Stalking in a Winter Wonderland, Part 2

The fellow named Jon Chess took a mage portal in Dalaran to the Wyrmrest Temple in Northrend.  The Wymrest Temple was an ancient structure built by the Titans at the dawning of time, when the five Dragonflights were created, and has remained a meeting place for them ever since. From there, Jon hired a griffon to go to Valiance Keep.

Valiance Keep was the major point of entry from the Alliance to Northrend, and the logical place Chess to begin tracking his quarry.   Valliance Keep was the headquarters for the main armies of the Alliance in Northrend during the campaign against the Lich King. While the main conflict with the Lich King had subsided, there was still plenty of work to be done to prevent the Lich King and his minions from spreading beyond Northrend and into the rest of the world.

After the destruction of Theramore, Jon had enlisted into the Army of the Alliance, serving as a reconnaissance scout.  He had realized years later that he had done so to punish himself - perhaps fatally so - for having (through no virtue other than blind luck) lived when everyone he had allowed himself to care about had perished in the detonation of the Mana Bomb.

When he had mustered out in Hearthglen, he had never wanted to see Northrend ever again, but as usual, life did not give a shaved rat's behind about Jon's feelings.

Jon pondered his course of action for a moment.  When people thought about what being a private investigator was like, they often thought of dramatic heroics written about in the cheap fictional accounts, but they were highly inaccurate.  Most of Jon's work was remarkably dull and pedestrian, and much of it was the result of the process of canvassing likely locations - engaging and questioning people.

Fortunately, for travelers entering or leaving Northrend, the only inn here was the Valiant Rest, run by a middle-aged human named James Deacon.  Jon remembered the fellow from his time in Northrend; he had stayed here himself before he had enlisted. Jon walked around the corner - the inn was right next to the griffon master's roosts - and sought Deacon out, finding him behind the bar, as usual.

"Got any better ale than that crap you served the enlisted guys, James?" said Jon, leaning against the bar. "My tastes have gone more high-brow than that..."  Jon smiled to show there was no intended sting behind his teasing.

"Sergeant Chess... Light save me, I thought you were long dead, frozen out in Icecrown with the <Argent Exodus>" James replied with a professional smile.

Jon was amazed that James had apparently remembered him and his unit after all that time, and said so. "Well, we lost a lot of us is storming Icecrown, that's true - but I am surprised you remember us."

"Of course I remember you - the <Argent Exodus> never did pay the damages from their last unit party before Icecrown!" said James.

"No?  Well, how much was it?" asked Jon.  "I should have enough to cover it now..."

"Nah, forget about it - I billed the Alliance, and they paid me off a while back when the unit was disbanded; that's why I thought you guys had all died."  The <Argent Exodus> had indeed dissolved under the heavy casualties that the unit had taken, including the apparent death of their leader, a Death Knight named Craft Ramsey. Jon had himself been heavily injured, and had been sent to Heathglen to recover afterward.  "What can I get for you?"

"Hearthglen Ambrosia" Jon replied, asking for his favorite alcoholic drink - a mixture of spices, black tea, and rum.  "and maybe some information?" Jon said, placing a stack of five gold coins on the bar. "I'm looking for an Afflicted Gilnean named Macee Welch, dark hair, violet eyes, mid-twenties maybe?  She was headed out to the Grizzly Hills?"  Jon showed him the miniature portrait of Macee Jon had been given by the client."

"Huh..." said James Deacon, his blading head shining in the lamplight.  "Maybe... but I get so many people coming through.  Was she army?"

"Nah, civilian," said Jon.

"Well, if she took the griffon, then she probably ended up at the Aberpine Lodge," Deacon informed.

"Fair enough,"  Jon said, taking his bottle.  "Much obliged."

Jon took the next griffon to the Amberpine Lodge.

Stalking in a Winter Wonderland, Part 1

(Co-written with my RP compatriot and friend, the player of Kaneka Hillyard, with thanks and gratitude. Special thanks for my favorite bartender, Kitten, for coming otu to play!))

The fellow many knew as Jon Chess sat at a table on the mezzanine level of the Curious Octopus Tavern in Boralus, located on the road along the southern wall that led from Crosswind Commons to Greystone Keep. The Curious Octopus was a bit of a dive, but ideal for use by Jon as a place to meet clients; not many of his clients came from wealth, and few were intimidated by the atmosphere of the Curious Octopus.  Russel the Bard always seemed to be providing music, and patrons often danced on the first floor.

Location of the Curious Octopus Tavern

Jon had restarted his business as a private investigator after his assignment for Elling Trias as his "Agent of Cheese" was completed. Jon enjoyed both jobs, but he had missed being able to help people who were not able to get help from the normal constabulary; in Boralus, as in Stormwind, the constabulary was corrupt, inefficient, and bigoted.  Jon took great satisfaction in his work.

He had worked through about half of his mug of Suramar Spiced Tea when he noticed a friend and member of the mercenary group Brotherhood of Valor come through the door.

