Shadow Trails in Azeroth

The dock in front of Blake is very large. It is located in a large shallow sea between the Walton Desert and the Nazmir Jungle. It has no reef terrain and is very suitable for merchant ships.

Under the sunset tonight, in the beautiful shallow sea of ​​the natural dock controlled by the ancestor turtles, there are more than a dozen retired warships of the Zandalari fleet parked.

There are also several very large ships.

It is a large ship like Pirate King Zemlan's black ship flagship, twice the size of other warships.

Those are the "goods" ordered by Black's envoys, the noble Akunda Zalak and the quartermaster Eudora, from the Ancestral Turtle.

"captain!"

When he saw Black with evil eyes, Maimu and a few orcs walking along the beach, the fox-man Eudora, who was sitting on a pile of boxes and talking to the trolls next to her, immediately stood up and walked towards her The captain waved his hand.

The noble Akunda Zalak beside it was still wearing the robes of a clergyman, with a mask on his face, so his expression could not be seen.

But as Black approached, the second-rate loser also bent down to welcome his captain.

"Why are there so many ships? Didn't you say buy fewer ships?"

Black, who was wearing a black pirate hat, said hello to his men, then looked at the bay next to him, and said:

"But you two have the best brains among my subordinates, and you don't even know what our current needs are. So, do these ships have some hidden agenda here?"

Facing the captain's question, Eudora and Zarak looked at each other, and finally the quartermaster shook his tail and told his captain bad news.

She whispered:

"Captain, these ancestral turtles are causing trouble!

When we came to buy a boat, they agreed immediately, but they were playing tricks on us. He said that all the boats were put out for us to choose from, and we looked enthusiastic.

But after we followed them here, we found that they had concealed some information. "

"Um?"

Blake blinked and looked at the noble Akunda again. The masked Zarak explained softly:

“The Ancestor Turtles have bought many old ships from the Zandalari troll fleet over the years, but there is not that much demand locally, so they have been unsaleable and cannot be sold.

Some ships have been in their hands for a long time, and the hulls are not well maintained, but the price of each ship is the same. The ancestor turtles used the excuse that the person they kept the ship information was sick.

So we can only choose a few of these ships ourselves.

Whatever you pick will matter.

They have evil intentions and want to mix in boats with poor quality and sell them to us. "

"That's it."

After hearing this, Black nodded. Maimu and several orcs behind him had ugly expressions on their faces. This was obviously the behavior of profiteers.

They looked at the boats docked in the bay. The Ancestral Turtle had cleaned them up and looked presentable. They must have repaired the boats that were not in good condition before the guests came.

This guarantees that there will never be any good or bad from the outside.

"This is our ancestor turtle friends, testing our eyesight."

Blake grinned. He stood on the edge of the pier and said to Maim next to him:

"Profiteers are indeed profiteers, but they are more limited than the goblins who mixed a few warships into a firewood boat that cannot fight and sold them to you."

"This won't do! Captain."

Maimu wore a suit of snake-man armor, carried a halberd with shining electric light on his back, and also got himself a desert-style hood to cover his burned face.

He said quietly behind Blake:

“We bought the boat to cross the ocean.

The sea journey back to the eastern continent from Zandalar Island is not very short, and you may encounter South Sea pirates on the way. Our current Zandalari exiles don't know how to fight naval battles.

Snake people rarely set foot in the deep sea.

They are not good sailors, and they want us orcs who are also two-handed swordsmen to teach them. The problem is, as you know, Captain, we orcs aren’t very good sailors either!

If you buy a bad boat again, there is a high probability that the boat will be destroyed and people will be killed. "

"Don't be afraid, I'll be prepared."

Blake glanced at the ships in the harbor, waved his hand, and said to his worried subordinates:

"Come with me, let's go meet the local owners and have a good chat with these turtle people. As for the problem of the ship, let me, who was born in Kul Tiras, take care of it."

