Under the cover of night, thousands of naked trolls who had just been transformed into elves were running wildly in the dense rain forest, desperately avoiding the pursuit of the headhunters behind them armed with poisoned javelins.
Due to the significant shrinkage in body shape, the clothes originally made of animal skins were too bulky and could not be worn at all now.
In addition, I was in such a hurry when I ran that I didn't have time to get some leaves or other things to cover my body, so I could only stay naked for the time being.
Not only that.
The transformation from two toes covered with thick skin and calluses to five white and tender feet also made them suffer a lot when running in the jungle.
Many people's soles and toes were scratched by wood thorns, thorns and sharp stones, with painful expressions on their faces.
Although in the eyes of outsiders, being able to change from the ugly appearance of a troll to the elegant and beautiful appearance of an elf is definitely a huge profit.
But in fact, for trolls who are accustomed to engaging in primitive life in the wilderness and dense forests, this change undoubtedly means a significant weakening of their ability to survive.
Whether it was the reduction in height, physique and strength, or the loss of their proud regeneration ability, this group of new elves who were being hunted down by their former kinsmen felt fear and despair.
Their psychological defenses are rapidly collapsing, and they have no idea where their future lies and whether they can continue to survive in the rainforest they call home.
Perhaps the only thing worth waking up to is that there are enough similar people around you.
This kind of collective being hunted and collective fleeing behavior undoubtedly subconsciously strengthens the sense of unity, identity and belonging within the group.
In order not to be killed, in order to survive, this group of elves without any weapons, let alone sharp teeth and claws, could only run as hard as they could, no matter how hard or tired they were, they did not dare to stop.
Because no one knows better than them the bloodscalp trolls' cruelty and cruelty towards outsiders.
It can even be said that the Bloodscalp Trolls are the most bloodthirsty troll clan in Stranglethorn Vale. They are many times more savage than the Skullsplitter clan in the south, and will even eat a human prisoner alive.
Note that "eating alive" here is not an adjective, but an appropriate description.
Not only do they like to eat raw meat, but they also like to bite and chew it while they are captives or alive.
That kind of bloody scene that makes your scalp numb, if you see it with your own eyes once, you may have a psychological shadow.
Although these newly transformed elves have done similar things before, now it may be their turn, and they will inevitably feel fear and terror.
Fortunately, since there were still human warships watching eagerly in the river, the troll headhunters did not pursue them too far.
This pursuit temporarily stopped after they swam across a spacious river at the risk of being bitten to death by crocodiles and piranhas, and being beaten to pulp by naval guns.
During the short escape, almost two hundred elves died, and countless others were injured, but more than one thousand two hundred people still survived.
The survivors who narrowly escaped death gathered in the woods far away from the river beach, gasping for air and helping each other to bandage their wounds with special leaves to stop the bleeding.
Just when everyone was in shock, a woman suddenly stood on a large raised rock, raised her arms and shouted in Troll language at the top of her voice: "My dear compatriots!
I believe you have seen how those damn bloodscalp trolls treated us.
They actually didn't care about their old friendship at all, and wanted to kill us all without asking why!
How barbaric, heartless and cruel is this!
Since they no longer consider us a part of the clan, why don't we stand alone and create a brand new race.
Look at what we look like now!
How similar they look to the high elves of Quel'Thalas in the north!
In this case, why don't we call ourselves forest elves?
In this way, we can seek help from those humans and form an alliance with them to jointly deal with the threat of the bloodcap trolls.
Only in this way can we survive in the cruel jungle.
Otherwise, with the current state of having neither weapons nor tools, everyone will slowly die of hunger in a few days at most."
There is no doubt that this woman is none other than the priestess who was first transformed by Zuo Si.
Moreover, she also gave herself a new elf name - Calesia, which completely separated her from her past identity as a troll.
Obviously, this riot and escape was planned and carried out by her and her fellow tribesmen who were also transformed.
Although to tens of thousands of Bloodscalp Trolls, the rebellion and escape of less than two thousand people is nothing at all.
But once she successfully changes the mentality and thoughts of these people, Kalesia can quickly grow like a snowball by putting transformation potions in their food and drinking water.
You must know that although the Bloodcap Trolls are a clan with a large population, they usually live in small tribes of one to two hundred or two to three hundred scattered around various hunting and fishing grounds.
