(2025-07-25) Map Mystery Questions

Details

Author:	Athena
Summary:	Natalyah sends Siamus an update on the rapid investigations the detective trio have launched, including their current hypotheses to test, what progress they've made on both, and what new data they've discovered. 2700~ words.
Rating:	T for Teen

Arc: Apex Investigations

Friday, July 25th

Hello Siamus,

Opening pleasantries, opening pleasantries, weather weather, polite family inquiry, genuine wish for good health.

With that out of the way, let’s get into it.

We have set to the task of tracking down both who it was that sent the map, and equally important how that person achieved it, with the subset question of is this person still using that method or another to maintain a connection. At the moment we aren’t trying to prove or disprove authenticity or purpose.

From the information we had, we’ve generated two hypotheses for the way the map could have arrived here, deliberately different from each other to space out our assumptions so that we can test against the data as we try to prove and disprove them. They are:

The person who conveyed this map here, regardless of the person of origin who made it, is a merchant who set up a method to regularly smuggle goods from Kul Tiras back and forth to make a profit, and someone on the other side of the embargo used this method to get the map here. (Assumptions include: A) this was not a one-time system, B) the person involved is a merchant, C) they are selling these goods for a profit, D) this person’s method may be magical in nature to bypass a blockade or lack of communication, and E) this person is in Stormwind or localized in the area.)

The person who conveyed the map here is also the person who made it or ordered it, and came here with it, and has since been in hiding out of fear of repercussions from Kul Tiras or the Alliance for participating in an illegal activity, or this person took another route back immediately after ensuring the map was delivered. (Assumptions include: A) this was a one time deal, B) this person felt this information was crucial, C) this person came here and is either in hiding or went back and cannot be found through typical means, D) this person had assistance on one or both sides to arrive in Stormwind and/or return to Kul Tiras afterwards.)

We’ve been testing what we can against them both, and I think they’ve started to bear data fruit.

Mayellen used her connections with her merchant family to explore the merchant angle, but mostly she didn’t get much at all from anywhere that was willing to at least admit to selling Kul Tiran goods, even fabricated as “old back stock” that was in fact just imported last week using their secret method. We did, however, manage to locate one book seller who admitted to having Kul Tiran goods, though he claimed they were all old. I went in to check this claim, and I can say that all his Kul Tiran goods that I could smell were supported by that, and I believe him when he says his timeline for having them was before the whole lockdown of stopping trade.

As for our possible mystery immigrant, who may or may not still be around, we haven’t been able to really prove or deny on the ground, although if that person happened to be a warlock or knew one on each end to send goods back and forth, that some of those in the WEB would know, and they haven’t heard of anyone who matches our description at all. So far, nothing supports that hypothesis specifically based on what we have uncovered.

We had the thought that if you could check records to see if anyone came in around the time or whose paperwork doesn’t go back as far as it should, or something to that effect that might point to an immigrant who didn’t claim Kul Tiras specifically, but maybe just happened to arrive in Stormwind around when your map did.

Aszera and I checked out the docks to explore some of the other possible magical or bizarre means that someone might have employed to get around the trade cut off. We came up with some of the possible strange ones ourselves that so far don’t seem likely (such as conveyance by naga or zeppelin) but help with trying to think outside the standard shipping box that would have been easy for you to trace, and none of them seem to fit, either being too notable that people would still be gossiping about it, or increasingly convoluted that require too many assumptions to test (like a naga swimming from Kul Tiras and meeting up with someone in Kalimdor who then took a portal to Stormwind and delivered the map on foot to the docks, or two warlocks using a single summoned demon to exchange coordinates for a map delivery somewhere else and secretly conveying it to the harbor from anywhere else they met in the world).

The people we spoke to at the docks about any and all methods that someone might use to get something through had a few ideas, most of which seem likely you already know about, but I share just in case none of them saw fit to mention it. One of the more interesting ones was that a ship might drop a barrel in one place, and another ship would pick it up, as a way to exchange goods without being at one harbor or another.

