The curtain rises to reveal Grommash Hold, where Garrosh is conferring with Eitrigg and Malkorok.

EITRIGG: I still do not like this plan, Warchief.  Thrall would never—

MALKOROK: Thrall is not here, old man.

EITRIGG: No…indeed he is not.

GARROSH: This battle will secure the supremacy of the Horde on this continent, Eitrigg, and do it without any loss of men or material.

EITRIGG: If you succeed, Warchief. If you do not—

GARROSH: Do you doubt that I can defeat that human, Eitrigg?

MALKORK: Rest assured, old man, the Warchief will prevail. And even if the impossible happens…well, suffice to say: We are the Horde. Even when we lose, we win.

EITRIGG: What is that supposed to—?

Garona runs in.

GARONA: Warchief! I’ve just returned from Blackrock Mountain!

MALKOROK: What were you doing there, rogue?

GARROSH: I sent her, Malkorok.

GARONA: I investigated, just as you asked, Garrosh.

MALKOROK: What could you possibly have to investigate in that place?

GARROSH: Mokvar.

MALKOROK: That scribe?

EITRIGG: What would Mokvar be doing in Blackrock Mountain?

GARROSH: Good question. What WAS he doing there, Garona?

GARONA: Meeting the human woman, Warchief.

GARROSH: <grumbles> I was afraid of that. What did you find out?

GARONA: I wasn’t able to hear much. Something about someone being untouchable…and assassins…

GARROSH: Assassins?

GARONA: I could make out Mokvar saying they would both be in trouble if anyone found out about them…

MALKORK: The bastard spoke true there.

GARONA: And I think they’re planning to meet again.

GARROSH: Oh good, another rendezvous for the lovebirds…

MALKOROK: More like conspirators, Warchief. Traitors!

EITRIGG: But traitors to whom, if they’re afraid of angering both Horde and Alliance?

MALKOROK: That insipid notetaker was already a traitor the moment he set his gaze on that pink-skinned harlot!

GARONA: He certainly seemed concerned about her welfare.

MALKOROK: He should worry more about his own.

EITRIGG: I would remind you, we still don’t really know what Mokvar is doing.

GARROSH: We know enough to put me in a rotten mood. It would have been bad enough if he were merely having some…revolting affair with this human. But the thought that they might be up to something more than that makes my head spin.

 

{I FEEL CRANKY}

GARROSH:

I feel cranky,
And quite frankly,
Hanky-panky is rankly dismissed.
And I’ll thank ye
Not to get me any further pissed.

I feel surly,
My head’s swirly,
Not too early for a burly street brawl.
And quite surely
Tonight Varian is going to fall.

See this angry orc in the war room here?
Wonder how he got so enraged.
Such a cranky mood,
Such a cranky face—

GARONA:

Such a—

GARROSH:

               Shut up, you,
I won’t be upstaged!

I feel vengeful
And vindictive
My revenge will be strict; give this vibe:
I’m betrayed
By a frankly traitorous scribe! 

EITRIGG:

Will you reconsider this, Warchief?
We do not know nearly enough.
You’ll just set yourself up for more grief;
For all we know, Mokvar’s just affecting a bluff.

You think he’s allured?
You think you’re betrayed?
How can we be sure
What game he has played?

I plead with you, sir –
You’re so full of wrath.
You once relieved Krom’gar;
Don’t follow his path.

MALKOROK:

Keep silent, old man,
Lest you suffer!
That scribe has done
More than enough, sir.

Deceitful and vain,
Disloyal as well;
His open disdain
He’s proven full well!

GARROSH:

I feel vicious,
And malicious.
This seditious orc surely will pay.
And my wish is
I could get my hands on him today. 

GARONA:

La la la la…

GARROSH:

I feel spiteful.
I feel hostile.
But tonight we’ll accost all our foes.
While you flank me,
I’ll give Varian one on the nose.

GARONA:

La la la la…

GARROSH:

See this angry orc in the war room here?

MALKOROK:

Yes, sir, rightly so!

GARROSH:

You know how he got so pissed off.

EITRIGG:

Sir, I still say—

GARROSH:

Such a cranky mood,
Such a cranky face—

EITRIGG:

Please, sir, think again—

GARROSH:

Don’t make me scoff!

MALKOROK:  Hah!

GARROSH:

Now I’ll partake,
Feel my rage burn;
Soon Mokvar’ll take a turn for the worst.
But tonight
The Alliance is getting theirs first.

MALKOROK: Hah! Music to my ears indeed, sir! Tonight the Alliance finally pays for their insolence, and then we can deal with that insipid, traitorous scribe!

GARROSH: Come along, Malkorok, let’s gather the others and begin the march to the Barrens.

MALKOROK: Of course, Warchief.

GARROSH: Eitrigg, watch over Orgrimmar in our absence. We’ll return soon enough for the first of many victory celebrations.

Garrosh and Malkorok exit.

EITRIGG: <watching them go> I do not know if it was a curse or a blessing that Grom did not live to know his son…

GARONA: The Alliance would be only too happy to wipe us out as well, Eitrigg. Don’t forget how many times Varian has called us monsters.

EITRIGG: And I do not object to defending ourselves against him. But I would prefer not to do so by proving him right.

Mokvar enters.

Mokvar!

GARONA: You!

MOKVAR: Eitrigg, I need to—

Mokvar slumps over as Garona darts around and saps him from behind.

EITRIGG: Garona, what are you doing?!

GARONA: Incapacitating the traitor before he has a chance to—

EITRIGG: To what? Write us a mean letter?

