Guild Mission: Stand and Deliver, part IV

The fellow known as Stavros DarKoven (and who was actually a disguised Jon Chess) approached Jerod's Landing, located on the river which defined the southern border of the Elwynn Forest. He was alone, carrying a large burlap sack slung over his shoulder. 

As he approached the small wharf, he was challenged by a trio of dockworkers, who regularly patrolled the grounds.  They drew their blades, but before they could charge forward, Stavros called out.  "Ho there!  Tell the Dockmaster that Stavros DarKoven brings him some munitions for the Brotherhood!"

"Sid, go tell the Dockmaster.  Lenny and I will stay here, and keep Mister DarKoven company," said their leader.  The two dockworkers came forward to keep guard on Stavros while the third went to inform the Dockmaster he had a guest.

The Dockmaster of Jerod's Landing was a goblin, and a key member in the Defias Brotherhood/  He ran the shipping of contraband and supplies from the Elywnn Forest-based bands of the Defias to their bosses in Westfold.  Jon Chess, in the guise of Stavros DarKoven, had sold the Defias barrels of contraband cheese, establishing a rapport with the fellow.  The dockworker, a Defias thug, came back moments later and they escorted Stavros DarKoven to the shack which served as the Dockmaster's headquarters. 

"Stavros, my good friend!" oozed the goblin.  "My associates tell me that you have brought me some new toys!"  The goblin's eyes fairly glowed with greed. 

"Indeed I have, good sir, indeed I have!" said Stavros, opening his sack. "These little beauties are fresh off the Ashvane docks in Boralus - twelve Azerite explosive charges, a hundred or more times more powerful than gunpowder!" Jon tossed one in the air, watching the goblin flinch in fear - the Defias had heard of Azerite munitions.  "Don't worry, these are quite stable - and without their chemical blasting caps.  You get those when I get paid!"

The Dockmaster relaxed a little, having been assured he was not about to become an industrial "accident". "And how much do you want for each of them?" he asked DarKoven.

"Well, you know... they aren't easy to come by unless you have good relations with the Ashvane company, and even harder to smuggle into the Eastern Kingdoms," Stavros prefaced. "The Alliance would give their eyeteeth to confiscate these beauties!  Just one of them can send a warship to a watery grave!  They can be used to extort protection from merchant captains, destroy competitors.. the possibilities are endless!  Nothing and nobody would be safe from these little beasts! I was thinking, perhaps, a thousand gold?"

"A thousand gold for all of them?" clarified the Dockmaster.

"A thousand good per explosive!" 

"PER EXPLOSIVE?" shouted the Dockmaster. "What, you think we shit gold?  We can't afford that much!  Every copper penny we get goes to arming our forces, with which to take back Westfall and Elwynn!  We fight to free the common folk fr4om the yoke of the oppression of the nobility!  Surely, you would not deprive us of such a powerful tool of liberation just for the lack of a few measly gold coins?  Why, even 100 gold per explosive would be exorbitant..."

"Penurious wretch!  100 gold each would not even cover the costs of the transport, let alone the bribes - bribes to the Scrimshaw Gang for adjusting the Ashvane inventory manifest, bribes to the ship captain for letting me bring these delightful eggs fo destruction on ship, bribes for the Port Authority to not look at my 'sack of personal goods' too closely... I would be depriving my children, my wife, and my saintly grandmother of food for anything less than 500 per device!" 

"You might as well cut my throat now," demanded the Dockmaster, "for that is surely what would happen, if I allowed myself to agree to such an amount! My life would not be safe, not even if I were to offer 250 gold for each device, but perhaps my superiors would settle for only beating me!"

"250?  No wonder you Defias are called bandits!  Now you would rob me, who only sought to enhance the power and prestige of the Brotherhood.  I guess then I must sell these to persons of lesser scruple, like the Bloodsail Buccaneers..  But such a trip would tire me - if you could come to 300 gold per device, I could head straight back to Kul Tiras, and not bother?"  

"250 for these, and 350 for any more you can send our way? " the Dockmaster offered, knowing that he would be able to skim at least 50 gold for himself and report higher price for the bombs.

"Well, perhaps... but perhaps you can help me with another matter.  I need some top-quality blades, preferably with matching daggers for some interested parties in Freehold... If you can give me some samples to show them, we could set up a pipeline, and the profit would line the Brotherhood's coffers?"  Stavros offered, doubting that the Dockmaster would ever report the additional income, and cover the shipping invoices to reflect the missing weapons as shipping shortfalls - after all, the Defias Brotherhood were thieves and bandits, after all.  Surely a few missing weapons were not unusual.

The Dockmaster's eyes filled with greed. "Yes, done!  Come back in two days, and I will have some samples to show you!".

