Act 1
For reasons solely known to themselves, our adventurers, Vergil Eventine - A former member of the Scarlet Crusade who still holds on to the hatred for the undead the order formerly upheld - Viska and Terezor Luntra - A female Draenei dancer and a female pale Orc bodyguard respectively, who tour Azeroth's taverns as a married couple and of self-starting performance prestige - and Viviri Treetree - A Night Elven druid who travels across Azeroth under the tutelage of her Master as well as searching for animals in need of sanctuary - decided on their separate journeys to make a stop at the Goldshire inn outside
The Kingdom of Stormwind for the night to rest. Little did they know, their paths would converge shortly after a wounded black dragon punched through the roof of the jovial tavern. The adventurers quickly lept, or fumbled, into action to put the once noble, but visibly crazed creature out of its misery.
Moments after, a Dwarven artillerist by the name of Harkyn Grymstone arrived at the scene. Impressed, he commended the adventurers in handling the admittedly messy aftermath to what is revealed to be Harkyn's hunt. As a member of the Official Dragon-Slaying Guild, Harkyn was contracted to kill a wild black dragon that had been patrolling the Red Ridge Mountains, and in appreciation, he awarded the adventurers with an official recommendation - one half of what is required to join the Official Dragon-Slayer's Guild.
The adventurers accepted the recommendation, reluctantly, and some hatefully. Before Harkyn left the adventurers to the mercy of the curious onlookers and guardsmen of Goldshire, he tipped the party off that if they were looking for work and pay, one of the Dragon-Slayer's Guild sponsors, the Pioneer's Guild located in Bradsburg was open to new enlisting recruits and recommended that they join. Intrigued, the adventurers ventured to Bradsburg, a small province of Elwynn known for its recently successful vineyards and long-standing chapel dating back before the First War, and became members of the Pioneer's Guild where they met an awkward, but intrepid Theo Stonefield. The Pioneers quickly got to work, and steadily began to make themselves known within the community of Bradsburg; solving a murder at the Darkmoon Faire, escorting a rather eccentric merchant by the name of Farner and his hired bodyguard who would later join the Pioneers, unofficially - an equally eccentric gnome "noble" named Panabar Manifesto accompanied by his ever-faithful boar, Bacon; and hunting the mysterious Man-Bear which plagued the nights all proved profitable. But, a series of connections to a mystery began to appear. One of which was reported disturbances, kidnappings and foul-play by miscreants led by well-organized men, some of whom recognized two of our Pioneers - Viska and Terezor Luntra during a violent run-in that had correlation to the kidnappings and destruction of property within the vineyards. The other mystery, a haunt of a black goat with seven-eyes began to mysteriously follow Viviri Treetree, the druid outcast - far away from her home - whose only connection to her native lands was through The Emerald DreamThese very dreams of which the goat began to appear in dark, nightmarish vistas. The goat did not solely visit Viviri during the nights; the Man-Bear was once a human druid who in isolation and intense meditation was able to achieve his awakening within The Emerald Dream, but in doing so was met with incredibly vivid and horrific nightmares that drove him to insanity. In his journal that chronicled his self-imposed exile, during the peak of his nightmares he was visited by a seven-eyed black goat hiding within a blackened and jagged forest deprived of all visual senses that looked unto the druid, and just continued to stare throughout the nightmares. After further exploits that involved a cave-in search and rescue in a local mine and a search for a lost boy driven by passion and vengeance for his father's death, the Pioneers garnered the attention of The Caretakers - seeing their outside influence in the community to be useful in order to look into deeper issues plaguing Bradsburg. For their Artisan initiation Mission, the Pioneers were hired vicariously by the Lord of Bradsburg, Bradley - who suspected an attempt at his life - to stake out in his home and prove if he had become paranoid or not. As it turned out, he had suspected correctly. Bandanna-coiled ruffians led by a menacing and able-bodied Forsaken alchemist successfully infiltrated into the house through a tunnel later discovered in the cellar.