Kaneka Hillyard had asked around a little bit as to the whereabouts of the cheese master. She was quite surprised at the looks she had gotten upon inquiry, a curious sweep of their eyes over her frame before an answer was given - The Curious Octopus. Heading through the Mariner's Row, she wasn't in the least bit uncomfortable by the way the inhabitants eyed her hip pouches as she walked.  These kinds of places did not frighten her one bit; she was on a mission and was intent on seeing it through.

Heading through the door of the tavern, she looked around for her 'mark'. She didn't see him. Kaneka bit her lip and gave a soft 'humph'.  Turning to the bar, she approached slowly, preparing to ask the bartender a few questions.

Kaneka approached the bar counter slowly, clearing her throat in an attempt to get the bartender's attention. She hoped that she was heard over the hustle and bustle of the common room.

Kitten, the Ren'dorei bartender on-shift, had been sitting behind the bar, admiring her bright pink fingernail polish on one hand while sipping from a glass of milk through a straw. She looked up and grinned at Kaneka, placing the glass of milk down on the bar as her deep purple tongue swiped over her lips.  "Hey Sugar what can I get ya?"

Kitten - Bartender Extraordinaire!

Kan smiled at the bartendress, also admiring the pink fingernails. "Oh, nothing thank you - save for a little information. Have you seen a fellow by the name of Jon Chess around as of late and if so, do you know where I might find him?"

Kitten looked up from the bar, visually scanning the crowded room.  She winked at Kaneka and suddenly leaped onto the bar counter.  Putting two fingers in her mouth, she let out a shrill blast of a whistle. The room fell silent as she loudly announced "Hey! Anyone here seen Jon Chess? Come on speak up  - I ain't gonna bite ya."

A voice came from the upstairs seating.  "Well, if you aren't going to bite, why should anyone answer, dear Kitten?  Kaneka, have Kitten put something on my tab, and come join me?"

Kitten scanned the room again, finally locating the direction of Jon's voice.  She shouted back. "Sorry Sugar!" said in a tone that revealed nothing like actual regret. "I can't be biting yah anymore,  I'm a married piece of fluff now, and my man gets awful jealous when I share my toys with others."  The bartender winked at a man standing near the bar, who helped her down onto the floor.  Turning to Kaneka, she said, "You heard the man... what can I get ya Sugar?"

Kan trained her eyes to the upstairs seating area and grins. Of course, he would be up there, why hadn't she checked first? Turning her chocolate-colored gaze back to Kitten, she smiled. "Um, I suppose just a coffee. Sweet and black please, and thank you for your help."

Kitten nodded, filling a large coffee mug from the pot behind the bar.  She dropped in a scoop of sugar, paused, and dropped in another scoop - because she could.  Grinning, she placed the coffee down on the bar in front of Kaneka.  "There you go Sugar just holler if you need another round."

Kan picked up the mug and smiled.  "Thank you so very much!"  Turning, she headed upstairs to find Jon's table.

As she might have expected, Jon was in the furthest table, with his back to a wall so he could watch anyone who approached.  In this instance he stood as she drew near, and bowed, offering her the seat with her back to the wall, something Kaneka recognized that he only did for someone he trusted to watch his back, or for someone he would stand in front of in case of attack.

Smiling, she shook her head. "Please sit Jon, I'll not take your seat. This one is fine."  Sliding herself into the seat across from him, she set her mug set on the table top and she looked at him. Her face not as jovial as usual.

"Well, dear Kaneka, to what do I owe the honor?" Chess asked. "Decided that you want to join the Scouts?  You want me to find a different flavor of ice cream?  To reveal my source of high-quality chocolate in Kul Tiras?"

Shaking her head slowly, she looked up from her coffee to his face, looking him in the eyes.  "I need you to find someone for me."

Jon's smile faded to a more serious look, and he gave a short nod. "Very well... I will require a one gold piece fee, which is to be paid in full, and in advance."

Kaneka dug into her hip pouch, pulling out a small handful of coins. Quickly she slid them across the table to Jon.  "Here, I don't care how much it costs. If you need more, tell me. I'll spare no expense."

Jon selected a single gold coin from the pile, and pushed the rest across to Kaneka.  "Under both Stormwind and Kul Tiran law, a single gold establishes the contract between us.  Rule One is 'The confidentiality of a client is absolute', and now you are my client, if at the 'Friends and Family Rate'.  Now, tell me about the person you wish for me to locate?"

Once again, she dips her hand into her pouch, the coins left on the table top. A small portrait of a younger girl with violet eyes is pulled out and handed to him.  "Do you remember, from our days in the Watch, a young rogue named Macee?"

The Missing Miss Macee!

Jon picked up the small portrait and smiled gently.  Taking out his sketchbook, he thumbed backward until he found a sketch that he had done of the woman Macee. "Of course... I did a threat assessment of everyone in the Gilnean Watch at the time... standard practice" Jon informed her.  "What is her last name?"

