checked the cubs' homework for the previous day, and when he saw that no one was lazy, he shook off his hands very satisfied, and then ordered his troops and horses to lead Nash into the filthy swamp again.

This time their purpose was very clear, and they quickly arrived at the town of Plague without detours along the way, because Hogg was accepted by the Plague Warlocks, so this time they could enter the town without hindrance.

Riding a wolf, it ignored the fierce and vicious eyes of the bone-biting brutes around it, and headed straight for the tectonic tower, where it successfully found the madman Cripple Paw, who had just completed an autopsy.

There was only one day left before Hogg's poison hair, and Lame Paw was surprised when he saw it.

It thought Hogg was dead.

"Give! Something you want. ”

Hogg threw a dirty psionic pouch to Cripplepaw, who opened it in his hand and let out a cry of joy, the bag contained several petrified vampire hearts, and the heart-shaped gem that exuded midnight power and bloody scent pleased Claw.

"You're such an amazing fellow, Hogg."

Lame Paw, moving its signature eyes with no common focal length, praised Hogg:

"I've never seen a gnoll hunt a vampire so neatly and still alive and well, but I smell more blood in you, and you have other vampire hearts in your hands?

Why not take it out? ”

"It's not for you."

Hogg took another pocket from the back of his waist that contained the rest of the vampire heart.

For the past six days, it has sent the Scepter of Command it has received from Cripple Paw as a reward for the Smuggler's Woods Hunt, which has spurred the Psyker players to scream.

They formed several improvised teams to cross the border from the Filthy Swamp to the Cato region through the map provided by the Gnolls, and opened the Wild Hunt mode for the outer members of the Wolf Vampire over there, allowing Hogg to obtain 25 Vampire Hearts in six days.

Of course, the Scepter of Command on hand was almost gone.

Hogg is now in need of new rewards to maintain the "warrior enthusiasm" it has so hard to muster, which is the second purpose of his visit to Plague Town in addition to detoxification.

The Bloodclaw Chieftain has fully seen the formidable potential of the players.

It's already addicted to this super-easy and powerful workforce, and it's not going to let go.

"You have to exchange these vampire hearts for good things, and in order to get them, my clan suffered heavy damage and made a feud with the vampires in the Cato region. Now, in addition to the Blood Vulture Vampire of Transncia, the Wolf Venom Clan has also taken me as a thorn in their side! ”

Hogg shouted:

"The skeleton army and the Scepter of Command you gave me were all consumed in such an operation, and even I almost died in that hellish place, so, lame paw, if you want more, you have to pay more.

I need to be paid too! ”

"Let's detoxify first, my capable good friend."

Lame let out a strange laugh and tossed a tube of oddly colored potions to Hogg.

The latter put it under its nostrils and sniffed it and was almost made by the stench, but it didn't have an item identification function to determine the authenticity, although it wasn't sure if the madman in front of him would set it again, but there was no other way to do it on other people's territory, so he had the courage to pinch his nose and pour it down.

However, Cripple didn't do anything this time.

The potion was disgusting, but it worked greatly, and after a few minutes, Hogg could feel the toxins that had been entrenched in his body that had been feeling stress all the time being quickly dissipating, and his dizziness in his mind was much better.

"Follow me!"

Lame Paw wrestled his paws and limped into the depths of the Tectonic Tower.

Take it into your own "lab", and it's no exaggeration to say that it's a mess like a garbage heap, but everything is made by the lame paw himself.

"Take whatever you like, it's my reward for a capable friend."

The lame paw opened its arms, letting its saliva run from its mouth, and it said in a loud voice:

"I'm about to work on the development of a vampire zombie, and the body and head of Kenpott you sent last time have been stitched together, and yes, my masterpiece is about to be born! I need to do a big cleanup of my lab. ”

"Huh? So everything here is mine? ”

Hogg was overjoyed, but he immediately scolded with a straight face:

"What did you take me for? Undignified garbage guy? I won't help you dispose of this garbage unconditionally. Scald! What the hell is this? ”

It felt something crawl on its back, and Hogg was startled.