It is revealed through written instructions and those they took prisoner that their plan was to stage Bradley's suicide and incriminate his home with evidence leading to an accidental overdose, the weapon of choice being a corrupted mana crystal filled with a green and black viscous material. As it turned out, Bradley's mana addiction was not a well-guarded secret. After searching the bodies of the ruffians, they found a badge with two hammers crossed, with the Forsaken holding a contract with a symbol of a black stone hand crudely carved facing downward within his person, which was hastily hidden by Terezor without the others notice. With the new evidence in hand, our Pioneers returned to the Caretakers in order to piece the puzzles together. It is suspected by Mesner, Bradley's Caretaker who had hired the Pioneers in Bradley's stead, that the Masons were behind these attacks. The Masons are a political party of laborers that openly support Aldous Lescovar, a politician devotedly opposed to Bradsburg and it's tax exemption from Stormwind's revenue, whose symbol happened to be two hammers crossed. The Pioneers were tasked by Mesner to infiltrate Aldous Lescovar's home within the Cathedral District in Stormwind to find any evidence that further point's to Lescovar's involvement in the Bradsburg disturbances. As the Pioneers approached their destination they ran into their fellow guild-mate, Theo, who had been barred from entry inside the building. They came to learn that Lescovar was holding a private party in celebration for both the launch of his invested prospect - the Ridgewell Museum - as well as his son, Dougalas Lescovar's, birthday. Theo had been living with the Lescovar's for over a year, but was now barred from entry seemingly under specific orders. Theo explained to his fellow Pioneers in hopes to appeal to them that he had gone to see Dougalas, who the last they'd seen was upset due to a poor gambling choice that ended in our Pioneer's favor, but had mysteriously gone missing after that point on. In a sort of coordinated attempt, the Pioneers began to appeal to their strengths to infiltrate inside of the well-guarded estate.
Viska, the exotic Draenei show-woman, used her natural sex appeal and credentials as a traveling performer to convince the guards posted outside the front door that she was a part of the performance scheduled for the event and was accompanied by Panabar Manifesto - who posed as a land-owner from a convincing-enough sounding region of Dun Morough. Vergil and Viviri decided to take a more direct route with their deception, convincing the same guards to allow Vergil entry for "an emergency", exaggerating Vergil's aged body, which was still very much built with the strong physique of a man still in his prime. Accompanied by one of the guards, they successfully infiltrated to the second floor and as Vergil continued to distract the trailing guard, Viviri snuck away to the nearest interesting door hoping to lead to an equally interesting room. Meanwhile, Terezor - the silent killer whose wit was short like a needle, and just as sharp - took advantage of the distractions to climb the nearest rooftops in order to infiltrate silently through the second-story windows. With each member splintered from the group, taking charge of their duties individually, each Pioneer learned bits of information.
With a new lead, the Pioneers reconvened outside of Lescovar's home, Terezor easily slipping out with the rest of the patrons and Vergil's involvement with the guards - whether intentional or not - continued to hold their attention much to their displeasure and annoyance, especially the guard who attended Vergil's "emergency". But before everyone could share their respective wealth of information, they had the issue of Theo, who remained outside waiting for any further news involving his missing friend. Theo was still a child in the eyes of the group and felt it best to lie and divert his attention elsewhere in order to protect him; and lied they did, leading him to the other end of Stormwind to wait for the them to aid in search for his friend while they headed towards the correct destination - the Stormwind Harbor.