"Welch. The last I heard, she was in Grizzly Hills. She used to send me word of her whereabouts, but...I've not heard from her in many months.  I fear for her Jon. She's to spontaneous and can easily be led astray."  Hands wrapped around the coffee mug, her fingers tapping nervously.  "I know there is that pack of Worgen there, I do forget their name, and I would hate for her to get wrapped up with them... I'd hate for the poor thing to go...feral."

Jon Chess' face remained impassive, but inside Jon flinched - at one time he had been deeply scarred from the trauma as a child, of watching the people he had thought were his parents be torn apart by Arugal's feral Worgen minions when he had destroyed Pyrewood and taken Silverlaine Keep, renaming it Shadowfang.  He had lived for years with an instinctive terror of all Worgen, even those he knew to be friends.  The only good thing that had come out of the psychic butchery done on Chess to attempt to turn him into a Ren'dorei serial murder had been a mental disconnect; he still felt the terror, but at a remove, as if he was watching it happen to someone else.

The phobia had not stopped Chess from dealing with Arugal and his cultists in the Grizzly Hills when he had been ordered to investigate and deal with the threat, and it would not stop him now.

"Very good, Kaneka. I'll head to Northrend immediately," Chess informed his new client and dear friend. "I will send you regular reports."  Jon had paid a small fortune for the ring that allowed him to teleport to Dalaran, and it was easy to get from Dalaran to anywhere important.

Kan reached over and grasped his hand, giving it a soft squeeze.  "Please...bring her back safely Jon. She has no one."

"I will do my best, Kaneka.  But she has at least one person - she has you."

"I know you will Jon, it's why you're the only one I trust with finding her."

Transitions

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."

Siege of Boralus, Part Six

"A leviathan which has devastated the harbor," General Ogrimskar declaimed ominously. "Yon leviathan must be defeated before it destroys whae is left of the Kul Tiran defense fleet."

 "It's name is..Viq'goth"

A silence ensued.

Jon spoke up. "Boss, I'm out of healing potions and F.R.I.E.D. grenades... you guys go ahead, I'll catch up after restock my supplies, yeah?"

Ogrimskar ignored him.

"Right then.  Right behind you, Boss," mumbled Jon.  In spite of herself, No'lariel chuckled.

"Do we have a plan, General?" asked Gunny.

"Oh aye... kill the beastie afore it can wreck everything!"

"I have encountered Viq'goth before at Anglepoint Wharf, where i was responding to a call for medical assistance," Gunrik said.  "A K'thir cultist named Director Deepwarden summoned him to destroy the sea gate.  He was driven back to the depths by artillery fire.  Maybe we can use one again?"

The K'thir are creatures came from the darkest parts of the oceans, when the Tidesages peered too deep into the depths where nobody should go. Now they walked among the inhabitants of Stormsong Valley, their true appearance only shown upon their death, sowing the seeds of the Old Gods.

"Interesting," said Ogrimskar. "Chess, you're a scout, aye?  Go forth and scout, and see if there are any cannon, powder, and shot we might use."  Jon sketched a salute, and disappeared into the shadows. "Gunny... do you actually have experience firing field guns?"

"I commanded the Stormwind 12th Brigade - if we have powder and ball, I can get a cannon aimed and fire it."

A short while later, Chess returned to Unity Square and reported to General Ogrimskar and Praetor Gunrik, who then turned to the Brotherhood of Valor team.

"New plan... Chess hae found a cannon thae has been dismounted from its gun carraige, and a cache of powder, shot, and whatnot.  We are going to split into two teams, one commanded by Praetor Gunrik - consisting of Gunny, Zallanna, Chess, and one commanded by myself, consisting of me, Bitibiz, and No'lariel."

"And Rulpad!" interjected No'lariel.

"Aye, and the wee little fireplug.  Gunrik's team is going tae remount the cannon and get it set to fire. While he is doing thae, my team will be throwing the kitchen sink at Viq'goth, and lure it into gun range.  Gunny, how close do we need to bring it?"

"Well, under optimal firing conditions, optimal firing range would be a little over a thousand yards, but as we'll be ad hoc rigging the cannon's firing angle, closer would be better."

"Right then... we'll try and bring it close enough so that ye can shove the cannonball down the beastie's gullet by hand if need be," concluded the General. "Gunny... if ye can't fire that thing, we're all kind of screwed, aye?  Be ready."

Praetor William Gunny saluted. "We'll be ready, General."

The leviathan's carnage had already damaged the area considerably, creating a breach in the seawall. They split into their teams, with General Ogrimskar and his team heading for Viq'goth and Praetor Gunrik and his team being led to the dismounted cannon position by Jon Chess.  Chess was dispatched to retrieve the supplies, while Gunny and Zallanna contrived a block and tackle to lift and remount the cannon barrel onto the gun carriage.  The elevation mechanism was damaged, and the transverse crank was likewise inoperable.  While Jon brought over a cannonball and other equipment, including a pre-measured bag of gunpowder.

