Jonathan shivered in the cold air of well-named Chill Breeze Valley, staring at the outskirts of New Tinkertown, a small village built just outside of the destroyed subterranean city of Gnomeregan, home to their refugees and their leader, High Tinker Gelbin Mekkatorque.
"You'd think that someplace this cold would have a decent coffee bar... or at least a mulled wine seller. But no..," Jon mumbled disconsolately to himself, as he continued towards the outskirts of the town.
It did not take long for Jonathan to find his friend Kelsey Steelspark. Outwardly Kelsey appeared as just another insufferably-cute gnomish woman - strawberry-blond hair, wearing her trademark purple overalls over a pink blouse. Wide-set blue-green eyes. A perky smile.
All part of her professional camouflage - beneath the perky airhead exterior lurked a skilled engineer with a penchant for building killer robots and nasty, concealable tools of her trade - which was carrying out secret assignments of theft, information-gathering, and assassination for the Gnomergan Covert Ops organization.
"Hey Rook!" she exclaimed, a huge grin on her face. Rook was the name Jonathan used on the more shady side of his activities when he worked for the Theramore-based company Universal Exports, or the Azeroth Ale Society. "Looking for more of those smoke grenades you like so well?" Among her other fine qualities, Kelsey sold Jonathan smoke grenades, allowing him to pull his vanishing act when outnumbered or cornered.
"I can always use more of those; your alchemists do top-notch work," Jonathan answered. "But I'm here because I'm looking to do some work, maybe. a missing-persons trace for a guy named Goldgears. Know him?"
"Rook, I know everyone here - NewTink is not that big a burgh, don't you know. Who went missing?"
"His daughter"
"Oh, Verissa? Yea, small wonder. The smart money was always on her coming to a bad end. She's one of Grimm's crew." Alamar Grimm was a teacher of the shadier side of the arcane.
"Her dad know?" asked Chess.
"Oh heck no - he's a straight-up badass, one of Captain Sparknozzle's infantry special squads; after fighting off the last Legion incursion here, I doubt he'd be happy with the news, either," Kelsey informed.
"Oh good..." Jonathan replied.
"Yeah, it might be better if she stayed lost... but hey, not my problem. Try and make sure it doesn't become my problem, will you, Rook? 'Cause you love me?" Steelspark batted her eyes winningly at Chess.
"If only I hadn't been born the wrong race!" Jonathan flirted with a sigh.
"Eh, you're still pretty damn cute, for a tallard*. And useful, which is more than I can say about many a gnome."
"You are too kind," commented Jon, with a grin.
Having obtained directions to the Goldgears home, Jonathan rang the doorbell and met Vallira Goldgears, who seemed pleased to see him.
"Nipsy said you might be able to help find our daughter, who has gone missing," the gnome lady said after Jonathan introduced himself. "She took off about a month ago, but Mac and I didn't pay much heed - she often vanishes with friends for as much as a week at a time, or sends a letter. After a couple of weeks and no word, we asked the Ironforge Guard for help, but they were completely uninterested in helping. 'The dwarves aren't interested in helping us gnomes, they're too busy in the humans' wars' Alastar says, and sometimes I think that he's right," Vallira sighed, her voice heavy with despair. "Mac can't go looking for her, not with his military duties, and I'd be next to useless in the field - I do my best work in the tinker labs!"
"Well, I'd be happy to help find her. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?"
"Well, she has recently been taking the tramway to Stormwind, visiting friends in the Slaughtered Lamb there," Vallira told him. "But... is hiring you expensive? What do you charge?"
"Don't you worry about that - I owe Nipsy a favor or two, so it's covered" Do you have a picture or painting of her I might have?"
"Well, we just have the one portrait, but its all I have... "
"That's alright, ma'am. I can make a sketch of her from it," Jonathan said, much to her visible relief. Sometime later, Jonathan headed back into the snowy countryside, Stormwind bound. At least he had a place to start.
"You'd think that someplace this cold would have a decent coffee bar... or at least a mulled wine seller. But no..," Jon mumbled disconsolately to himself, as he continued towards the outskirts of the town.
It did not take long for Jonathan to find his friend Kelsey Steelspark. Outwardly Kelsey appeared as just another insufferably-cute gnomish woman - strawberry-blond hair, wearing her trademark purple overalls over a pink blouse. Wide-set blue-green eyes. A perky smile.
All part of her professional camouflage - beneath the perky airhead exterior lurked a skilled engineer with a penchant for building killer robots and nasty, concealable tools of her trade - which was carrying out secret assignments of theft, information-gathering, and assassination for the Gnomergan Covert Ops organization.
"Hey Rook!" she exclaimed, a huge grin on her face. Rook was the name Jonathan used on the more shady side of his activities when he worked for the Theramore-based company Universal Exports, or the Azeroth Ale Society. "Looking for more of those smoke grenades you like so well?" Among her other fine qualities, Kelsey sold Jonathan smoke grenades, allowing him to pull his vanishing act when outnumbered or cornered.
"I can always use more of those; your alchemists do top-notch work," Jonathan answered. "But I'm here because I'm looking to do some work, maybe. a missing-persons trace for a guy named Goldgears. Know him?"
"Rook, I know everyone here - NewTink is not that big a burgh, don't you know. Who went missing?"
"His daughter"
"Oh, Verissa? Yea, small wonder. The smart money was always on her coming to a bad end. She's one of Grimm's crew." Alamar Grimm was a teacher of the shadier side of the arcane.
"Her dad know?" asked Chess.
"Oh heck no - he's a straight-up badass, one of Captain Sparknozzle's infantry special squads; after fighting off the last Legion incursion here, I doubt he'd be happy with the news, either," Kelsey informed.
"Oh good..." Jonathan replied.
"Yeah, it might be better if she stayed lost... but hey, not my problem. Try and make sure it doesn't become my problem, will you, Rook? 'Cause you love me?" Steelspark batted her eyes winningly at Chess.
"If only I hadn't been born the wrong race!" Jonathan flirted with a sigh.
"Eh, you're still pretty damn cute, for a tallard*. And useful, which is more than I can say about many a gnome."
"You are too kind," commented Jon, with a grin.
Having obtained directions to the Goldgears home, Jonathan rang the doorbell and met Vallira Goldgears, who seemed pleased to see him.
"Nipsy said you might be able to help find our daughter, who has gone missing," the gnome lady said after Jonathan introduced himself. "She took off about a month ago, but Mac and I didn't pay much heed - she often vanishes with friends for as much as a week at a time, or sends a letter. After a couple of weeks and no word, we asked the Ironforge Guard for help, but they were completely uninterested in helping. 'The dwarves aren't interested in helping us gnomes, they're too busy in the humans' wars' Alastar says, and sometimes I think that he's right," Vallira sighed, her voice heavy with despair. "Mac can't go looking for her, not with his military duties, and I'd be next to useless in the field - I do my best work in the tinker labs!"
"Well, I'd be happy to help find her. Do you have any idea where she might have gone?"
"Well, she has recently been taking the tramway to Stormwind, visiting friends in the Slaughtered Lamb there," Vallira told him. "But... is hiring you expensive? What do you charge?"
"Don't you worry about that - I owe Nipsy a favor or two, so it's covered" Do you have a picture or painting of her I might have?"
"Well, we just have the one portrait, but its all I have... "
"That's alright, ma'am. I can make a sketch of her from it," Jonathan said, much to her visible relief. Sometime later, Jonathan headed back into the snowy countryside, Stormwind bound. At least he had a place to start.
* Tallard - a less-than-complimentary term used by dwarves and gnomes to refer to people taller than 'the perfect height'
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