Reaching Warehouse 19 by dusk, the Pioneers hid in a nearby alcove of shipment crates to observe if anyone walks in or out; after nearly an hour of inactivity the Pioneers took the opportunity to sneak inside to discover what lied inside. To their surprise, they were met with an empty warehouse interior hidden behind a hastily picked dead-bolt lock. Spreading throughout the warehouse, they could find evidence of footprints and disturbances and even the wheels of a wagon accompanied by a single pair of horse hooves but they seemingly end in the middle of nowhere. Closer investigation revealed a perfectly cube shaped marble piece missing from what appeared to be the middle-most marble square floor within the warehouse. Curious, Terezor revealed the marble runed-cube that was found in Carth's quarter's and placed it within the missing piecing on the floor - revealing an invisible rune circle that covered the floor in a ten foot diameter of eerie and ancient symbols. The symbols began to unveil itself to be an unfamiliar alphabet accompanied by three rows stacked on top of each other, each with differing numbers of lines dashed near the bottoms of the rows going across; revealing six - eight - & three lines from top to bottom row. The riddle revealed itself to be a style of filling in the blanks with correctly guessed letters to create three word - but if a letter was guessed wrong an ominous red X would appear, suggesting and ominous and horrifying warning to something dangerous as a possibility for an incorrect answer from an intruder. Through logical process of elimination, the Pioneers managed to guess the correct words in order - causing the marble floors to move revealing a dark and cold stone staircase descending down through the after-effects of the illuminated passphrase: Mother Embraces All The Pioneers cautiously descended down into the dark unknown. Sight was quickly impeded by an unnatural darkness within the stone halls that only broke by dim-lit torches burning a strange purple ember. The Pioneer's could feel a subtle vibration through the walls as they began to change from cold stone to almost a fleshy texture - almost alive. The vibrations began to mimic a heart beat, which the Pioneers felt themselves fall in sync to the rhythm of the further they descended. The dim-light torches lit the rest of the hall revealing banners displayed across the walls depicting a hammer within a circle of blades across a deep purple banner. The Pioneers recognized it as the sigil of the Twilight's Hammer Cult - Servants of the Old Gods, heralds of the apocalypse and former servants to Deathwing - and prepared themselves for what would come ahead. Dispatching cultists that remained dwelling within the dungeons, the Pioneers came to blows against a strange and dark warrior within the ranks of the cultists; It's armor looked to have been permanently singed within the flesh of it's maddened and deadly wielder from head to toe, obscuring any human-likeness from its visage even after slain. The room which the Pioneers faced this evil creature contained a door which they discovered to be locked - Which none of the slain cultists possessed a key for - and a darkened hallway of which they were sure they might find a key, or answers.
The Pioneers had decided to trickle down the hall slowly, one at a time to cautiously traverse further. But, to their surprise they were each haunted by nightmares of events that has happened, might happen, or will happen in their lives. A strange magic - or curse - clouded the hallway that created paranoia, hallucinations, and sensory deprivation to all who dared walk through. At the end of the winding cursed corridors, the Pioneers discovered an abandoned laboratory lit only be a sickly green glow emitting from large experimental test-tubes against the eastern walls. Within the tubes were white, organic matter of various sizes, shapes, and disturbingly humanoid-like qualities painted with in-human alabaster flesh and floating within a black and green viscous ichor. As the Pioneers explored further within possibly the most vile room of the dungeon, their eyes were immediately drawn to the body of a teenage boy laying on an unnervingly unclean operating table - accompanied by equally unclean operating tools. The boy revealed himself to be Dougalas, who was alive and visibly shaken as he shot straight up and advanced towards Viska to plea for the Pioneer's help, citing he did not know how he came to be in this dark place, and wished to go home to celebrate his birthday with his father. Willing to oblige, Viska hastily agreed and embraced the frightened boy to give further comfort - sympathizing with his situation. Unfortunately, this proved nearly fatal, as Dougalas surprise-attacked Viska with what appeared to be a transformed appendage in the shape and form of a bladed weapon, revealing his true form as a shape-shifting creature.
After dispatching the horrific creature, it reverted to it's original form - that of which appeared to be a fully grown form of the organic creatures that were growing within the test-tubes, accompanied with eyeless sockets and a sunken pale face absent of teeth and wrinkles. The Pioneers began to investigate the room in it's entirety to finally find some answers, as well as nursing the grievous injury that Viska had suffered from their encounter. Beside the surgical table of which the creature laid in deception was a desk littered with damaged papers, blood-stained notes, messy short-hands that appeared to be both non-nonsensical and Eldritch in nature. If this had been the secret lab of Lescovar's Caretaker, the Pioneers thought, this was the exact opposite of the room which Terezor found to be Carth's "public" living quarters. Among the uncompiled mess of short-hands and maddened manuscripts, there appeared to be thick book titled "The Blessings and Teachings of Archbishop Benedictus", a worn and damaged copy of the book that was gifted to Viviri from Carth with one exception, the inside of the book cover hid a handwritten message that read "The Twilight Father shall return to bring the Night-Mother home. Our Mother. Our Home". Hearing these words read aloud by Terezor caused a surge of great pain and anxiety to envelop Viviri - specifically Viviri - a vision began to take hold as she saw the visage of a humanoid in blackened armor, similarly to the dark warrior the Pioneers fought in the rooms before, but with purple trimming and black tendrils protruding from it's helmet and shoulders highlighted by the green flames of a burning city of which Viviri did not recognize.