"Done! I will see you in two days - and I will bring the blasting caps, and you will bring the gold?"

"Of course, of course... I will even waive the usual carrying charges!" offered the Dockmaster with faux generosity.

"Yes, yes... you are too kind!"  Stavors bade the Dockmaster farewell and returned to Goldshire.

Once in Goldshire, he went the Red Lion Inn and rented a room for the night, staying in it just long enough to change from the red-and-gold leathers of Stavros DarKoven, and into the deep blue night-stalking leathers of the Rook.  Jon slipped out of his second-floor window, and into the night, crossing to the Darkshire shore, and took up a watching position opposite the Jerod's Landing docks.  He had brought provisions - wine and hard cheese - and took up position to watch the docks.

Two days passed excruciatingly slowly, but eventually, Jon's patience was rewarded when a large barge showed up, laden with wooden crates.  He watched as the Dockmaster oversaw their unloading onto the docks, to await pickup.  

That night, Stavros returned to Jerod's Landing, where we was welcomed by the Dockmaster. 

"Welcome back, Master DarKoven!  Have you brought the chemical explosive caps to arm the bombs?" asked the goblin.

"Of course not..." answered Stavros, grinning widely. "Show me the blades and then you can send a man back with me, carrying my gold, and then I will send him back with the explosive caps!"

"Why, Stavros, I am hurt!  Clearly, you do not trust me!" said the goblin, smiling. "You would think that you have known me all your life!" The goblin went to a side table, and unwrapped a cloth bundle, containing three sets of sword and dagger pairs.  The scabbards were plain dark brown leather, and the swords were black iron, rust-proof.  The forte of each blade and dagger bore the makers sigil-mark of the Shadowforge City armory; the blades had been contained by that city's Dark Rion armorers.

Stavros chuckled. "These are excellent!  I will take these and show them to the buyer in Freeport!  Well done!"   The goblin sent a dockworker back with Stavros to the Red Lion Inn, where the exchanged gold for the chemical blasting caps. No sooner had they left when Stavros went to his room, and the Rook left by the window, once more taking up his observation post. 

Guild Mission: Supply and Demand, Part III

(Co-written by Lynesia's player, with thanks and gratitude!)

Jon Chess used the telepathic link that Lynesia had long ago established with her magic to contact her.  "Querida... I have a mission to go and locate a smuggling route through the Elwynn Forest that the Defias Brotherhood is using to assemble war materials for use in Westfall, and destroy it.  Would you be interested in joining me? We can meet for dinner, perhaps, and discuss how to proceed?"

Lynesia blinked and sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes.  "Jonny?" she murmured aloud before standing and wondering over to pick up a cup of hot tea. "Jon?" she responded through the telepathic link. "I am surprised anyone wants to overtake Westfall... it is such a down and out area. Sure I'll help you. What do you need?"

"Finding a smuggling route through the Elwynn is like finding a needle in a haystack - the Defias Brotherhood are as thick as fleas on a mangy dog," Jon replied.  "I am going to become Stavros DarKoven again - Stavros has done some business with the Defias before," Jon informed Lynesia.  "Maybe I can get a lead on the route from the Dockmaster at Jerod's Landing... that place is where the Defias distribute food and ale to their brethren.  If we can find one of the links, maybe we can follow the chains in both directions, and find the destination and the source.  Once we do that, we can shut them down - hard."

Lynesia tapped her cheek in thought as she let out a soft sigh.  "Alright.. what do you require me to do? I doubt I could go in disguise as some slave following you around again," she said to him in an amused tone. She debated getting food, but instead, she just laid back in bed and closed her eyes. "Just tell me what to do, beloved."

"I was thinking that perhaps you might watch the docks at Jerod's landing from the other side of the river,  while I sell the Defias a few small kegs of Azerite grenades I ... liberated from the Ashvane docks in Boralus.  I was thinking that if they are smuggling arms through the Landing, that the crate I sell them will end up on it, and we can follow the shipment downstream and see where it goes, and then track it upstream to see if we can find the source"  Jon wanted to smash the whole route and pull this particular fang from the Defias viper.

"Maybe Phred could make a tracker that is undetectable to anyone but us,"  Lynesia spoke softly. "I could be on the other side of the operation and once I make a map of the areas and with enough time so they couldn't trace it back to Stavros." She rubbed her face. "This.. mind link is making me nervous. When can we meet up?" she asked, her tone a bit worrisome.

"Why don't you explain what you want to Phred - I bet you she'll make whatever you ask because she "adores* you, not because you trade her refugee recovery operations in Gnomeregan..." Jon chuckled.  "We can meet in Goldshire, where the Darkmoon Faire usually sets up their portal?"