He raised his left hand, waved it in front of his subordinates, and said in a mysterious and confident tone:

"When I was a child, I learned the 'Ship Appraisal Technique' from the tide sages of Kul Tiras. I can tell whether a ship is a good one by just touching it."

This sounds outrageous.

But the few people following Blake all showed relaxed expressions.

Especially Maimu and the orcs, their ugly expressions improved almost immediately. They followed Blake from the Broken Shore to Zandalari, and had already seen their captain's various magical abilities.

Especially after being led to overthrow the arrogant Hades army and capture the Nagfar, each one of them was still hostile to humans.

But they are all already "brainless fans" of Captain Black, a special human being.

Now that Black said that he had a way to pick out good ships, they naturally believed him.

If the captain says there is a way, then there must be a way.

A few minutes later, Blake led his men and swaggered into the warehouse at the dock. Several large warehouses were built here according to the topography of the island.

More centrally on the island, there is a small town run by the Ancestral Turtles.

Speaking of the starting ancestral turtle, this is a quite magical race.

Their appearance is that of a large turtle that walks upright, carrying a heavy black turtle shell with bone spikes protruding from its back. They have humanoid limbs, and their arms are thick and powerful, so long that they can even touch the ground.

And claws.

The legs are very short, but they stand very stable.

He swayed as he walked. After all, carrying such a heavy guest on his back would definitely not make him go any faster.

But these guys are extremely good at swimming.

They are true amphibians and can live in the water all year round without the need to come up for air.

The skin of the ancestor turtles is mostly blue, green or brown, and the skin is tough and full of defense.

Their face is just like a turtle head with a short neck. In this situation, calling it "turtle.tou" shouldn't be a big problem. This is just a factual description.

This is not a metaphor, I hope these two words will not be harmonized.

But the heads of the ancestor turtles are not turtle heads in the general sense. The faces look like the heads of fierce snapping turtles. When they open their mouths, you can see the sharp teeth in the mouth of the ancestor turtles.

This proves that the Ancestral Turtles may look naive, but they are actually not weaklings who allow others to bully them.

They are strong enough to protect themselves.

You can even easily compete with the Deep Sea Naga in the water.

These deep-sea merchants also wear some protective gear. Each turtle man has various bags containing the goodies they collect from various places.

The Ancestral Turtles are all collectors.

This is quite similar to the fox people.

But compared with the fox-people who only live in the Wharton Desert, the range of activities of the ancestor tortoises is very large.

In addition to hating the cold and not going to the North Sea, there are traces of the activities of the Ancestral Turtles in the remaining large sea areas of Azeroth. The most awesome thing about this race is that they are "favored by the gods."

The Ancestral Turtles call themselves "Tortolan".

As you can tell from their name, they are descendants of the wilderness demigod "Wise Man" Tortola, and they also have a very good relationship with the turtle Loa god Toga, and they often travel across the oceans to make pilgrimages to Zandalar.

In fact, I just told Toga stories.

That turtle Loa likes to listen to stories very much, and he has the same problem as these ancestral turtles.

"Ah, look what I saw! A living human! And mixed with orcs! Oh my God!"

When Blake was about to sit on the small sampan of the Ancestral Turtle and go to pick up a boat, an exaggerated low voice sounded from behind the warehouse, causing Blake to stop and turn his head to look at the person coming.

That guy was speaking human language!

Articulation is clear and wording is reasonable.

You can even hear a bit of the accent of the Drustvar Mountains, the borderland of the Kingdom of Kul Tiras.

This is Zandalar!

In a land thousands of miles away from human civilization, Blake was filled with emotion when he suddenly heard his hometown dialect.

"This is the first time I have seen humans on the territory of the Zandalari trolls."

The ancestral turtle that staggered over, looked at Blake with his own eyes, and said slowly:

"I'm more surprised to see trolls than on your human territory. Anyway, trolls are everywhere in the world, it's not surprising at all.