Which brought us the question we think only you might have the answer of: could a sailor or a tidesage in particular use a dropped barrel at sea method to get a barrel with the map picked up by a Stormwind ship? Is it something that someone would risk more than once?

Related as a question to that came from when Mayellen and I examined the goods of the bookseller Parson of Parson’s (named for his father, Parson, and the current owner is also Parson; if either of them had or have a first name, he didn’t give it, so obviously you’ll like him).

When we questioned the bookseller Parson about how he came about some of his merchandise, he mentioned he had several goods there from a Captain Fairweather in specific. So to add to the above as a possibility of the barrel hypothesis, do you know if there’s still a Captain Fairweather who was at least around at the time of the map, on either side of the embargo, and/or if that person would have also been someone who would have known how to get a barrel to get picked up by a Stormwind ship on a route? Could that person have been involved in any other way as a person experienced in Kul Tiran maps and goods like that in particular, from either side, or know who to trust to get a map through?

We haven’t been strictly testing the hypothesis of whether or not the map is truly real or its intent was to provoke a response or simply get the information to you, as we focus on the how which will likely lead us in part to the why.

But so far all evidence from watching the docks seems to point to the likeliest explanation that someone on this end managed to get the map into place deliberately, and didn’t want to be associated with it, suggesting that this person knew what was in the container.

Aszera and I, even without experience with these places, were able to see plenty of opportunities to sneak it into the pile location, from simple sleight of hand by an experienced worker to magical invisibility gnomes, but we don’t think the ecosystem of the docks is random enough that it could have just accidentally been slipped in. Someone either wanted to be anonymous, or had a reason to avoid getting it there with credit or acknowledgement for finding something that belonged to the Fallons in an unusual shipment method.

We didn’t see much of anything to disprove the possible hypothesis that the person who got the map here was the mapmaker, and they came here with the map. It wouldn’t have taken them long to study the docks enough to find the patterns, assuming they weren’t already familiar with them, which they might have been if this wasn’t their first trade visit.

We didn’t see anything that proved specifically any part of a magical method that involves the docks even with Aszera’s Energy Sight, and no merchants around the docks seemed to have any Kul Tiran goods, let alone special reserve stocks, at least none that they were willing to admit to having to a “quel’dorei” and a disgraced Stormwind noble who would both be “interested in unusual goods.”

As for the merchant angle, while I was in Parson’s shop, not only was I able to confirm how long he’d had his goods, but I also recognized some of the scents. The ones that were important I think are three maps, all of which had that same salty-paper and seaweed ink smell of your map, and I do mean almost exactly the same scents, so much so that even if I hadn’t seen them I would have been willing to say they were probably all using the same methods.

Parson allowed us to see all three, and Mayellen says that one of your names is Parrish, and all three maps were signed by someone with the same last name, so it seems significant no matter what it means for your mystery.

The first map was some sort of peninsula somewhere I didn’t recognize at all, with markings all around the coastline, and a lovely old stylized ornate script with a few writings like “Shoals” and at the top was a title, “Shrine of the Storm.” There’s a kraken illustration as well, and that one had a copperplate-precise like signing next to a compass rose H. Parrish, 502 K.C.

The second map was from the same person. It was titled “Coast of Gilneas” but it was mostly about the waters all around it; the land was left blank. It was very detailed, down to small rocks, with the “Shoals” and such again. That one was signed H. Parrish, 507 K.C.

But what really got my attention was the third map, because it had all the same smells of the paper and the ink, but it was definitely different. It was half a map of a town with a river (no name above it like the others), and all the buildings labeled, and the penmanship resembled the same copperplate like, but the other half was a watercolor art of an inn. And this one was signed K. Parrish, 609 K.C. Just like that, not with anything of ADP, but keeping to the King’s Calendar.

