Road Trip?
5/3 morning.
I woke up shortly before dawn to my alarm, entangled with a beautiful woman, and it was time to get to work. First up, as always, was minor mission checking. With mild regret, I dismissed the mission to capture an ogre. It would have probably been easy and profitable if I hadn’t been so busy. As I’d grown used to, my new mission popped up in the same moment.
Raven HillGet Jitters, a transient living in Raven Hill, to return to civilization.Reward: Mission Ticket
Jackpot. I could vaguely remember Jitters as a weird quest giver in Raven Hill. He had something to do with the Dark Riders storyline, if I remembered correctly, but he was also just a massive coward. Looking at my map, Anetta and Auffrey had managed to get to Redridge. With any luck a little bit of pressure and a promise of safety and support would do the job. Hell, if he made me use a jewel on him I might get him to go to Stormwind and just live there safely; I needed someone there to teleport to. Preferably someone with their own house I could use as a base.
All I needed to do now was find a man sneaky enough to live more or less safely in Raven Hill, who clearly didn’t want to talk to me if he hadn’t approached yet. Actually, thinking back, didn’t several of our cooked spider legs vanish at one point? New primary suspect for that was Jitters.
Lucky for me, I had a dragon who was currently in time out from any human activities. I’d seen how well dragon eyes pierced the mist compared to humans; I was pretty sure that she could find him with the right incentives. “Lividia. I have decided to amend the terms of your punishment. There is a task that needs completing. I’m putting you in charge of the first and most difficult part. When it is done, if you perform satisfactorily, then I will allow you to return to human form and return you to the position of consort.”
The dragon, who had been curled up in a corner with some combination of sulking and dozing ever since Tessa had relieved her, perked up. “Oh yes of course my king! It will be done flawlessly, and you will see how indispensable I really am.” Beat. “What is it?”
“There’s a man in this town by the name of Jitters. I need to speak with him. He’s probably in hiding, but he’d definitely need to move around a bit for the sake of food. I need you to find him, and then contact me while you follow him. Don’t spook him. Just follow him at a distance and call me with your necklace. If you don’t find him before the end of the day, stay with Abercrombie for safety.”
“I’ll do it. Okay.” She scampered to the door, hopped up on her hind legs, and turned the door knob with both claws. I smiled, then turned and spoke to the room at large. “If you could somehow get him to come back here, it would be very appreciated. I’m going to try to get one of these necklaces into a state where you can use it. If you can possess Jitters, maybe you can talk with us through him? If you manage it, we can give him an amulet, and it might make this easier. You’d only be using him temporarily, I would still be trying to help you join us as yourself.” There was no visible response. I could only hope that the spirit heard me.
“Now then. Tessa, pack up. We are going to Darkshire. If you are going to go back to Northshire, this is your chance. Lividia can hold down the fort here.” Tessa nodded with a neutral expression. She was coming along nicely. I wasn’t too worried about her anymore, so I figured it would be ok if she thought she could just go home. Hell, she really should go home for a while at some point. I’m sure there were people that were worried about her, and she should make a clean break if she was going to be sticking with me. It would be pretty sad otherwise. “I have someone looking for the rest. Hopefully they are ok. Maybe they are all back in Northshire looking for you, you know?”
I was trying to figure out how to offload all of them, actually. I didn’t want to kill them but I was increasingly sure that I’d always have something better to do with my jewelry than put it on some modestly well trained farmers. Unfortunately, I wanted my inventory back and I couldn’t bring myself to kill them off.
I put on my Abercrombie face, thankful that I’d chosen to take a picture before he started to de-age. It took a bit of time, and I had Drusilla check me over before I headed over to Abercrombie’s home, saving time by flying as quickly as I could manage. I didn’t have time for a chat, so I just ran in and stole one of his robes, plucking the orb of entrancement up in passing. “Hey, if my dragon comes by, see to her safety. Bye.” I wanted to catch the night watch before they left.
I flew as fast as I could, landing behind a large tree near the crossroads camp. I told Drusilla to pick Tessa up and send her over, which led to a 15 minute delay before Tessa arrived in the padding she wore under her armor. Drusilla followed quickly, and we put Tessa’s armor back on. Finally ready, we approached the little palisade with me doing my best impression of Abercrombie’s old man walk. According to the mission I couldn’t draw attention to myself, so that meant I needed to go to Darkshire just like Abercrombie would: on foot, with an escort if at all possible.