Meanwhile, down the wreckage line, No'lariel had cast every destructive spell in her repertoire, drawing the leviathan into the range of General Ogrimskar and Bitibiz.  Their combined firepower had been enough to attract Viq'goth's attention, and it followed them with single-minded, bloody determination.  They were roughly 1,100 yards when Gunny began the firing drill.

"Thumbstall," called out Praetor Gunrik.  In response,  Zallanna covered the flash hole with a leather glovelet to prevent air from moving through the cannon.

1,050 yards.

"Worm the barrel."  Chess took the pole with a large corkscrew attachment and ran it down the barrel to catch and remove any left over debris that might have befouled the cannon.

1,035 yards.

"Wet Sponge".  Zallanna took a pole that had sheep’s wool they had wet in seawater and rammed it down the barrel.

 1,000 yards.

"Dry Sponge". Chess rammed a dry sheep's wool-tipped pole twice, drying the cannon for firing.

950 yards.

"Powder."  Zallanna brought the bag of powder to the mouth of the cannon, and Chess, using the same pole he had just used, pushed the bag into the base of the cannon.

900 yards.

"Load." Her powerful body, strong beyond human limits, lifted the cannonball to the mouth of the cannon, and Chess rammed the ball home, leaning all of his weight to ensure the base end of the round was seated solidly against the back of the inside of the barrel.

850 yards.

"Prick." Gunny removed the leather glovelet, and used a long iron rod to pierce the powder bag and expose the gunpowder.

800 yards.

"Prime." Gunny placed a charge of gunpowder into the flash hole to make the gun ready to fire.

750 yards

"Fire."

 Nothing happened. "Chess, fire!" commanded Praetor Gunrik.

"With what?" asked Chess.  Nobody had thought to actually light a fire, or a burning brand.  No slow-burning wick.

Nothing.

600 yards.

"Rulpad!  Burn me!" Jon cried out to the Imp, who, skipping along swiftly cheerfully, rather happy in the abounding chaos, grinned and started making an invocation.  Jon quickly removed his cloak, wrapping his arm with the cloth material.

500 yards.  General Ogrimskar, No'lariel, and Bitibiz had almost reached them, swinging wide to be well out of the path of the cannon.

Rulpad tossed a green fireball at Chess, ecstatic to comply with Jon's request.  At the last moment, Jon dodged aside, punching the fireball with his cloak-wrapped fist.

450 yards.  Screaming in pain as his cloth-wrapped hand was wreathed in flame, Jon lit the gunpowder at the flash hole.

There was an eardrum-bruising kaboom.

Whether killed or injured, Viq'goth vanished into the depths.

Gunny was good enough to heal Jon's hand.

Siege of Boralus Part Five

Unity Square loomed before the squad of Brotherhood of Valor members.  Praetor His Excellency William "Gunny" Gunrik led the blind Lightforged paladin Zallanna and the Ren'dorei warlock No'lariel (accompanied by her demon imp Rulpad) through the streets.  Jon Chess, moving from shadow to shadow, preceded them, making sure that any unanticipated threats were rendered harmless.  The halfling sniper Bitibiz followed behind, keeping an eye out in case there was a need for counter-sniping; the Irontide raiders had already shown themselves quite willing to take pot-shots at targets of opportunity from rooftops and other similar vantage points.

Unity Square was packed with patrols of non-human pirates from the Bilge Rat Buccaneers; Jon had encountered them before in the pirate stronghold of Freeport. The Bilge Rats were a polyglot of rapacious criminals of Vulpera, Quilboar, Hozen, Saurok. even Ettin and Deep Sea Murlocs.  Led by an alpha Vulpera named Captain Eudora, they were known for their single-minded bloodthirstiness .and greed.  In this instance, the Bilge Rats were also the bodyguard to ancient sea giant called from the depths by Ashvane sorcery to wreak havoc on the citizens and structures of Boralus.

The Lord Admiral had called upon General Ogrimskar, the leader of the Brotherhood of Valor. Taciturn and gruff, Jon knew little enough about him, but what he had managed to piece together, Ogrimskar and a close friend named Argyle had been killed in Northrend by the Blighted Mother when he had been on a penitent crusade following the death of his wife and the defection of his clan to the Twilight's Hammer.

He had been raised back to unlife to serve the Lich King, but paladins had broken Arthas' control over him. left with no memories, he had joined the Brotherhood of Valor, which had provided him an opportunity to allow him to kill the Bighted Mother and regain those memories that had been lost. His life had taken on new purpose when he had assumed control of the Brotherhood of Valor, and he was very protective of his adopted 'family'.

Jon had initially not gotten on very well with the General, who had accused Jon of malingering when Jon had assumed the role of cook and bartender of the Blue Raven, but over time Jon felt that he had redeemed himself in the General's opinion - or at the very least, the General had not seen fit to discharge him.

Yet.

Still, Jon counted that marginal increase of status as an achievement of sorts.  While Jon was not, by nature, respectful of rank and formality, he had come to respect the quiet dedication that the General had demonstrated for those under his command.

The team met with the General in the lee of an alleyway off the approach to Unity Square.