Spilling from the side of the desk among the crumbled and blood-stained notes the Pioneers began to fit the pieces together for the answers that they were seeking. Searching the scattered mess on the stone floor revealed formally-written letters that appeared to have been exchanges between Carth and various members of the Masons discussing how they may better "support" Lescovar - detailing plans to cripple Bradsburg from the inside. To reinforce this, found among the letters are multiple signed contracts enlisting the aid of an unknown group known as "Bladefist's Chosen" who were instructed to "lead in chaos and disorder" as well as bringing Carth "live specimens" One contract in particular employed an assassin by the name of Yorick Poisontip who was instructed to stage Bradley's suicide, and another who had accepted under the condition of working another contract that happened to be in the area - A contract to kill a Draenei Performer named "Viska" for "thievery and manipulation". Further investigation from the ground back up to the disorderly desk eventually revealed notes that are deciphered to be "results" involving experiments known as "Shifters" - A creature created as a result from a twisted form of alchemy that when allowed to grow within it's hibernation stage, the creature can turn any form of it's body into an exact replicate of anything or anyone they physically touch, but very few of these creatures have been successes. Unnerved, the Pioneers continued to investigate, finding an old iron key that they deducted had to go to the only other room they had not entered yet, and a final letter that could easily have been missed within the others reading "We are beginning the next phase before the next moon cycle. Begin to spread the mother's love to that we may all be together to celebrate her return and embraces us all. The Puppet has served his purpose. -F" The Pioneers found all the evidence they needed and began to retreat back towards the room before the haunted halls to find out what laid beyond the locked door, and their answers was just as shocking and disturbing as the incriminating letters and notes. The people who have been reported missing for over a week were here all along, locked in cramped cells wallowing within their own filth, finding Dougalas among them with wide, dried-red eyes. Apprehensive, the Pioneers began to ask questions, some specifically directed at Dougalas in order to avoid another trap possibly laid by another Shifter. The paranoia was subsided when to the Pioneer's surprise, Theo arrived to give validity to Dougalas' claim that he had been kidnapped by his Caretaker, Carth. The other captives told similar stories about how they were violently kidnapped by relatively normal looking people in bandannas, all led by individuals they overheard were referred to as "The Bladefists". Theo explained that he knew the Pioneers lied to him. As a traveling orphan, he was used to knowing when people were sincere to his cause, or lied in order to be rid of him. So, Theo tailed the Pioneers to Warehouse 19 and staked outside waiting for something to happen, or someone to walk in or out. Impatient, Theo decided to enter the warehouse and descend down the dungeon entrance, cautiously, and began to follow the trail of slain cultists that led Theo straight to the Pioneers as they returned from the lab and haunted halls.
With everything coming to a head and the desire to leave growing prevalent, the Pioneers began to head back to the entrance of the secret dungeon, leaving the prisoners hanging back with Theo in order to make sure no danger laid in wait. Their suspicions were correct. At the top of the stairs near the warehouse entrance waited a group of dock workers, one of which exposed itself as another Shifter, and Carth Everend himself - goading the Pioneers into returning down to the dungeon cells with the prisoners. This was met with immediate retaliation by Terezor, who shot a quick fire arrow in hopes to rid Stormwind of this vile man once and for all. This would prove costly, as Carth received the full force of Terezor's sneak attack, Carth remained standing - stunned for a moment that he had actually be harmed. With the cracking, sinewy sound of bones, Carth's arched back began to straighten into a menacing posture - with the arrow still protruding from his torso- and ignited a ball of fire into the Pioneers. During the chaos, Carth took the advantage to retreat from the warehouse, ordering the dock workers to "kill them, and bring me the young boy - Theo - alive." Beaten, bruised, and at their limits, the Pioneers stood victorious over the disguised Twilight Hammer cultists and the Shifter, but Carth was already long gone by the time they began to search for him outside of the warehouse. Counting their losses, the Pioneers escorted the prisoners safely out of the harbor and entrusted Theo to escort the poor souls the rest of the way to the city guard, and to return Dougalas back home with said guards to investigate the whereabouts of the traitorous Carth. With their Artisan mission finally completed, the Pioneers returned back to Bradsburg for their reward, promotion and much needed rest. Waiting for them to their surprise was not Mesner - Bradley's Caretaker - but Bradley himself to give thanks and payment personally to the Pioneers for their service to Bradsburg and the Pioneer's Guild Chapter. But, before the Pioneers could count their pay, Bradley requested another Artisan job from the Pioneers, one that he claimed would be easy but trusted no other to complete - deliver a closed and sealed letter to the King of Arathi himself, Asbjorn Bjornson
Moments after, a Dwarven artillerist by the name of Harkyn Grymstone arrived at the scene. Impressed, he commended the adventurers in handling the admittedly messy aftermath to what is revealed to be Harkyn's hunt. As a member of the Official Dragon-Slaying Guild, Harkyn was contracted to kill a wild black dragon that had been patrolling the Red Ridge Mountains, and in appreciation, he awarded the adventurers with an official recommendation - one half of what is required to join the Official Dragon-Slayer's Guild.
