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| Details |
| Author: | Alli |
| Summary: | The Cobalt Eye (Annibeth, Mayellen, Maisha, Jonas and Ionala) head to Stromgarde Keep to give them a warning about the Syndicate - and instead end up uncovering an important secret. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Arc: Before the Cataclysm
Arc: The Missing Heron
Mayellen and Annibeth are sitting in the inn at Southshore, talking.
[Mayellen]: Just the same plans I've always had. Small, family only.
[Mayellen]: More specifically, his family only.
[Annibeth]: Wait…family only?
[Mayellen]: That was always the plan.
Annibeth looks down at her lap. "Oh."
[Mayellen]: We'll probably have some kind of dinner or something after for everybody.
Jonas and Maisha arrive.
[Jonas]: Hullo, Maisha. May, Anni.
Jonas settles into the chair on Mayellen's other side.
[Annibeth]: Hey.
[Maisha]: Hi all.
Jonas peers at Anni. "Are you all right?"
Annibeth sighs and mutters, "I'm fine."
Maisha peers at Annibeth. "That sounds a bit less than fine…"
[Mayellen]: Can we possibly not turn this into a conversation about how I'm doing my own wedding wrong? Because this is where it's going if we're going to keep asking Anni why she's sulking.
[Jonas]: … oh.
[Maisha]: Ah, alright. Let's talk about Arathi. Where we're goin' today? Ta talk to a king?
Jonas puts a hand on Mayellen's knee and nods at Maisha.
[Mayellen]: I was going to throw a big dinner thing after for people who wanted to celebrate. But if that's not gonna be enough, then forget the dinner, because I didn't want to d— oh. Uh, yes, probably.
Ionala arrives.
[Mayellen]: There she is!
Jonas smiles at Ionala.
Annibeth purses her lips tightly and pulls her goggles down to cover her eyes.
[Maisha]: Okay, ye all ready to head to Arathi?
[Jonas]: I think that's a good idea.
Mayellen peers at Ionala searchingly.
[Ionala]: Well! I see I understand the blessing forms well enough!
[Mayellen]: Yes, that felt very professional!
[Mayellen]: You okay to go to Arathi, Nala?
Mayellen peers at Ionala searchingly.
Ionala looks up. "Yes. I think it'll be all right. I'm not even sure I remember it."
[Mayellen]: I guess we'll find out…
Mayellen gently pats Ionala.
[Maisha]: Well, ye can tell us if ye've got memories you want to share.
[Mayellen]: Another quick question for all of you: which would be more alarming - Ziltuk, whom you all know is horrible, or a new one that doesn't talk but is… extremely hideous?
[Ionala]: How horrible?
[Maisha]: I do no' mind hideous? Some creatures are hideous but it does no' mean they're worse than a prettier creature.
[Mayellen]: Well I suppose I can um… summon it and you can see.
[Mayellen]: But maybe not… right here.
[Jonas]: He's not that bad. A little… scaly? Impressive teeth.
Mayellen looks around.
[Ionala]: yes, let's not alarm the townsfolk.
[Mayellen]: Let's ride out a ways.
Jonas nods at May.
[Mayellen]: You should probably all see this one anyway. It's new. I call it Bheemon the Demon, just to make me laugh, so I don't scream.
We come across the neutral goblin merchant with his robot.
[Maisha]: Ach, that goblin again…
[Mayellen]: They made me jump through ALL manner of hoops just to learn to summon it.
Mayellen waves at Zixil.
[Jonas]: Absurd number of hoops.
[Maisha]: Well then, I'd like ta see it.
[Mayellen]: The goblin won't care about the demon…
[Mayellen]: Okay here goes.
Maisha whistles for Bael, just in case.
Bheemon the Demon, a felhunter, is summoned.
Mayellen startles. And it's her demon.
Bael eyes the demon suspiciously.
[Jonas]: … I think I misremembered how horrifying it is, actually.
[Mayellen]: So uhm… yeah.
Bael bares his teeth.
[Ionala]: …Oh dear light.
Maisha pats her raptor to calm it.
Annibeth grimaces at the fel…dog…thing.
Jonas compares Bael's teeth to the demon's. He doesn't look optimistic.
Bheemon snuffles the air. Snuffle snuffle snuffle.
[Ionala]: You're so *ugly!*
Ionala squeals this, like she was speaking to a puppy.
Maisha comes over closer to peer at the demon.
[Maisha]: I've never seen a creature like it.
[Maisha]: Yer right, that's proper impressive hideous.
[Ionala]: Who's the scariest boy?
[Mayellen]: It sort of… eats magic.
Bheemon cocks its head at Nala.