"Aboot time ye got here... now is not thae time for larking and looting yon city, we hae work tae be doing," Ogrimskar grumbled in a hushed voice as they gathered around him for their mission briefing.

"Yon poltroon," he began, waving at the sea giant, "is a verrah auld, and mickle powerful oversized bastard named Hadal Darkfathom... he's been destroying walls, fortification, and buildings on his rampage from thae deep water.  He commands a powerful ice sorcery and has been casting barrages of frozen brine at anyone unfortunate enow tae catch his attention.  Thae salty water seems to hae been enhanced to corrode skin and iron, so ye'll need to avoid it as much as ye can."

"Also," he continued, "he can summon a small tidal wave from the shore, and it is similarly enchanted. So here is what we are going tae do...  I am going to get close and grab his attention, and then run him around the square, so he'll focus thae frost and waves in my direction. While I lead him in a merry dance, ye all clean up thae Bilge Rat escort and the pile on tae finsih him.  Understood?"

Everyone nodded.

"Ok, take a moment to make ready, aye?  Oh, and Chess... a moment in private."

The others took themselves off a short distance, and began to make preparations.  Jon could hear Gunny and Zallanna quietly praying to the Light.  Nolarial was scolding Rulpad to focus and not be fooling around instead of burning down the enemy.  Bitibiz was replenishing her ready ammunition supply.

"Chess, ye know what I am... Gunny, with all his Light folderol, won't be able to help keep me up and fighting, and I don't want him anywhere near when the o'er-tall behemoth starts cutting loose with his foul magics - he knows this, and will be healing ye others, and striking for righteous retribution, like his kind goes.  The ice and foul waters and the like will damage me less than it might others - thae frost will be less than a summer's day in Icecrown, and one such as myself will be less corrupted than thae living to the acid brine.  There is a way I can help myself, though - I can drain the life force from a nearby enemy to replenish myself, but that enemy needs to be near, aye?  So... what I am asking ye to do is to fight some of the Bilge Rats and then lead them near me. "

"I understand," nodded Jon.

"Nae, I don't think you do - don't interrupt me, I was nae finished!" snapped the General irritably. "I know that a fighting retreat will put ye in greater peril because I've seen ye fight - quick and brutal is your style, not dancing around like a springheeled sprat.  I need you to lure them to me, not get yourself spitted on a cutlass, aye?  Also... if there is nothing else to use to keep myself going until yon deeps-ea dastaed is done, I may hae to take some of yuir life force.  So I want ye to have some of those healing potions ye carry around in your field pack handy - if I lose ye because yuir not ready and paying attention, I'll go to thae Black Forge itself and pry you back to the living, just so I can torment ye for a decade or two for daring tae die before you do yuir duty, understand?"

"Yessir, I understand," Jon said with a curt nod. Jon did not mention that he was one potion down already. "Take what you need."  if Jon had to die so that Boralus was saved, he was ready to make that sacrifice.  The details were different, but putting his life at risk for Boralus or the Brotherhood of Valor was nothing new, really, if you thought about it, and Jon had thought about it at length.

Ogrimskar waited until the team was ready, and with a fierce Dark Iron battlecry charged towards the sea giant.  Already his lips were mumbling a runic enchantment to unleash a plague of boiling blood on the enemy.  Ogrimsky smiled - the plague should be even more painful to a creature used to the chill of the deep sea. He took a grim satisfaction as it took hold, and the sea giant screamed in rage and anguish.

As the giant rushed him, the startled Bilge Rats recovered and began to respond, only to find themselves sorely beset.  One group of the pirates found themselves facing a pair of paladins.  The ground itself became hostile as their Consecration invocations, judging the moral worth of the pirates and found them wanting.  Zellanna wove a cage of steel around herself, riposting to deadly effect when a Bilge Rat raider attempted to penetrate it - and her.

Nearby, No'lariel had cast a spell which combined the nature of fire and water, calling forth the essence of fire and infusing the downpour of a massive thunderhead of with brimstone, delivering a Fel-firestorm to another gathering of the Bilge Rat raiders. Rulpad capered merrily back and forth while he and his beautiful Ren'dorei mistress incinerated the suffering, flaming victims with waves of burning.

Bitibiz fired shot after shot, each one a headshot.  Loud reports punctuated the screams and moans of the raiders as pirate head after head exploded under the impact of the accelerated lead balls.

Jon mumbled an incantation in the Arakkoa langauge, and entered the Shadows, teleporting a short distance to a group of the raiders.  Casting another cantrip, shards of solidified void materialized in razor-sharp shards, and were cast from him in all directions, ripping and shredding the Vulperas and Quilboars around him.  Several dropped instantly but most were merely wounded - and enraged.  Jon wasted no time, but turned and sprinted away.

Ogrimskar has maintained his distance from the sea giant, well aware that he could easily find himself pulped the enormous club of barnacle-encrusted driftwood.  Enduring several blasts of corrupted rime and frost, he backed away, repeatedly striking the sea giant's thick ankles with necrotic tendrils. Everywhere the tendrils struck, further inflammations of the blood-boiling plague became acute.

