The fellow most people knew as Jon Chess went down the stairs beyond one of the myriad secret entrances to the Hall of Shadows in Dalaran, hoping to find Elling Trias, his boss as an Agent of Cheese. The Hall of Shadows was the headquarters of a clandestine organization known as The Uncrowned, which was an affiliation of thieves, spies, and assassins from both the Alliance and Horde, providing a neutral ground where they could collaborate and co-operate against the Burning Legion in Azeroth and beyond.
When Lady Jaina Proudmoore had been sent to Kul Tiras by the Alliance, in order to bring them back to active co-operation, Elling Trias had asked Jon to suspend his career as a private investigator, and resume his position as Trias' Agent of Cheese, a job that Jon had held prior to his service in Northrend. Elling Trias had found an orphan operating as a rat exterminator in the Old Town section of Stormwind, and sponsored him for training at Ravenholdt, which produced the finest assassins and spies in Azeroth. For years, Jon had spied for Theramore and Kul Tiras while making new customers, taking orders, and making cheese deliveries all around Azeroth; clearly the occasional political assassination on behalf of the Alliance, goods and funds smuggled to operatives, and intelligence reports written on the back of the cheese order forms in invisible ink was clearly a coincidence.
Before he had opened his cheese shop in Stormwind, Elling Trias had run the Stormwind intelligence service. When he had 'retired', Trias had turned the Stormwind SI:7 over to Matthias Shaw and opened the shop. If he did occasional favors for "old friends" like Lady Jaina Proudmoore, that was nobody's business but their own.
When the trip to Kul Tiras was decided, Trias had decided that someone needed to seek out Kul Tiras merchants and innkeepers as customers for cheese. If the merchant network Jon created had potential insights into other matters, so much the better. Jon had managed to make himself useful to the Proudmoores and to the king of Gilneas, Genn Greymane, who had served as an ambassador of sorts to Kul Tiras. Princess Tess Greymane, one of the leaders of the Hall of Shadows, had informed her father of Jon's capabilities.
So as Jon Chess, Agent of Cheese, made mercantile contacts, the spy and assassin known as the Rook had come to Kul Tiras, removing impediments for the Alliance effort to win back Kul Tiras to its ranks. It had surprised Jon to find out that Lady Jaina had remembered the Rook from when he had operated as part of the Theramore intelligence network and had pressed him back into service as well, on an unofficial basis.
Elling Trias had been kept apprised of all of these matters in regular encoded reports sent to him by his Agent of Cheese, and he had asked for a meeting with Jon, away from Stormwind. Jon found him near the secret entrance to the Uncrowned council's meeting space.
"Hey Boss, you summoned me?" said Jon Chess.
"Hello Jonny... I trust you are keeping well? And how is that gorgeous Zaneryn Grimsky?" the cheesemonger asked. Jon just shook his head - he was not surprised that Trias knew about Zane. Finding people's secrets are what he did, after all.
"She is beautiful, sneaky, and teases me incessantly," Jon bragged to his boss.
"Yes, so I have been told, Agent Boo Bookins..." Trias chuckled as Jon's face turned red. "But, pleasant as picking in you is, that is not why I wanted to meet. Jon, I think your work in Kul Tiras is done."
Jon nodded, having come to the same conclusion. Kul Tiras was now a part of the Alliance, and Lady Jaina Proudmoore was the Lord Admiral. Local cheeses were flowing into Stormwind, and cheeses from all over the world were shipping to Boralus and other parts of Kul Tiras. Jon had arranged for the 7th Legion to buy their cheese supplies from Trias, and they consumed a lot of cheese.
"Naturally, the commissions for the deals you arranged will continue..." Trias said.
"Naturally," replied Jon. The commissions had made Jon comfortably well-off.
"So... what now, then? What game does Chess play now?" asked Trias.
Jon thought about the question before he replied.
"Well, someone wants me in Darkshore, fighting the Horde," Jon said with a sigh. He was tired of killing, but his duty to the Alliance and his uneasy relationship with Aviana. Aviana was an Ancient, the mother of harpies, and mistress of the Mother Tree, G'Hanir. She had been killed in the War of the Ancients, but had been resurrected during Ragnaros' siege on Mount Hyjal. Aviana had arranged for one of her Talons, druids dedicated to her service, to rescue Jon when Jon had been captured and had his mind twisted by the Scarlet Crusader offshoot, the Crimson Cabal, to turn Jon into a serial killer of Ren'dorei elves.
Trias nodded. "Well, that sounds like a job that needs doing. Naturally, any resources that <Universal Exports> can supply is yours for the asking." <Universal Exports> was a merchant company through which many of Elling Trias' efforts were funded.