So who are you? Weather-beaten humanity, what are you looking for when you come to our dock? What kind of legendary stories can I hear from you? "

Faced with this opening statement, Blake didn't care much.

He looked at the ancestral tortoise in front of him who was wearing a weird felt hat and carrying an exaggerated luggage full of scrolls on the tortoise shell on his back, as if he were carrying a small mountain. The breastplate and belt were decorated with gems.

The brown-green skinned turtle man was also staring at him, and his head would move from time to time, looking very flexible.

A few seconds later, the pirate also said in an exaggerated tone:

"Holy Light, look what I found? A Scroll Sage who is also rare among the Ancestral Turtles! What is your name? Sage Old Nora? Or Collector Kojo?"

"?"

This time it was the ancestor turtle's turn to be surprised.

The scroll sage glanced at Blake with a strange look, and he said slowly:

"How do you know those two guys?"

"They are my friends."

Blake grinned.

Then I heard the ancestral turtle carrying the scroll in front of me say in a faint voice:

"I'm Kojo, everyone does call me the Collector, but I don't remember seeing you."

"Don't you see me now? My friend."

The pirate who had made a mistake waved his hand indifferently. He stood on the sampan with his hands on his hips, pointed at the dozen or so ships parked in the harbor, and said:

"My name is Blake, a pirate captain, and I'm here to buy a boat. I obviously pay you a higher price than the market price, but you ancestor turtles insist on playing tricks on me.

Probably because I feel that I urgently need a boat, I plan to take advantage of it again and make a lot of money.

And me.

I'm a person who doesn't want to suffer losses, so I'm going to give you a little 'lesson'. "

"this"

Collector Kojo followed Black's finger and glanced at the ship over there. A helpless expression appeared on the turtle's face, and he said:

"My compatriot Totaka always likes to play this kind of trick, which is really against the rules of fair dealing, but he is the master of this dock and shelter.

I'm just a guest who just came here from Kul Tiras, so I can't help you.

But if you are willing to tell me some wonderful stories, I can tell them to Totaka for you."

"No need."

Blake shook his hand and said:

"I know that you ancestor turtles are also powerful among themselves. This is a matter between me and that Totaka. You, a scroll sage who collects stories everywhere, don't get involved.

Just wait here to watch the show.

Maybe you can also witness an interesting little story from me today. I have already thought of the name, it’s called ‘The Mighty Pirate’s Wise Fight against the Profiteer Turtle Man’. "

The pirate captain laughed and directed Maimu and Zalak to paddle and send him to the nearest warship.

Under the curious gaze of Kojo, the Scroll Sage of the Ancestral Turtle, Black stretched out his hand and touched the side of the ship. He looked at the mount rail on the second page of the character card.

A piece of text floats quickly above:

Name: Golden Fleet third-class retired battleship. [Ordinary quality]

Status: Damaged. [Cracked keel. Inferior ship side. Inferior mast]

Special effects: none

"This ship won't work!"

Blake retracted his fingers and said loudly to his men behind him and the nearby ancestor turtles:

"The keel is cracked, and the sides and masts of the ship were temporarily put on to look like a suit by a black-hearted businessman. He also knew how to tidy up the deck and decorate it to bully those who didn't know how to do it.

But in my eyes, such a ship deserves to be chopped up and burned as firewood!

Next ship. "

"Hahaha"

Amid the triumphant and wild laughter of the orcs, they escorted their captain to the second ship. Black stretched out his hand and touched the side of the second ship:

Third-class retired battleship of the Golden Fleet. Desert Wind [Excellent quality]

Condition: Slightly damaged. [Inferior quality sail]

"Hey, this one is good, but the sail needs to be replaced."

Blake withdrew his finger, gestured to the quartermaster, and said:

"Eudora, take note, this ship is our backup option."

"Let's go, look at the next ship!"