Ogrimskar saw Jon approach at a run, followed by a half-dozen pirates.  Something halfway between a snarl and a bloodthirsty grin appeared on his face as he embraced his undead nature, and pulled the lifeforce of the wounded pirates.  He groaned aloud as the stolen energy filled his body, rebuilding his dead flesh and restoring his vitality.

When he noticed the pirates suffering debilitation from his commander, Jon opened one of his belt pouches and tossed the contents in the path of the sea giant.  Had the points of the caltrops been razor-sharp and newly forged, the sunlight might have glinted warningly in the gloomy overcast sunlight, but the caltrops were neither clean nor new, but covered in a green patina of venom, distilled and applied by Chess as part of his morning ritual, as much a part of his morning as preparing Suramar spiced tea or using his tooth powder.  Not nearly as painful as Ogrimskar's spells, the venom began its work almost immediately as the giant's treads stabbed the iron deep into the flesh of his feet.

As the squad of Bilgewater Rats died, the Brotherhood of Valor applied their destructive talents to the sea giant.  No'lariel cast devastating blasts of chaos. Her imp Rulpad discorporiated after being crushed to death by the sea giant's club; banished to the Twisting Nether, No'lariel would summon him back after the fight had ceased.  Gunny relentlessly struck with Gonzagos, the Sword of the Gunrik Family, an ancient but powerful blade which was able to channel the power of Gunrik's ancestors' use of the Light. Regular as clockwork, Bitibiz sent slug after slug into his flesh. Zallanna struck with an almost scientific precision, focusing on the sea giant's hamstring, and when it fell forward, Jon Chess shoved a F.R.I.E.D. (Fast-Roasting Incendiary Exploding Device) up the sea giant's nose.

When it exploded, blowing a good portion of it's head apart, Jon said: "Bless you - that was some sneeze!"

"Really, Jon?  A firebomb up the nose?" said Gunny with a smirk.

"You do not get to judge me, William Gunrik!" exclaimed Jon with mock indignance. "Only Moria gets to judge me, and she's not here!"

Ogrimskar stood next to the sea giant, draining the essence of the last moments until all semblance of life had fled. "Well done, all of ye - take a few moments to rest, and then we need tae take down another wee beastie."

"Boss... I am afraid to ask," said Jon," but what 'wee beastie'?"

"A leviathan which has devastated the harbor," General Ogrimskar declaimed ominously. "Yon leviathan must be defeated before it destroys whae is left of the Kul Tiran defense fleet."

 "It's name is..Viq'goth"

Siege of Boralus, Part Four

The four members of the Brotherhood of Valor - the Ren'dorei warlock No'lariel and her Imp, Relpad, the blind Draenei Lightforged paladin Zallanna, the Halfling hunter Bizibit and her animal companions, and the human street rat known by some as Jon Chess had routed a large force of Irontide raiders attacking the Kul Tiran Capital city of Boralus.  Zallanna and Bizibit had just dispatched the behemoth raider known as "Chopper" Redhook, and together the four of them began looking for more invaders to neutralize with deadly force.  They had reached the neighborhood of Hook Point when they were hailed by Gunny, more properly known as Praetor Baron William Gunrik, the commander of the Brotherhood of Valor medical division.

"We are needed urgently!  Fall in!" Gunny commanded, and without looking to make sure they were following, set a fast pace towards Proudmoore Keep. The four of them followed in his wake, instinctively following his order.  Jon had followed Gunny into battle before, on medical missions to various parts of the Alliance. Gunny had proven himself a fierce soldier and skilled field medic, his loyalty to his comrades and friends proven beyond doubt. His faith in the Light was strong, and he was a strong believer that people were in control of their own destiny - and part of his destiny was to defend others, no matter the cost to himself. Jon knew him to be an honorable man always striving to improve himself and his abilities - Gunny had earned the respect of the cynical Agent of Cheese.

The Praetor led them to the approach to Proudmoore Keep, the center of government for Kul Tiras. The squad took cover, and Gunny gave them their pre-action briefing.

"An Irontide pirate captain named Lockwood has brought her ship up the canal side and trained her ship's cannons on the Keep.  Our job is to engage them and keep them from beginning their bombardments.  Jon, sneak around and board the ship if you can - blow the powder and ordinance," Gunny ordered, waiting for Jon to nod his acknowledgment before continuing. "Bizibit, I want you to hold our flanks with covering fire.  Snipers and cannoneers are your primary targets."

Bizibit threw a salute. "Got you covered, Gunny," she said with a grin.

"No'lariel, you and Zallanna and I will engage the Dread Captain Lockwood, and see if we can distract her and her crew.  In fact, I hope to 'distract' them to death..."  Gunny grinned fiercely. "Nola, try and stay between and behind us, so we can help cover you."

"Oh, don't worry about me, Gunny" No'lariel smiled. "I'll be raining fire down upon whatever that upstart noble wants to throw our way." Nola grinned, surveying the stretch of space before them while her mind reviewed and prepared the appropriate spells to make good her promise. "Just keep them away and they'll be kindling."