I was able to get Parson to agree to sell that map for 180 gold, which I am hoping you will expense as soon as possible (today preferrably), because I think more than anything else, we need to compare your map and this map specifically, to see if the writing matches and if there are any other similarities. It might give us the identity of your map maker, or if not, at least eliminate one other option. I can identify minute differences of butterfly markings, but maps aren’t the same.

If none of us can tell for certain from just looking at them because it’s not obvious one way or another, I want to have Scilla also look at both maps, as an artist, to see if she can recognize anything like similar brushstrokes or qualities. She might be able to tell better from an artistic method.

My working hypothesis also about why this map maker could possibly be yours is that this map seemed like a departure from what H. Parrish might have done based on his other works, and someone who thinks like that, to innovate past tradition or color outside the established lines, might be the same sort of person who would defy an embargo if she thought it was very important.

There’s one other thing we need to get confirmation about, which is that the person that Parson’s remembers exchanging maps and some books from is a “Miss Fallon,” exactly like that. He remembers her as a brown haired, brown eyed girl (he couldn’t say if the color of her eyes was any variety of note, just that “brown’s brown,”), who didn’t dress particularly “fancy” but he couldn’t recall her first name. I mention this specifically because although it’s possible he was referring to Sintha, if there were Stormsong Fallons here, it’s likely he wouldn’t have known to specify the difference by knowledge of who the Stormwind Fallons are.

And if that person who was there wasn’t Sintha but another Fallon, we might have some support for at least part of Hypothesis 2, of someone with motivation to get a map to you, maybe even willing to come here herself, and then either go into hiding, or zip back to Kul Tiras through some prearranged means, having already had experience with traveling to Stormwind and trading in goods. So, we have to check to eliminate the data, or place it for support.

So, the question is: did Sintha sell or donate anything to a place called Parson’s several years ago before the embargo?

I’d write her directly, but honestly I don’t know if or when she’d get it with the 7th Legion being who knows where doing who knows what.

As of right now, Hypothesis 1 of this Smuggler Merchant isn’t looking as likely the more we dig into possibilities, but we’ll still keep testing it. After all, a merchant who is trafficking in smuggled goods might need some coaxing out. Mayellen is keeping her feelers out, Aszera and I made our interest obvious, and if we can spend a little money on proving our interest, we might be able to entice that sort of smuggler to come to us.

The other thing we might want to try from what we learned at the docks if the map from Parson’s doesn’t lead us anywhere useful is offering up a reward for anyone who might have been the person to get that map to your delivery pile. It would completely tip our hands, and if anyone was in hiding about it would probably cut and run (assuming they haven’t already), and we would also have some liars falsely claiming it was them to sift through, but it might be the only way to eventually eliminate if someone put it there on purpose without wanting any credit for it for a number of reasons, if it was commonplace and someone did mention about it and another person simply forgot, or if someone saw it in a barrel and turned on their gnomish invisibility cloak to enjoy being sneaky for a laugh.

And if it was just a well meaning helpful person who saw nothing strange about plucking a case from a barrel picked up at sea and who set it into the pile without drawing attention for some reason, if they saw a reward for it to come forward, that would confirm the method of how the map arrived from Kul Tiras.

If that person has reasons to not come forward though, it might make them for the money, or it might make them run off. So it's not my favorite method that I want to try right away, but it’s an option to think about.

I think that’s about everything. If I’ve left anything out, I’ll send another letter with it.

We are determined to solve this within a week from this past Tuesday when we all got the challenge, so don’t delay in your reply to keep it sporting.

I do actually hope your family is well, and that you’re all right, too. Lathrik isn’t really doing any better or different since earlier this week. They have him on training replacements for the guard, so I may have to drag him out into something fun soon, or capitulate and get him an even moodier broodier couch and I don’t want to get new furniture. Fray and Solari are still as well as they were, and settling into the house. Nothing really different from earlier this week to tell.

Fondly,
Natalyah

PS – Almost forgot, Parson’s has a cat in the shop. No idea if it’s relevant, but thought you should know, just in case.