GARONA: Garrosh would have wanted us to—

EITRIGG: Garrosh isn’t here. And we have long since gotten out of the habit of honoring the wishes of our Warchiefs in their absence.

Eitrigg eyes Mokvar carefully.

I would like to hear what he has to say for himself.

A dim spotlight, stage left, illuminates Garrosh and Malkorok marching through Orgrimmar gathering Liadrin, Faranell, Dontrag, Utvoch, and other assorted Horde mainstays.

A moment after the Horde activities come into view, a second dim spotlight, stage right, illuminates Deliana talking in pantomime with Jaina Proudmoore in a Theramore tower. An additional spotlight below them shows Varian making his way among Alliance troops, gathering some – Falstad Wildhammer, Mathias Shaw, Shandris Feathermoon – to join him, while directing others – Horran Redmane, Marcus Jonathan, Tarlen Aubrey – to posts within Theramore.

At center stage, Mokvar regains consciousness and looks around, briefly disoriented.

MOKVAR: I would ask what that was for, but I think I already know that the answer would be.

GARONA: Shouldn’t you be in Blackrock Spire with your lady friend?

MOKVAR: So I’m guessing Deliana and I weren’t the only ones in Blackrock.

GARONA: Sorry if I was spoiling your privacy.

EITRIGG: Garona, enough.

GARONA: Ugh, fine.

MOKVAR: Has Garrosh heard?

EITRIGG: Indeed. You’re fortunate he’s already left for the Barrens…

MOKVAR: So, how pissed is he, on a scale of one to…well…one to Garrosh…?

GARONA: Right now I’d say he’s hovering around Garrosh squared.

MOKVAR: Crap.

GARONA: Seriously. He did a whole musical number about it.

EITRIGG: It likely doesn’t help matters that he has that blasted Malkorok fanning the flames for him.

MOKVAR: Yeah, that’s part of the problem – why I was going to see Deliana in the first place. Well, mostly.

EITRIGG: Mokvar, who is this woman?

MOKVAR: An old friend, from years before I came to Orgrimmar. She and I were in a mercenary company called the Veiled Blade. Years ago, we were hired for a mission in Blackrock Spire. We fought one of Nefarian’s lieutenants there, a drakonid called Lord Valthalak. We killed him…mostly…but after we made off with our loot, his spirit sent spectral assassins after us. That’s when Deliana and I went into hiding – me in Orgrimmar, her in Ironforge.

EITRIGG: And the rest of your group?

MOKVAR: Dead. Mostly, anyway.

EITRIGG: What business do you have with her now? And why all the secrecy?

MOKVAR: Other than her being a human and us being at war?

EITRIGG: I’m not unfamiliar with unlikely friendships.

MOKVAR: I’d thought we’d laid this Valthalak business to rest years ago, but now it looks like those spectral assassins are on the move again. We have no idea why, but we’ve been trying to find out.

EITRIGG: I wish you’d come to us with this first, Mokvar. Garrosh has come to consider you a friend, but the news of you sneaking off to meet with this human…

MOKVAR: Yeah, I know…

EITRIGG: He’s grown belligerent enough of late, with precious few to counter the whispers of that Malkorok urging him headlong into foolish confrontations.

MOKVAR: And that’s the other part of this, Eitrigg.

EITRIGG: What is?

MOKVAR: Malkorok. We’ve met before. <long sigh> In Blackrock Spire.

EITRIGG: You what?

MOKVAR: He can’t be trusted, Eitrigg. I know he has Garrosh’s ear, and that…that’s a problem.

EITRIGG: Mokvar, by the spirits, why haven’t you said anything? Do you have any idea how many of us have prayed for some way to convince Garrosh not to listen to that monster?

MOKVAR: That’s…a long story.

EITRIGG: Right now I don’t think we have much time for it. Garrosh and the devil on his shoulder are on their way to the Barrens now… Mokvar, whatever is in your past, you’ve been nothing but an honorable man since I’ve known you. Answer me: How sure are you about Malkorok? That he’s not to be trusted?

MOKVAR: Rend trusted him all those years ago. And I can tell you for a certainty – he shouldn’t have.

EITRIGG: I was already worried about his role in this spirits-forsaken challenge…

GARONA: You think he has some secret agenda?

MOKVAR: I wouldn’t put it past him.

EITRIGG: Then someone has to intervene. Mokvar, you have to get down there. I know Garrosh won’t be happy to see you, but if he’s walking into something…

MOKVAR: I know.

GARONA: I’ll go with you. Maybe he’ll listen to me.

MOKVAR: Does he ever listen to you?

GARONA: Hey, at least he hasn’t declared his desire to brutally murder me in glorious song in the last fifteen minutes, how about you?

MOKVAR: Also, weren’t you the one ready to stunlock and kill me yourself just a few minutes ago?

GARONA: Yes. And if it turns out that you’re lying, I still can.

MOKVAR: Reassuring.

GARONA: Right now, I can either trust you or not. If I trust you, and I’m wrong, I’ll still be there to stop you and kill you – and don’t think I won’t. But if I ignore you now, and I’m wrong…

EITRIGG: We’re losing valuable time. Hurry, both of you…

MOKVAR: We will. Thanks, Eitrigg.

EITRIGG: You can thank me by not proving me a sentimental old fool for trusting my instincts on you. Go quickly now – lok’tar.

MOKVAR: Lok’tar.

GARONA: Ogar.

Mokvar and Garona exist and Eitrigg begins to pace the room as the lights dim and the curtain closes.

{TO BE CONTINUED IN ACT 3…}