"I appreciate that, Boss," Jon replied but both of them knew that Jon would not take advantage of that connection unless the need was dire; among his other faults, Jon was stubborn and willful. "I think I'll start doing private investigations again... helping other people with their problems helps me deal with some of my own demons."
Trias nodded. "Happy Winter Veil, Jonny."
"Happy Winter Veil, Boss."
When Lady Jaina Proudmoore had been sent to Kul Tiras by the Alliance, in order to bring them back to active co-operation, Elling Trias had asked Jon to suspend his career as a private investigator, and resume his position as Trias' Agent of Cheese, a job that Jon had held prior to his service in Northrend. Elling Trias had found an orphan operating as a rat exterminator in the Old Town section of Stormwind, and sponsored him for training at Ravenholdt, which produced the finest assassins and spies in Azeroth. For years, Jon had spied for Theramore and Kul Tiras while making new customers, taking orders, and making cheese deliveries all around Azeroth; clearly the occasional political assassination on behalf of the Alliance, goods and funds smuggled to operatives, and intelligence reports written on the back of the cheese order forms in invisible ink was clearly a coincidence.
Before he had opened his cheese shop in Stormwind, Elling Trias had run the Stormwind intelligence service. When he had 'retired', Trias had turned the Stormwind SI:7 over to Matthias Shaw and opened the shop. If he did occasional favors for "old friends" like Lady Jaina Proudmoore, that was nobody's business but their own.
When the trip to Kul Tiras was decided, Trias had decided that someone needed to seek out Kul Tiras merchants and innkeepers as customers for cheese. If the merchant network Jon created had potential insights into other matters, so much the better. Jon had managed to make himself useful to the Proudmoores and to the king of Gilneas, Genn Greymane, who had served as an ambassador of sorts to Kul Tiras. Princess Tess Greymane, one of the leaders of the Hall of Shadows, had informed her father of Jon's capabilities.
So as Jon Chess, Agent of Cheese, made mercantile contacts, the spy and assassin known as the Rook had come to Kul Tiras, removing impediments for the Alliance effort to win back Kul Tiras to its ranks. It had surprised Jon to find out that Lady Jaina had remembered the Rook from when he had operated as part of the Theramore intelligence network and had pressed him back into service as well, on an unofficial basis.
Elling Trias had been kept apprised of all of these matters in regular encoded reports sent to him by his Agent of Cheese, and he had asked for a meeting with Jon, away from Stormwind. Jon found him near the secret entrance to the Uncrowned council's meeting space.
"Hey Boss, you summoned me?" said Jon Chess.
"Hello Jonny... I trust you are keeping well? And how is that gorgeous Zaneryn Grimsky?" the cheesemonger asked. Jon just shook his head - he was not surprised that Trias knew about Zane. Finding people's secrets are what he did, after all.
"She is beautiful, sneaky, and teases me incessantly," Jon bragged to his boss.
"Yes, so I have been told, Agent Boo Bookins..." Trias chuckled as Jon's face turned red. "But, pleasant as picking in you is, that is not why I wanted to meet. Jon, I think your work in Kul Tiras is done."
Jon nodded, having come to the same conclusion. Kul Tiras was now a part of the Alliance, and Lady Jaina Proudmoore was the Lord Admiral. Local cheeses were flowing into Stormwind, and cheeses from all over the world were shipping to Boralus and other parts of Kul Tiras. Jon had arranged for the 7th Legion to buy their cheese supplies from Trias, and they consumed a lot of cheese.
"Naturally, the commissions for the deals you arranged will continue..." Trias said.
"Naturally," replied Jon. The commissions had made Jon comfortably well-off.
"So... what now, then? What game does Chess play now?" asked Trias.
Jon thought about the question before he replied.
"Well, someone wants me in Darkshore, fighting the Horde," Jon said with a sigh. He was tired of killing, but his duty to the Alliance and his uneasy relationship with Aviana. Aviana was an Ancient, the mother of harpies, and mistress of the Mother Tree, G'Hanir. She had been killed in the War of the Ancients, but had been resurrected during Ragnaros' siege on Mount Hyjal. Aviana had arranged for one of her Talons, druids dedicated to her service, to rescue Jon when Jon had been captured and had his mind twisted by the Scarlet Crusader offshoot, the Crimson Cabal, to turn Jon into a serial killer of Ren'dorei elves.
Trias nodded. "Well, that sounds like a job that needs doing. Naturally, any resources that <Universal Exports> can supply is yours for the asking." <Universal Exports> was a merchant company through which many of Elling Trias' efforts were funded.
"I appreciate that, Boss," Jon replied but both of them knew that Jon would not take advantage of that connection unless the need was dire; among his other faults, Jon was stubborn and willful. "I think I'll start doing private investigations again... helping other people with their problems helps me deal with some of my own demons."
Trias nodded. "Happy Winter Veil, Jonny."
"Happy Winter Veil, Boss."
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