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| Details |
| Author: | Athena |
| Summary: | Roper reports to Colson what he's learned about how Syarra possibly died. 800-ish words. |
| Rating: | M for Mature 17+ |
Arc: Sunstrike Story
Colson,
Pleasantry, pleasantry. Anyway. Death, that’s a pleasant, dinner table conversation topic, right? I’d say don’t read this over dinner, but I’m sure there’s already some rule about that somewhere, so I’m betting you’re covered.
Whatever Syarra’s death was, it wasn’t straightforward – she’s being oddly cagey about it, and not just to preserve the taste of the marshmallows we were roasting. Most significant detail is that she says, and I am quoting, that she died ‘because of a Death Knight,’ and before said ‘in the presence of a Death Knight.’ She was a ‘paladin’ before, so I think you know what that means – she’s trying not to lie, by phrasing it really carefully. Old habits die hard, or sometimes die hard then get raised up as a Death Knight. So, she definitely considers a Death Knight responsible for her death, but somehow wasn’t directly killed by one. And even more importantly, she refused to name the Death Knight. She doesn’t want vengeance, and she doesn’t want someone possibly taking it for her.
Now, I can say for certain that it wasn’t any of the following: me, a Draenei who goes by ‘Forge,’ a human by the name of ‘Corduin,’ another named ‘Goreia,’ or Brenda from Accounting. That’s all I can narrow down for sure at the moment, although I have some of my own suspicions. Had to have been one of the earlier ones raised, because this was months ago, and not all of us were up and running around yet. That’s a much smaller handful to consider.
Some of the details of the circumstances that might be relevant are that when she was working in the Plaguelands she was with a team of others, apparently all those ‘paladins’ – Blood Knights – somewhere between four and six others likely. She mentioned working with a small team before, and several times she’s come back to the presence of a healer. If I had to guess, she had something for her squad’s healer, either a rivalry or friendship or some other strong emotion, because it lingered. One of them was named or nicknamed ‘Elivia.’ The rest she’s never mentioned by name. The leader, whoever that was, was either very stupid or very arrogant, and let the squad get separated, where the Death Knight picked them off one by one. And they didn’t, at the time, know what they were dealing with, so this was before they were aware of Acherus. But that fits your timeline, so no surprises there.
She recognized a lot of the buildings of the Scarlets, particularly a cave near the mill, from before. And had a particular sort of hatred for them. Don’t know how relevant that is, or if she was anywhere near that place when she was killed, but it's somewhere to start.
Something happened to the healer in particular, something that made Syarra very aware how if one of you takes enough damage from one of us, you can’t come back from it, even for someone who ‘heals as easily as breathing.’ The way she talked about it made it sound like it’s possible Syarra was the last one standing, because she was sure the others were dead, and she was the only one taken back to be raised up. Could be that she just figured if she went down the others would, but I don’t think so, not given how she was talking about them getting separated. She sounded like she knew how they’d been killed. And this may be important – she’d seen someone flayed before, and not from the instructors during Training, because she didn’t know how to do it properly. Don’t know if those are connected, or if she was just remembering some really wild Silvermoon parties, but she got a look on her face when I was talking about that time you were crushed by that kodo. I think she either watched her healer die, or got to the body and put two and two together.
That also means there’s a possibility that the other bodies are still out there, or at least pieces of them. Syarra seemed to think it was likely she was the only one raised because hers was the only body still ‘viable.’ And that’s something odd – because if she was the last one standing, and a Death Knight had nothing but all the time in the world to kill her, she should have been the least of all. But, again, she also very carefully didn’t say a Death Knight killed her. So, that’s fucking thought provoking. Here’s a dinner riddle for you: What kills a paladin in a way that leaves the body viable, before a Death Knight can get to her, and makes a Death Knight think they’ll bring home the souvenir?
Gotta feeling you might know the answer to that better than I do.
You know I used to charge for these kinds of things, right? It’s fine. Consider this a birthday present.
-R
PS – One of your friends was out in the Plaguelands recently, and ended up chatting with Syarra. She says she left your friend ‘unharmed.’ I’d do a headcount just in case, all the same. A woman who’d describe you as ‘serious and a bit pompous.’ I’m sure that narrows it down for you a lot.