Gunny nodded.  "Jon, Biz, get yourselves gone - we'll give you a 40-count and then engage." Bizibit nodded, and she and her pets sought a suitable vantage point from which to conduct counter-fire while her animal companions kept her safe. Chess mumbled a cantrip and faded away into the concealment of Shadow.

Gunny impatiently but methodically counted slowly to forty, and then said: "It's showtime!" The stroke force charged from cover to where Captain Lockwood stood with some of her crew, determining through a spyglass where to best order the cannon fire. Gunny engaged Captain Lockwood's bodyguards as Zallanna put up a Light-powered shield to absorb the musket fire that almost immediately greeted them from Lockwood's crew.

Captain Lockwood grinned nastily.  "At them, me hearties!  Show them the foolishness of challenging the Dread Pirate Lockwood!"  Moments passed.  Pirates died, from Zallanna or Gunrik's blades, or screaming from the rain of Felfire from No'lariel and her Imp.  From her sniper position, Bizibot found target after target, firing headshot after headshot to any crew stupid enough to try and fire at her comrades. Lockwood's smug certainty changed to dismay and disbelief as the Brotherhood of Valor decimated her thugs.

As Lockwood began to withdraw, Gunny and Zallarra stepped forth to challenge her directly.  Lockwood drew a brace of flintlock pistols and fired at the two approaching paladins. Zallarra again invoked Light protection, but the shot bounced off of Gunny's armor and lodged itself in No'lariel's stomach.  Gutshot, Nola collapsed and her Imp incorporated.  Gunny turned and rushed to No'lariel while Zallanna rushed Captain Lockwood.  Lockwood broke into a run, and Zallaanna was blocked by a pair of Irontode cannoneers, who swiftly perished at her hands, but not before she could reach the relative safety of the cannons and crew onboard her ship.

The safety proved temporary as a series of fiery explosions rocked the ship's main deck. Chess had gone below to the gun deck and had used his Gnomish F.R.I.E.D. grenades to ignite the power magazine.  Jon swung over the heads of the Irontide raiders and sprinted towards his friends, just ahead of Captain Lockwood and her remaining crew, who were forced to abandon ship.

"Chess, see to No'lariel" Gunny barked.  Ren'dorei healing was often a tricky thing, given that they were touched by the Void, and Shadow magic was intertwined with their mind and bodies.  While Gunriks first inclination had been to treat Nola's injury with Light-based healing, he knew that the pain would likely at least send her into shock, even as it attempted to heal her body. He also knew that Chess, a user of Shadow magic himself, had alchemical means of healing in the field that might be much more effective than Light for a Ren'dorei patient.

Jon knelt by No'lariel and gently turned her over onto her back.  Blood oozed out of the nasty, ragged hole in her stomach - without magical treatment, such gut wounds were invariably fatal. Jon didn't want to think about how the bullet had probably ricocheted inside her body cavity; fortunately, the shock and pain had rendered her unconscious. Jon rummaged through his field medical kit until he found one of six healing draughts he had purchased from a warlock alchemist named Laurel Nox, whose nature had effectively guaranteed that nothing she used in the making would harm a user of Shadow and Darkness.  Biting the stopper off, he slowly poured the elixir down her throat and then taking the razor sharp knife from the medical pack, he searched and removed the bullet from deep inside her abdomen.  Unstoppering the second bottle, he poured half of it directly into the wound, and then the remainder past her lips. 

Slowly the wound began to close, as her body absorbed more and more of the potion.  No'lariel's eyes fluttered, and she woke, only to wince in pain.  "Jonny... seeing your face upon waking is nice, but to be honest, I'd rather it had been for a different reason..." she complained, attempting a smile.

"You're just lucky that your outfit didn't include enough clothing that the impact didn't take small parts of cloth with it," Jon said softly. "The secondary infections would have been almost as painful as the wound itself... but you're a tough bit of shoe leather, you'll be fine.  Just remember that magical healing is a loan, really... when we're done today, you will owe yourself a week in bed."

"A week in bed?  Will my favorite field medic join me?" she laughed, flirting relentlessly, as was her habit with Jon.

"A week in bed resting... a week with you in bed-sport, and I'd need a few healing potions!" Chess quipped.

When Jon looked up from his patient, he found that Gunrik, Zallanna, and Bizibit had made short work of Captain Lockwood and her surviving crew.  They had surrounded Jon and Nola, facing outwards, making sure nothing had threatened them.

"Report?" commanded Gunny.

"She'll live to play the violin, Praetor," replied Jon with a happy grin.

"...which is amazing, as I didn't know how before..." joked No'lariel, getting to her feet.  The hole in her tummy had closed, with not even a scar to show her injury. 

"Jon does good work," confirmed the Praetor, deadpan. "If you can move, we need to report to the General at Unity Square - he has a giant problem he needs us to help him with."

No'lariel took a moment to summon Relpad once more, and the team began to move through Upton Borough to their destination.