If you are lucky, you can directly transform the entire tribe into elves overnight.
These members from various small tribes in front of us are the perfect leading party.
They know the situation of themselves and the surrounding tribes, and can easily sneak in with just a bottle of invisibility potion, and complete the task of dropping the potion at the most appropriate time.
Of course, before that, Kalesia must first establish identity and racial identity, and make the God of Contract the only belief of the ethnic group.
She wants everyone to believe that this transformation is good, a blessing from the great gods, not a curse or disease.
The mission of the forest elves is to transform all the trolls in the entire Stranglethorn Valley into a form as advanced as themselves in the name of the God of Contract, so that the latter can get rid of the ugliness, ignorance, stupidity, and savagery of the past, and finally bathe in the glory of civilization.
.
As for whether the trolls are willing to accept it subjectively, it doesn't matter at all.
Anyway, after they become forest elves, their mentality and thoughts will be quickly assimilated by the social environment.
The most important thing is that Kalesia knows that trolls generally have religious beliefs, especially the several clans that split from the Gurubashi Empire in Stranglethorn Vale.
Otherwise, they would not have enshrined and sacrificed the terrible evil god Hakkar, the Blood God.
This means that the power of faith is the key to unity and integration.
In fact, the guy who was hiding among the crowd to instigate rebellion and escape was already talking to the forest elves around him about a voice that sounded in his head while he was escaping.
If just one person said it, it probably wouldn't cause much of a stir.
But if several or even a dozen people say it at the same time, the always superstitious troll will think that this may be a Loa god trying to establish a connection with him.
About half an hour later, some small groups began to privately try to pray and offer sacrifices.
Without any tools, they broke off some branches to build altars and bonfires, lit them by drilling wood to make fire, and finally killed several snakes captured nearby as sacrifices.
Soon, as the snake's blood was sprinkled into the altar that lit the bonfire, the originally burning flame suddenly surged and formed a blurry image.
Although no one could tell which Loa god this flaming shadow was, they still saw the phantom raising its hand and pointing in the direction of the human camp and the gunboats on the river.
"This... this is a divine revelation! The God who guided us to successfully escape has once again given clear enlightenment! Set off immediately to find those humans. Only they can give us the help we need most."
Calesia turned around suddenly and pretended to be shocked.
"That's right! This is divine revelation!"
"I knew that our successful escape must have been blessed by the gods!"
"The stupid Bloodscalp Trolls don't understand at all that we are the children of the jungle blessed by the gods, and are the messengers destined to spread the gods' favor."
"Long live the forest elves! We are the hope and future of Stranglethorn Vale!"
…
Suddenly, those guys hidden in the crowd stood up and echoed loudly, quickly creating an almost fanatical religious atmosphere.
Under the influence of this atmosphere, more than a thousand forest elves who were in a state of confusion a second ago were immediately infected, and they began to shout hoarsely and worship the vague shadow on the bonfire. Even a few
Witch doctors, priests and mystics are no exception.
no way.
Right now, they really need a spiritual sustenance to ease the fear caused by the huge changes in identity, position and race.
After all, no one can immediately accept the fact that they have changed from a troll to an elf.
But if this matter is led by gods, then everything will be easier to accept.
Just like when the Gurubashi trolls all fell to the blood god Hakkar when they received no response from other Loa gods, even if the other party asked them to provide living flesh and blood as sacrifices.
In this way, Calesia effortlessly manipulated more than a thousand people into the palm of her hand, and took advantage of the bloodscalp troll's ignorance and superstition to lead them staggering towards the direction of the human camp.
About forty minutes later, this group of elves who looked extremely embarrassed and naked walked through the gate and entered the camp where they were waiting.
The human refugees in Lordaeron had never seen such a scene before. Every one of them was shocked and dumbfounded. They couldn't imagine how there could be so many elves in the Stranglethorn Valley in the far south.
And judging from the chaos that erupted from the troll camp in the distance, this group of elves probably escaped from the enemy's camp.
The most important thing is that these handsome or beautiful elves do not look as proud and elegant as the high elves in Quel'Thalas. Instead, they give people a primitive and rude feeling.
Especially when they eat, they often grab the food without using the utensils, just like refugees who haven't eaten for several days.
To be continued...