The adventurers accepted the recommendation, reluctantly, and some hatefully. Before Harkyn left the adventurers to the mercy of the curious onlookers and guardsmen of Goldshire, he tipped the party off that if they were looking for work and pay, one of the Dragon-Slayer's Guild sponsors, the Pioneer's Guild located in Bradsburg was open to new enlisting recruits and recommended that they join. Intrigued, the adventurers ventured to Bradsburg, a small province of Elwynn known for its recently successful vineyards and long-standing chapel dating back before the First War, and became members of the Pioneer's Guild where they met an awkward, but intrepid Theo Stonefield. The Pioneers quickly got to work, and steadily began to make themselves known within the community of Bradsburg; solving a murder at the Darkmoon Faire, escorting a rather eccentric merchant by the name of Farner and his hired bodyguard who would later join the Pioneers, unofficially - an equally eccentric gnome "noble" named Panabar Manifesto accompanied by his ever-faithful boar, Bacon; and hunting the mysterious Man-Bear which plagued the nights all proved profitable. But, a series of connections to a mystery began to appear. One of which was reported disturbances, kidnappings and foul-play by miscreants led by well-organized men, some of whom recognized two of our Pioneers - Viska and Terezor Luntra during a violent run-in that had correlation to the kidnappings and destruction of property within the vineyards. The other mystery, a haunt of a black goat with seven-eyes began to mysteriously follow Viviri Treetree, the druid outcast - far away from her home - whose only connection to her native lands was through The Emerald DreamThese very dreams of which the goat began to appear in dark, nightmarish vistas. The goat did not solely visit Viviri during the nights; the Man-Bear was once a human druid who in isolation and intense meditation was able to achieve his awakening within The Emerald Dream, but in doing so was met with incredibly vivid and horrific nightmares that drove him to insanity. In his journal that chronicled his self-imposed exile, during the peak of his nightmares he was visited by a seven-eyed black goat hiding within a blackened and jagged forest deprived of all visual senses that looked unto the druid, and just continued to stare throughout the nightmares. After further exploits that involved a cave-in search and rescue in a local mine and a search for a lost boy driven by passion and vengeance for his father's death, the Pioneers garnered the attention of The Caretakers - seeing their outside influence in the community to be useful in order to look into deeper issues plaguing Bradsburg. For their Artisan initiation Mission, the Pioneers were hired vicariously by the Lord of Bradsburg, Bradley - who suspected an attempt at his life - to stake out in his home and prove if he had become paranoid or not. As it turned out, he had suspected correctly. Bandanna-coiled ruffians led by a menacing and able-bodied Forsaken alchemist successfully infiltrated into the house through a tunnel later discovered in the cellar.