[Maisha]: Are those… spines on its head? Or tentacles?
Bheemon reeeeaches its tentacles toward Nala.
[Mayellen]: Well, the pointy bits are spines.
Ionala chuckles. "I think this demon is—Ah, Ah!"
[Mayellen]: The curly ones are magic-sucking tentacles.
[Ionala]: No magic eating on friends!
[Maisha]: Well. Alright then.
Bheemon retracts its tentacles.
[Maisha]: May I think yer the most magical person here, an' yer in control of it. So I see no problem?
[Annibeth]: I don't wanna hear the words 'sucking tentacles' together ever again.
[Mayellen]: So. Preferences? This one or Ziltuk? Tentacles or chatterbox?
[Maisha]: I'll jus' call 'em tentacles then. No sucking.
Annibeth shrugs.
[Jonas]: To be honest, I might prefer the tentacles.
[Mayellen]: I suppose I like the quiet. Okay then, let's go.
[Ionala]: I agree with Annibeth. But why don't you try this one and see if you get use out of him.
[Mayellen]: So in theory, once I get better control of him, I can use him to remove harmful spells from you, or helpful spells from people we're fighting.
[Maisha]: Tha' does sound useful.
[Maisha]: 'specially if we keep fightin' those Syndicate mages.
They head into the Arathi Highlands.
[Maisha]: So, this is Arathi Highlands.
[Mayellen]: It's beautiful here.
/We’re attacked by a raptor and a spider.//
[Mayellen]: And full of hungry wildlife.
[Ionala]: Oh, that bird.
[Maisha]: The bird?
Jonas gazes upward.
[Mayellen]: This place has… seen better days.
[Jonas]: … aye.
[Ionala]: I just remembered. "Look at the bird," and someone pointing in the sky.
Jonas peers at Nala.
Mayellen smiles gently at Nala.
Maisha looks sadly at Ionala. "I hear the birds here now, too.”
They arrive at Stromgarde Keep.
[Maisha]: I think this is the place where we can find the Stromgardians? This or Refuge Pointe, and we're closer here.
[Maisha]: Might be contested though, so we ought ta be careful.
[Mayellen]: I'm… trying to imagine what this place once looked like.
[Jonas]: There are people about.
[Mayellen]: Be careful. Might be Syndicate.
[Maisha]: Rats about too.
[Mayellen]: What are those uniforms?
Mayellen peers at Stromgarde Defender searchingly.
Maisha raises her hands as they approach armed people.
Stromgarde Defender says: Who goes there?
Jonas says low-voiced to Mayellen, "That's Stromgarde."
[Mayellen]: Damn, I forgot to get a tabard… again…
Mayellen nods to Jonas.
Maisha peers and murmurs, "It's red and white, with a bird…"
[Ionala]: That's the eagle. Because they fly here so often.
[Maisha]: We're friends! Here ta visit. And talk wi' the king.
The defender looks over the group.
Ionala ducks her chin down as they're inspected.
Jonas smiles politely at the defender. He's harmless.
Mayellen glances behind her, and double-takes at the impaled corpses.
Stromgarde Defender says: You'll need to leave your weapons. I'm afraid we can't be too trusting these days, with the ogres and the Syndicate at our doorstep.
Annibeth frowns.
[Mayellen]: Bheemon, stay.
[Ionala]: oh, so we'll be unable to help you defend your position?
[Maisha]: I'll give ye my sword, but uh… the gun's sentimental…
[Ionala]: I'm not sure that's wise.
Stromgarde Defender says: We're defending the position, you'll be safe within the perimeter.
An ogre attacks!
Mayellen demonstrates the usefulness of her weapons.
[Annibeth]: Ah, a chance to use this freshly sharpened blade.
Stromgarde Defender says: Just remember - no ogres in here.
[Mayellen]: Where are we meant to leave our weapons?
Stromgarde Defender says: We'll keep them just inside here. If there's trouble, you can get them back easily.
Annibeth mutters, "We jus' held off an ogre attackin' and they still don't trust us? Pfff."
[Mayellen]: Fine.
[Mayellen]: It's their city.
[Maisha]: Well, we are askin' ta see the king, too.
Mayellen leaves her demon outside.
[Ionala]: A fine way to treat a priest of the light!
Jonas lays his sword and gun aside where indicated.
Ionala divests herself of her staff with a pointed "hmph!"
Annibeth grumbles and places her hammer and dagger down beside her rifle.
Maisha reluctantly sets down her sword and her gun. She keeps Bael, he's not a weapon, honest.
Mayellen hands over her staff as well
[Mayellen]: And this, you can't have, as it's not a magic staff. I use it to walk.
