All roads lead to Gnome.

It had been a good plan. With the hamster-like vedics back onside and the human children treated more respectfully, they had needed a better way to protect themselves.

The majority of the kobold slaves had escaped via the route that the adventures had created while breaking into their cavernous conurbation.

This wasn’t really a problem though. Only a few of them would survive for long without a tribe behind them and even the ones who did wouldn’t be able to cause much of a problem.

Even if they were to be reported to Thereanthor herself, the gnomes were small in number and not worth bothering about.

Currently.

His plan was so simple; it was a surprise to Gerrome that they hadn’t thought of it sooner.

The dragon empress had to be defeated if the gnomes were to raise themselves back to their former glory.

But how?

Thereanthor’s greatest enemy had been the massed orc armies.

They had fought for decades.

They had fought on despite horrendous losses.

They had fought until only scattered handfuls of them remained.

And then, once utterly defeated, Thereanthor punished them further.

Though brutish and dull witted, the warrior orc race had been unfairly reduced to mere beggars. Banned from doing much of anything beyond the short-lived career of mercenaries.

Despite this, or perhaps because of it, the dispersed but fast breeding orcs would make perfect allies to fill the near empty gnomish mountain stronghold.

The gnomes would supply a home.

The orcs, in return, would supply the muscle.

The muscle to, first defend their new home and then, to help bring down the blue dragoness herself!

The recruitment drive was simple enough. Dozens of young gnomes had volunteered to go back out in the world.

Each one would travel to a specific location and start recruiting. It would start slowly but hopefully snowball as the orcs would eventually, began to recruit themselves.
Now though, with one of Thereanthor's children so close to one of the recruitment stations, the plan was in jeopardy.
The Gnomish precautions were good; his people were the masters of illusion and distraction. 
Would they be good enough though to keep the Black cloaks out for the entire year long recruitment drive?