When he turned around, he saw a strange pale severed hand being thrown to the ground like a living thing, but it flexibly supported its "body" with its fingers and "looked around" towards Hogg.

The severed hand was covered in rotten bandages, and it was not a gnoll or human hand as it could be seen from the strange blue skin with stitching marks and the strange structure of its fingers.

It is apparently some kind of undead creation, most likely with a consciousness of its own.

"Don't talk about this, it's a little weird, but it looks quite chic."

Hogg circled around the severed hand a few times.

It immediately realized the "value" of the thing, and the warriors would love the oddity. In the words of Master Murphy, not only equipment and money are given, but pets and decorations are also necessary.

"Can you make something like this?"

Hogg grabbed the strange severed hand from the ground and let it move wildly in his claws, like a raging little devil, and then turned to the lame paw, who had begun to sniff the heart of a vampire with his nostrils, and said:

"I need something like this, the more the better."

"Oh, the hand of a thief?"

Lame Paw glanced back and said:

"This is a good companion of the thieves, and you happen to be a gnoll thief, okay okay, I know what you need, I have a lot of this stuff, and I had a penchant for collecting corpses and severed hands when I first practiced construct.

Ah, that was a long time ago.

However, in the hands of each thief is sealed a hapless thief who has brought back the restless soul of the world from the underworld, and it is said that it is also the final destination of the Grim Reaper under the moon to all thieves with unclean hands and feet.

It's not that easy to tame it.

It will only obey powerful thieves and pickpockets and help them steal bags. ”

"Smack"

The bag full of the vampire's heart was dropped at the lame claw's feet, and the corpse constructor nodded contentedly, tossed the bone key to his laboratory to Hogg and ignored it.

Half an hour later, Hogg, carrying a large bag and a small bag, left the Tower with a full harvest.

It looked back at the town of Plague, which was always shrouded in gray smoke.

Hogg had a feeling that this might be the last time he would be here as "his own man".

Lord Murphy was already planning an attack on the place, perhaps the next time he would take over it as an occupier, but instead of the slightest nostalgia in its heart, it was full of longing for the future, and the smuggler's woodland was too large to support its clan to grow.

If you can take down the whole filthy swamp.

Ha, who would have thought that one day their ambitions would grow to such a terrible level?

On the way back, Nash grabbed the restless hand of the dead in his hand and slapped it in an attempt to tame the ghost, and said to the thoughtful Chief Hogg:

"Chief, the bones that harassed our clan in the Smuggler's Woodland have been almost cleaned up by the warriors, and we have no enemies to hunt them down, and they have been debating how to divide the 'reward' we have given them lately, what should we do next?

Let them go after giving the reward? ”

"Nope! No! ”

Hogg was startled, and subconsciously refused:

"They are the most valuable friends of the Bloodclaw Clan, they can't just let them leave, there are no enemies in the woodland, but there are! There are them in the Cato area, and there are them in the swamps! Right! There are many enemies in the swamp

If there are no enemies, we will seek them and create them!

More enemies means more quests, and more rewards attract more warriors! Until they genuinely think that we are 'our own people'! We need their approval more than they need our treasures

This can't go on like this!

Nash, I'm going back to Pesticity! ”

The Bloodclaw Chieftain narrowed its eyes, a fierce glint flashing in its green eyes, and it whispered:

"Go and provoke those biting bastards! Steal their stuff! Grab their babies! Whatever the method, lure them into the woodland. The Warriors will see their friends attacked by the crazed gnolls from the swamp, and then they will realize that we are not in the same league as those bastards.

I'll post the quest just right and guide them into the swamp

Right!

That's it!

Well, I can probably understand what Master Murphy is thinking. ”

(End of chapter)