Stromgarde Defender says: Alright, thanks. You can head into the court, but… the king's probably busy.
Jonas surveys the ruins around them.
[Mayellen]: It really must have been beautiful here once.
[Jonas]: It does not appear they've done much of a job defending it.
[Maisha]: Even now, it's got a charm to it.
[Maisha]: Look a' that greenery
[Jonas]: Oh, this is… nice, aye?
[Mayellen]: Nice touch.
Mayellen smooths her hair. She is about to meet a king?
Maisha walks into what's clearly the throne room, and then looks about at the guards, puzzled.
[Maisha]: We're here ta see the king? On behalf of Cobalt Company?
Jonas raises his eyebrows and looks around. His expression says he was kind of expecting more from a throne room.
Maisha glances at Mayellen. Maybe she'll get more traction?
[Mayellen]: Is His Majesty available?
Stromgarde Vindicator says: Uh, no. Not available right now.
[Mayellen]: Mathias Shaw sent us. From Stormwind?
[Mayellen]: We have some rather urgent news.
The vindicator freezes in his pacing.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: Shaw sent you?
Jonas glances at May and then back at the vindicator. Did she stutter?
[Mayellen]: Yes, that's right.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: You can give us the news, we'll pass it on to the king when he's… you know, available.
Maisha is starting to look a little skeptical.
[Mayellen]: I don't think Master Shaw would appreciate that.
[Jonas]: I'm sorry, Mister Shaw tends not to like… people just handing off his messages. Is my impression of the man.
[Maisha]: I think we're meant to tell the king direct.
The vindicator winces.
[Annibeth]: It's real important.
[Jonas]: We can wait.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: You'll be waiting a really long time.
Mayellen looks around at the comfortable waiting accommodations.
The vindicator lets out a long sigh.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: Okay, fine. There's no way Shaw doesn't know. And if you're lying, and using his name to do so, I don't relish your chances of surviving the week.
[Mayellen]: I would have to be extremely self-destructive to use Master Shaw's name in vain.
[Annibeth]: Hey, we ain't lyin'!
Stromgarde Vindicator says: Then I'll tell you the truth. The king's not available because… he's dead.
Mayellen draws in a sharp breath.
[Annibeth]: Say WHAT?!
Maisha blinks.
Jonas blinks. And then he does it again. He was… not expecting that one.
[Jonas]: He's… as in, he passed away? Who is his… ?
Stromgarde Vindicator says: No, no… it wasn't natural causes. That's one reason our security's tighter these days… it was a Horde incursion, some time ago.
[Mayellen]: The Horde?! I'm sorry, you just said that. I know how annoying that is.
[Jonas]: The Horde… assassinated Stromgarde's king? I — yes. To clarify, though. Because that seems like… very political news.
[Mayellen]: Which I assume is being kept quiet for a very good reason.
[Annibeth]: He's right, though. Shaw's gotta know. Which means…he sent us here so we'd find out.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: It does, and we've been trying to keep it quiet. You can see how precarious the situation is here, and there's no… Galen Trollbane didn't have any heirs.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: And… Shaw must know this. But it gets worse. We've lost his remains.
[Jonas]: So you're all just… walking around pretending to have a king, and —
Stromgarde Vindicator says: And fighting ogres and trolls and the Syndicate, just like Trollbane would have wanted, yes. And just as our people need, to live their lives.
[Mayellen]: I'm not sure how that's much worse. Unless you mean to imply…
Jonas blinks at the vindicator again.
Ionala sticks to the rear of the group and keeps her head bowed.
[Jonas]: I understand you're doing your jobs. But the pretending to have a king part seems a little above and beyond.
[Mayellen]: What precise situation are you waiting for in order to drop the pretense?
Stromgarde Vindicator says: Look, there's not really a manual for how to handle a situation like this.
Jonas mutters under his breath, "I'd worry, if there was a manual."
Stromgarde Vindicator says: We thought we'd recover his body, and then set it in the crypt, but…
Stromgarde Vindicator says: It's lost… or taken. We've been trying to track it, to recover it, but… eventually the news is going to leak. I know it's only a matter of time.
[Mayellen]: Well. There must be some reason Shaw sent us here. Something we can do to help.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: You said you had dire news? It's probably still pretty dire, even if you have no king to relay the news too. We're the next best thing.
[Mayellen]: Right. It's about the Syndicate.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: What about them? A nuisance they are, but…
[Mayellen]: They're gearing up for a major offensive.
[Mayellen]: It's possible that they know.
The vindicator puts his head in his hands.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: This is just a nightmare that never ends.
[Mayellen]: We noticed an orc at one of their bases.
Jonas looks at the ceiling.