"...I haven't seen Phred in a while. W-Would she recognize me?" She sounded a bit anxious.

"Querida..." Jon said, using the Kul Tiras endearment. "She knows you, and although you wear leathers and carry a blade instead of soft robes and a book, she will welcome you... she may not ever let you leave again, for fear of losing you again, but she will rejoice that you have returned from the Void." Jon snorted.  "Sometimes I think she likes you more than she likes me!"

"...I seriously doubt that. Sometimes I think she is in love with you," she admitted before finishing getting ready. "I'll meet you in an hour at Goldshire then?" She cleared her throat.

"In Goldshire in an hour "Jon confirmed.

Guild Mission: Supply and Demand, Part II

Outside the cavern that was the home to the Scout's Den, Jon invoked his ring which allowed him to teleport to Dalaran, the city of mages, and made his way to the residence of his friend, Phredaria. he let himself in, Phred's magical locks having been set to allow entrance at any time, and found his diminutive Gnome friend in her workroom.

"So... I'm about to go under again, Phred. What do you have in the way of some explosive devices?" Jon asked his friend and forensics mage. Phredaria was also a gifted spark of a Gnomish tinkerer and had in the past had supplied Jon with numerous devices that had saved his life in the field.

And a few which had also endangered it, like the rocket-powered boots that had exploded. Or the parachute that had only opened on impact... Phred had sworn that she had fixed the release mechanism, but Jon remained suspicious.

"How about some Organic Discombobulation Grenades? You throw it at the enemy, and it spawns five miniature mechanical sheep. Each of the sheep will change anyone who touches one into a sheep, preventing them from following you?"

"...seriously? How about something more... incendiary? The objective is t destroy some munitions depots," informed Chess, grinning in anticipation of her reaction.

"Boom? Let's see what I have... Seaforium charges? Too small... Wait, I know... how about some F.R.I.E.D. grenades! Those need to be tested... ah, they might be useful in the field!"

"Fried grenades?" asked Jon, his voice dubious.

"No, not 'fried' - "F.R.I.E.D.' - A 'Fast-Roasting Incendiary Exploding Device'. Everything in a five-yard radius goes fwoooosh!" Phred crowed.

"That sounds perfect... umm.. they are stable, right? Not going to go off in my pockets or something?" asked Jon.

"Of course they are stable - well until you pull the locking pin. Then you have about five seconds before the blasting cap sets off the Azurite powder," Phred confirmed.

"Azurite powder?" asked Jon. He had seen the destructive power of the substance before.

"Just a pinch! And it makes them marvelously small - I added some lead casing to fragment as shrapnel just so the grenade would have a proper heft to it. If the grenade was too light, it wouldn't fly true, and
a little extra shredding power never hurt anyone... well, except the enemy, and that was the point, really.

"Sounds great... how many do you have?" asked Jon.

"I can let you have ten? Is that enough?"

"It'll have to be!" enthused Jon.

"Oh, and Jon?"

"Yes?"

"Trying to cook with these is definitely contra-indicated!"

Guild Mission: Supply and Demand, Part I

The fellow known as Jon Chess was gratified to find his the commander of the Scouts in the Scouts' Den. "Scoutmaster Slaiyn, may I have a moment? There is a task on the Mission Board I in which I should like to engage - apparently the Defias are building a stockpile of munitions and supplies, being smuggled through the Elwynn and into Westfall. I would like to be assigned to this mission, along with Lynesia Deh'lorei. "

Slaiyn looked over at Jon, nodding his head. "Oh, smuggling. What skills do Lynesia possess, for I already know yours."

Jon remained silent, not sure how Slaiyn could know *all* of Jon's abilities, like his cantrips for impersonating Orc or Blood Elf, but said nothing - it was always good to have a few surprises handly.

"She's what the Void Elves call a Ghostknife - a silent, ruthless killer," said Chess, "Plus, she's smart - scary smart, and has forgotten more about shadow magic than I'll ever learn in my lifetime. And most of all, I trust her to guard my back."

Slaiyn looked at the mouth of the cave, flipping open his Spellbooks and teleporting outside to the entrance. He looked at Dare and sighed.

“Oh, hello Dare," he said. "I see you aren’t comfortable with a second paralysis. Come with me.” Slaiyn grabbed Dare’s shoulder, teleporting them both inside. He returned to his conversation with Jon. “So you’d like an intelligence operative and a shadow assassin assigned to smuggling some goods across regional borders?”

