(Written with Kaneka's player)
(This is Jon Chess' perspective. For Zane's story, see https://www.patreon.com/posts/ghost-part-1-24070775 )
The man named Jon Chess waiting impatiently, twitching with the effects of a double dose of Sa'Diablo. Jon had been severely injured in the mission to locate and destroy the Azeriter bomb that the Horde had been making with stolen Azerite. The scout who had gone missing during the investigation had been Jon's lover, Zaneryn Grimsky. The strike force from the Brotherhood of Valor had found and stolen the bomb, but there had been no sign of Zane. Jon had been taken to the Brotherhood's medical building, with little hope of survival.
He knew there would be a price to pay for using the drug to which he had once been actively addicted when tortured and mind-raped by the Crimson Cabal, but he had survived a cold withdrawal once, when a shadow priest had blocked the psychological addiction from his mindscape, and he had confidence that he would survive another withdrawal when his work was done.
Assuming that anyone in the Medical wing would talk to him.
By the time Kaneka returned from giving his vials of Sa'Diablo to the medical staff for analysis to help Arexzia, Jon had re-secured the closure strap on the hollow book he had used to snuggle the Sa'Diablo into his hospital room. He felt naked without his "usual bag of tricks" - his knives, his poisons, his explosives, his blinding powers, his smoke grenades, this envenomed throwing spikes, his lockpicks, and his extra concealed knives. Ironically, his actual nakedness beneath the thin hospital gown did not bother him. He felt an overwhelming need to get to Dalaran, and the backup armory in the Uncrowned's Hall of Shadows.
Then he and Kaneka could begin the search for Zane. Jon did not have much hope; the trail, if it existed was days old. The more he thought about it, the more the utter futility of the task before him slammed against the walls of his seeming equanimity. The mental and empathic link that existed between them had been shut down hard; either Zane had been killed outright in a violent manner, or she had removed the chess piece amulet that had allowed their communication. Jon thought about that - either she had died without any warning, or she had removed the link herself. If she had died, then there was no point to searching; if she had destroyed the link herself, then she had - for whatever reason - did not want Jon to know what she was doing, nor to be able to find her.
Kaneka returns from dropping off the vials to Tera. She half expected Jon to be gone. She nearly smiled when she saw him still there. Approaching his bedside once again, she looked down at him. "Alright, Jon. When you're ready".
"I am ready now," replied Jon. He watched with a barely concealed impatience while Kanaka made with the "white mice and pixie dust" routine, opening a teleportation portal to Dalaran. Jon stepped through, and felt his gorge rise... however convenient, his body did not like teleportation. Kaneka joined him, and closed the portal, leaving the two of them in Dalaran. Together, they made their way to the house of Phredaria, Jon's friend and colleague.
(This is Jon Chess' perspective. For Zane's story, see https://www.patreon.com/posts/ghost-part-1-24070775 )
The man named Jon Chess waiting impatiently, twitching with the effects of a double dose of Sa'Diablo. Jon had been severely injured in the mission to locate and destroy the Azeriter bomb that the Horde had been making with stolen Azerite. The scout who had gone missing during the investigation had been Jon's lover, Zaneryn Grimsky. The strike force from the Brotherhood of Valor had found and stolen the bomb, but there had been no sign of Zane. Jon had been taken to the Brotherhood's medical building, with little hope of survival.
He knew there would be a price to pay for using the drug to which he had once been actively addicted when tortured and mind-raped by the Crimson Cabal, but he had survived a cold withdrawal once, when a shadow priest had blocked the psychological addiction from his mindscape, and he had confidence that he would survive another withdrawal when his work was done.
Assuming that anyone in the Medical wing would talk to him.
By the time Kaneka returned from giving his vials of Sa'Diablo to the medical staff for analysis to help Arexzia, Jon had re-secured the closure strap on the hollow book he had used to snuggle the Sa'Diablo into his hospital room. He felt naked without his "usual bag of tricks" - his knives, his poisons, his explosives, his blinding powers, his smoke grenades, this envenomed throwing spikes, his lockpicks, and his extra concealed knives. Ironically, his actual nakedness beneath the thin hospital gown did not bother him. He felt an overwhelming need to get to Dalaran, and the backup armory in the Uncrowned's Hall of Shadows.
Then he and Kaneka could begin the search for Zane. Jon did not have much hope; the trail, if it existed was days old. The more he thought about it, the more the utter futility of the task before him slammed against the walls of his seeming equanimity. The mental and empathic link that existed between them had been shut down hard; either Zane had been killed outright in a violent manner, or she had removed the chess piece amulet that had allowed their communication. Jon thought about that - either she had died without any warning, or she had removed the link herself. If she had died, then there was no point to searching; if she had destroyed the link herself, then she had - for whatever reason - did not want Jon to know what she was doing, nor to be able to find her.
Kaneka returns from dropping off the vials to Tera. She half expected Jon to be gone. She nearly smiled when she saw him still there. Approaching his bedside once again, she looked down at him. "Alright, Jon. When you're ready".
"I am ready now," replied Jon. He watched with a barely concealed impatience while Kanaka made with the "white mice and pixie dust" routine, opening a teleportation portal to Dalaran. Jon stepped through, and felt his gorge rise... however convenient, his body did not like teleportation. Kaneka joined him, and closed the portal, leaving the two of them in Dalaran. Together, they made their way to the house of Phredaria, Jon's friend and colleague.
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