Siege of Boralus, Part Three

The Ren'dorei warlock No'lariel (with her magically-obedient sidekick, the imp demon Relpad) and the fellow some knew as Jon Chess ran through the Tradewinds Markets area of Boralus, and into the Ashvale Docks, finding and killing small groups of Irontide raiders and rescuing civilians as they went. No sooner did they locate a group of the rapacious pirates than Jon would shadowstep into their midst, using his knowledge of Shadow magics obtained from ancient forbidden Arokkoa texts to solidify shards of razor-sharp Void fragments and send them exploding into the enemy.  While they focused on the threat Jon presented, they ignored the threat from No'lariel until she drained the souls from the wounded and distracted Irontide raiders.  Relpad leaped and capered in joy as the imp invoked and sent balls of green balls of Felfire into any who escaped their initial onslaught.

"You seem to be in your element, No'lariel," observed Chess as the warlock pulled soul shard after soul shard from the enemy.

"Well, you humans have a saying - 'Waste not, want not', correct?" she answered, heady with the infusion of power from her victims. "besides, its a quicker and more merciful death than that which they are offering the Kul Tirans."

Jon smiled.  He suspected that giving the Irontide raiders ripped by his Void spikes, poisoned by his daggers, or burned by Felfire a merciful passing was the least of her concerns/

As they entered the area owned by the powerful Ashvane Trading Company, whose owner Priscilla Ashvane was behind the invasion, they slowed; the Irontide raiders had deployed snipers armed with flintlock rifles, firing the powerful Azurite-powered bullets. Chess scouted their route, locating and removing the snipers that impeded their progress. It was from a warehouse rooftop that Jon saw that the Irontide raiders were targeting an open area nearby, and that fire teams of the invaders were converging there.

It there was something urgent enough to attract such attention, it was likely someplace that he and No'lariel should investigate. The two of them (well, three if you counted Relpad...) carefully made their way to the impacted area.

In an open area near the south end of the Ashvane Docks,   Jon recognized the Irontide raider as "Chopper" Redhook from his time spent in Freehold in disguise as a pirate seeking work, while actually preparing intelligence files on the various pirate captains and crews. Redhook was an enormous bull of a Kul Tirasan freebooter who used a giant meat axe and a chain with a meat hook on the end to rend an enemy like a butcher a steer.  He was not very intelligent, but his tenacity and ferocity were infamous through the Irontide forces.

Redhook was chasing a Lightforged Draenei in heavy arnor, who seemed to lithey dance before his rush.  Well-muscled and fit, the blue-skinned beauty wisely kept out of reach of the pursuing behemoth while two sandworms, similar to the kind Jon had encoutered in Silithis, followed behind attacking Redhook's back if he slowed down.  Off on a low wall, half-concealed by broken crates and other debris, a halfking with pink hair was loading and aiming her firearm at the swarm of Irontide intruders which were gathering to watch Redhook tear the Lightbringer paladin apart. Explosive ordinance landed in the square, giving te Irontide further incentive to keep clear.

Jon heard the paladin taunt the meaty man-mountain chasing her. "It is no use, you clumsy ox!" seh taunted.  "None ever escape their fate to be absorbed by the Light, and especially not creatures who are as slow as you."  She dodged gracefully to the side as Redhook cast his chain to skewer her, and Jon recognized her as one of the Knights division of the Brotherhood of Valor.  her name was Zallanna, and Jon watched.  He smiled - if that was Zallanna, then the halfling picking off Irontime raiders and snipers must be Bizibit, her pink-haired huntress friend.

"Jon, watch my back... No'lariel called out as she and Relpad began tossing destructive bolt after destructive bolt at the Zallanna's would-be suitor, and Jon turned, determined to keep her safe once the Irontide noticed them.

"Not my ass, Chess... watch my back, not my backside!" No'lariel teased, glancing over her shoulder, but Jon had no time to ogle her lithe form before he was engaged by pirates.  Jon parried and thrust, dodged and leaped.  he broke open a small packet of blind powder - a combination of crystalized cat piss, finely ground black pepper, and not quite so finely ground glass shards - and delivered it to Irontide eyes, stabbing with his envenomed daggers while kicking the wounded away with a shove of his boot.

It was during a lull in ths activity when one of the exploding shells in the cannon barrage failed to explode. From her quick reaction, it was what Zallana had been waiting for.  She gracefully leaped over the unexploded ordinance, still followed by Redhook.  As Redhook passed by, Zallanna cut sharply towards the same side that Redhook has used to go around the bomb, and as she placed herself with Redhook between her and the bomb, her partner Bizibit fired, detonating the unstable explosive.  The blast took Redhook n the back, staggering him forward - and into Zallanna's outstretched blade. which gave him a second throat. 

The Irontide raiders wasted no time in seeking other, easier targets than face the pair of the Brotherhood of Valor who had summarily dispatched "Chopper" Redhook.

Jon and No'lariel joined Zallanna and Bizibit, and the four of them continued deeper into Boralus to find more Irontide.