"Well, more like preventing it - the Defias create enough mischief as it stands. Giving those bastards some serious armor and weaponry, not to mention, say, a ballista or a mangonel, or maybe even some light cannon or [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falconet_(cannon)]falconets[/url]? The assignment is to locate the supply chain, and shut it down... permanently." Jon grinned. "I've got a few... aliases I've established for certain activities. Stavros DarKoven is a smuggler and a slaver, operating out of Booty Bay. He's worked with the Defias before. And Phred - my forensics mage - has supplied me with a half-score of F.R.I.E.D. grenades, which are ideal for this kind of mayhem. Lynesia and I can blow their supply caches so high the seagulls will need breastplates."

Slaiyn thought about it for a moment to himself, then waved his hand to Jon and nodded. "Yes, that'll be fine by me. Just...don't fuck it up? I don't want to have a mess with our name on it right now, much less one that could act as a crime against the Alliance."

Chess nodded his acknowledgment and departed.

Nightmares in the Void, Part 3

(By Lynesia's player)

The fact that Lynesia wore dark clothes did not help at all in attempting to locate her. The elf was face down a few yards away from a nearby inlet. Her entire body was covered in mud, grass, twigs and other nearby fauna that saw the elf as nothing more than a source of nutrients once the body started to decay.

IF the body was to decay that is.

Lynesia was barely conscious enough to send out for any help, though when she was awake she spent hours using her hands to pull her body a few more yards.

While she was unconscious her mind would search out for Jon.

She dreamt of Jon, the man being so far away that even if she reached out to get him he always out of reach. “Jon...Jon, please don’t leave me... Why did you forsake me?” she cried out towards him. She reaches out to get his hand. “Jon.. please look at me! Come find me.”

Nightmares in the Void, Part 2

"You thing Lynesia is alive?" Phredaria asked Jon Chess, her voice squeaking in the middle of her question with excitement. "But for the last three weeks, you were convinced that she was dead! What changed?"

"I had a dream," said Chess, sheepishly. He had teleported from his apartment above the Scribes & Nobles bookstore and woken Phredaria from a comfortable, warm bed so he could find out if she could use her arcane abilities to create a locator charm.  Phred had been grumpy until Jon had mentioned it was for Lynesia Deh'lorei.  Phred had never before taken to any of the women that Jon had romanced over the years - until she had met Lynesia, who, like Phredaria, was a mage for the Kirin Tor. She had immediately bonded with the Ren'dorei woman, and they had become fast friends. When Lynesia had vanished after the burning of Teldrassil by the Horde, Phredaria had still held out home - until Jon had told her that the mind-link that Lynesia had forged with Jon had not only been silent but had apparently been broken.

"A dream?  Jon Jon Jonny, maybe... maybe you just really miss her" Phred asked, her voice softening. "I know that you really loved her, despite... I mean, she loved you too, Jonny.  And I know you loved her.  Maybe it was just a dream?"

"Well, Phred, my darling little dove, there are two possibilities.  Imprimis, you are correct, and it was just a dream, spawned out of the gaping chasm in my heart that her absence has caused..." Jon began.  "Or... Secundus, Lynesia is alive but has been prevented from contacting us.  Maybe contacting me in my dream was the closest she could get?"  Jon's voice took on a pleading tone. "It may be a wild goose chase... probably IS a wild goose chase... but how would we feel if it was a call for help, and we dismissed it?  I'd rather waste my time and look like a fool - hardly a new experience for me, after all - than have the regrets born of not trying. So... help me?"

Phred looked at Jon's face, a mixture of hope and resignation that it had been just a dream, and that Lynesia was really gone, and sighed. "Of course, I will help, Jonny... do you have anything of hers, something as personal as possible? A lock of hair, a piece of clothing she wore?"

Jon blushed, having anticipated the question. "I brought something..."  When a few days had gone by with no word from Lynesia, Jon had gone to her house in Dalaran, and picked the lock.  Lynesia had several animal pets that needed care; Buttons the cat-form voidling, and Shadow, the Light and Void shadowfox among them.  Jon had cleaned up the messes they had made, and taken them with him back to Boralus.

On his way to Phredaria, he had stopped there long enough to obtain a garment from her dirty clothes hamper. He handed the piece of lingerie to Phred, who gave Jon a look that was half disgusted and half amused. "Well, I suppose it doesn't get any more personal than that... Go make us lunch, and I'll get started."  Phred disappeared to her workshop, and Jon went to make them lunch.

Not too much later, Phred reappeared and handed Jon a small Truesilver Kul Tiras anchor pendant on a fine mithril chain, like the golden one Jon wore, a present from a friend. "Say the usual invocation phrase, and this will point the way, Jonny.  And uh... take these, as well?" Phred handed Jon a half-dozen smoke grenades and box of high-explosive demolition charges.

Jon grinned.  In the places he went, he would have been dead several times over without Phred's tinkering "toys".

"Thank you, Phred."

Jon Chess microhero, Lynesia microhero