I did a bit of fast talking, surprised at the quality of my Abercrombie impression. I suppose I was just copying his persona, which was itself pretty fake. Communication and covert talent together made it really easy. “Oh yes. We just found this poor woman in the woods near my home; luckily my nephew was hunting spiders, you see. He said something about a bounty, I believe?” I pulled out 15 spider heads “from my satchel” and presented them to the night watch agent. I was given a pair of black chainmail reinforced gloves, as promised, which I stowed for later.
“But anyway. We are bringing Miss Spaulding as far as Darkshire, and while I’m there I have some shopping to do. My nephew also wants me to speak with one Miss Ladimore? He seems to believe she might be uniquely suited to assist him with something. For now though, he decided to stay in town with his girlfriend. I’m sure it’ll be all very innocent, of course.”
The trip was long but thankfully uneventful, without any run ins with danger. It was honestly a bit boring, so I went over everything in my app. I was doing pretty well on distribution of jewels; I currently had three necklaces actively subduing people, and a fourth in my pocket. I’d get another one tomorrow, and the day after that Abercrombie would be fully captured and I’d have another open slot. After that, things would be spotty for a few days, but that wasn’t a big deal. If things went well I’d have things to do to keep me occupied, possibly including figuring out what to do with an orc warlock if things went very well.
“Hey bossman. This thing work the way I think it does?” A familiar voice issued from the gem around my neck.
“Oh. Hey Tony. I can’t talk much right now, but yes, this is how you can contact other people in the retinue.” I spoke very quietly into the necklace. “Did you need something?”
“Yeah bossman. There’s someone looking for you. Lady named Hope Saldean. Seemed real curious about you. I think there’s someone from higher up upset with you. You piss off any brass recently?”
“Don’t worry about it. But if you see her again, let me know. Thanks for letting me know, it was a good call.” Hope Saldean was ringing a few bells, and if I was right, that was probably Vanessa VanCleef. She was a dungeon boss, the person that replaces her father as the leader of the brotherhood. I don’t know how strong she was right now, but in the cataclysm expansion she revived the whole organization with nothing but a silver tongue and a fake identity.
If she was after me, I was in danger. She specialized in poisons, so I had one very large advantage with body defense. That just meant I needed to take her out before she changed tactics, which she absolutely would if I gave her the chance.
••••••••••
Auffrey threw another ball of fire at another gnoll. Lakeshire had only been too ready to accept additional help around the town, but had been more than a bit skeptical when a small team fresh from Northshire approached and expressed interest in fighting the Blackrock Clan. Ironically, their idea of a mission to test Auffrey’s mettle was very similar to her initial proposal. The rest of the team were a bit confused why they were fighting gnolls here, instead of somewhere closer to home.
Anetta knew why, but she just seemed excited to be helpful, far too enamored with Erich for the noble girl’s tastes. She even asked Auffrey for ideas on a tabard or standard for Erich’s organization. Did it even have a name, let alone a need for it’s own livery?
That man was so sloppy. He wanted to take over the world and his strategy appeared to be wandering around randomly, amassing allies one at a time while relying almost exclusively on the powers found in his jewelry. Then he proceeded to keep the majority in his personal entourage, apparently so that they could sit around in a small house in the middle of nowhere. He could have had them gathering peacebloom and it would have been more productive.
She’d just have to handle it herself. She’d already managed to gather five allies on his behalf without magical coercion. It wasn’t as if he were trying to do anything that demanded this much deception and manipulation. He could curry favor like anyone else; loyal citizens of the Alliance wanted to be proactive, wanted to fight for a better future. She didn’t know what was expected of nobility in Lorderon, but an uncharitable part of her wondered if this was why they had fallen so completely to the Scourge.
Luckily, he had her. If nothing went radically wrong, which currently seemed unlikely, they would be able to participate in the assault. She’d already received a promise to that effect from Marshal Marris. Erich would be able to save his precious mission ticket, and far more importantly she’d have a success story to share with mother, which might even reach her cousin. Had Erich even considered networking with the nobility of Stormwind for sponsorship? It was infuriating.