[Mayellen]: So if the Horde is involved in the assassination, then… they may know.
Ionala murmurs, "Maybe there's something we can do.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: …It sounds like we've run out of time. *He sighs* You can tell Shaw we'll drop the pretense.
[Mayellen]: I think that's best.
Maisha looks to Ionala.
[Mayellen]: The last thing you want to do is lose the trust of what people you have left, if they find out some other way.
The vindicator nods sadly. "I think this secret's been kept long enough."
[Jonas]: Can you — how long, exactly?
Stromgarde Vindicator says: …Over a year. We've held though. Stromgarde still stands. That means something.
[Mayellen]: We are here to help. If you need us to help you engage the Syndicate or… anything else. We have quite a varied skillset.
Jonas looks at the ceiling again.
[Annibeth]: Over a year…cripes.
Jonas repeats under his breath, "Cripes."
[Maisha]: Maybe we could poke around the Horde folks in the area, see if we can find a lead ye've missed? We are the Cobalt Eye.
[Mayellen]: You might not want to mention that you waited over a year to tell them, when you tell them.
The vindicator has no idea what the Cobalt Eye is.
[Mayellen]: Cobalt Company's investigative squad.
Mayellen could tell.
Ionala mutters again. "What do they know about the forces who have them under siege? Leadership, organization, anything?"
Stromgarde Vindicator says: Right, we'll take any help offered. Just keep it quiet, till we announce. And we'll not tell them it's been so long. You know how it is, days pass and then…
[Mayellen]: I do.
[Mayellen]: We'll let you do the telling.
Jonas opens his mouth and then closes it again.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: We have many enemies. I can point you to the Horde in the area, though. Most of them are up at Hammerfall, which is probably not accessible to a small team, however varied in skills.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: Go'shek Farm, though, is a smaller Horde camp near here. They get regular couriers from the Forsaken in Hillsbrad.
[Mayellen]: Oh, that's promising.
[Mayellen]: We're looking into anything we can get on the Forsaken in the area right now.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: Right, that's where you'll want to go. It's out of the Keep and due east.
[Mayellen]: Got it.
Stromgarde Vindicator says: Good luck out there.
[Jonas]: Good luck with… telling the truth.
The team heads out.
[Mayellen]: Well.
[Annibeth]: This is bonkers….
[Mayellen]: No one panic.
[Maisha]: The king is… *Mai snaps her mouth shut. We just promised to not talk about it*
[Mayellen]: I have a theory. I think Shaw wasn't sure.
[Mayellen]: I think we just confirmed it for him.
[Maisha]: So he sent us to poke it… tha' does sound like a mastermind plan.
[Mayellen]: I think he knew that just showing up here and using his name and asking for the king..
[Mayellen]: …would make them tell.
[Jonas]: A year.
[Mayellen]: He's going to hire them, after this.
[Mayellen]: If they kept it from him that long.
[Ionala]: Alone.
Maisha pauses by the entrance to reclaim her weapons.
Jonas collects his rifle and sword again.
Mayellen reclaims her things. Bheemon the demon is still waiting outside where she left him.
[Annibeth]: I'm bettin' he prolly knew. Couldn't say nothin' inside the agency though. On accounts of…other reasons.
Jonas eyes the Stromgarde Defender even more dubiously than before.
[Mayellen]: I wonder why he sent us then? Why now?
[Mayellen]: He's so mysterious.
[Annibeth]: To get 'em to do what they just agreed to do. Go public about it. Maybe.
[Maisha]: With the stuff goin' on in Hillsbrad… might be if somethin's about to go down, they've got to not be closed off.
[Mayellen]: Possibly.
[Annibeth]: I think Maisha's right. Guy like him…he moves kingdoms without anyone even realizin' it.
Maisha nods. "Scary person."
[Mayellen]: It feels strange, being a cog in one of his plans, but… not altogether bad?
[Maisha]: I like bein' useful!
[Annibeth]: I'm gettin' more used to it.
[Maisha]: And it was no' like he did it without askin'. It was clear we were doin' a thing for SI:7. So tha's nice.
[Mayellen]: If he wasn't so smart, I might feel differently.
[Ionala]: I think that if Sir Elohad trusts Mr. Shaw then it's useful for us to be working for him.
[Mayellen]: Yes.
[Maisha]: Well, Go'shek Farm it is next then. Shall we rest up here in Refuge Pointe? I'd like no' ta go into sneakin' or combat when the shock is so fresh.
[Jonas]: I think — aye.
[Annibeth]: Yeah. Good idea.
[Ionala]: Yes, let's
[Mayellen]: Fine by me.
The team settles at Refuge Pointe for a rest.