It is revealed through written instructions and those they took prisoner that their plan was to stage Bradley's suicide and incriminate his home with evidence leading to an accidental overdose, the weapon of choice being a corrupted mana crystal filled with a green and black viscous material. As it turned out, Bradley's mana addiction was not a well-guarded secret. After searching the bodies of the ruffians, they found a badge with two hammers crossed, with the Forsaken holding a contract with a symbol of a black stone hand crudely carved facing downward within his person, which was hastily hidden by Terezor without the others notice. With the new evidence in hand, our Pioneers returned to the Caretakers in order to piece the puzzles together. It is suspected by Mesner, Bradley's Caretaker who had hired the Pioneers in Bradley's stead, that the Masons were behind these attacks. The Masons are a political party of laborers that openly support Aldous Lescovar, a politician devotedly opposed to Bradsburg and it's tax exemption from Stormwind's revenue, whose symbol happened to be two hammers crossed. The Pioneers were tasked by Mesner to infiltrate Aldous Lescovar's home within the Cathedral District in Stormwind to find any evidence that further point's to Lescovar's involvement in the Bradsburg disturbances. As the Pioneers approached their destination they ran into their fellow guild-mate, Theo, who had been barred from entry inside the building. They came to learn that Lescovar was holding a private party in celebration for both the launch of his invested prospect - the Ridgewell Museum - as well as his son, Dougalas Lescovar's, birthday. Theo had been living with the Lescovar's for over a year, but was now barred from entry seemingly under specific orders. Theo explained to his fellow Pioneers in hopes to appeal to them that he had gone to see Dougalas, who the last they'd seen was upset due to a poor gambling choice that ended in our Pioneer's favor, but had mysteriously gone missing after that point on. In a sort of coordinated attempt, the Pioneers began to appeal to their strengths to infiltrate inside of the well-guarded estate.
Viska, the exotic Draenei show-woman, used her natural sex appeal and credentials as a traveling performer to convince the guards posted outside the front door that she was a part of the performance scheduled for the event and was accompanied by Panabar Manifesto - who posed as a land-owner from a convincing-enough sounding region of Dun Morough. Vergil and Viviri decided to take a more direct route with their deception, convincing the same guards to allow Vergil entry for "an emergency", exaggerating Vergil's aged body, which was still very much built with the strong physique of a man still in his prime. Accompanied by one of the guards, they successfully infiltrated to the second floor and as Vergil continued to distract the trailing guard, Viviri snuck away to the nearest interesting door hoping to lead to an equally interesting room. Meanwhile, Terezor - the silent killer whose wit was short like a needle, and just as sharp - took advantage of the distractions to climb the nearest rooftops in order to infiltrate silently through the second-story windows. With each member splintered from the group, taking charge of their duties individually, each Pioneer learned bits of information.
- Viska, taking an unexpected lead-role in the performance commanded the attended Noble's attention and some of the patrolling guards, allowing for the rest of the Pioneers to move about without much fear of notice; she could read everyone's face from where she stood and noted that the host and the recipient of this grand party, Lescovar and Count Remington Ridgewell respectively, were visibly unhappy.
- Panabar, after talking his way through the party to Lescovar's drinking side of the room, learned that the grand celebration was a joint-party intended for his son, whom the Pioneers had met in unfavorable circumstances before, but has been missing for days. His Caretaker, Carth Everend was sent to retrieve him.
- Vergil was escorted to a spare bedroom to use the restroom and learned that the room had once been lived in recently, showing evidence of recent vacancy. After one intended and unfortunate incident after another, Vergil successfully continued to distract the accompanying guard and found a letter left behind on the desk written from a Mr. Stonefield, to Theo Stonefield written in a "Wish you were here!" format.
- Viviri, naturally curious and valuing secrets and knowledge, seemed to have found her own personal haven. The room that she had snuck away to appeared to be a library, lined withbooks and lost chronicles, most appearing to be copies of important histories and stories dating back to the creation of the human kingdoms. As she perused the wide selection of neatly bounded tomes, she was unknowingly accompanied by the Caretaker of the Lescovar household - Carth Everend. Choosing to reveal himself to her, Carth approached Viviri with a shared enthusiasm for books, but with a much more unsettling demeanor - much of that fault was due to his sunken blue eyes, hunched posture, wispy white hair and a crooked smile that preceded a slow and creaky laugh. Cautious, but curious, Viviri indulged in Carth's queries and discussion, and as a reward for "hearing the ramblings of an old man" he presented her with two books to keep. One of which he said was a personal favorite, titled "The Blessings and Teachings of Archbishop Benedictus", the other seemed to be an ancient book that contained an Elder-Druidic language that Viviri was unable to decipher, titled "The Path to True Dreaming". To Viviri's surprise, Carth openly let her go and wished her well before escorting her to the door to depart.
- After waiting for the right time to make a move, Terezor used the noises created by the performers below in the banquet room to scale to a second-story window, unlocking it from the outside and slipping in unnoticed. The room she appeared in looked to be Lescovar's study, as evidenced by a disorganized desk covered in different paperwork signed by Aldous. Much of the desk appeared to be covered by short written reminders, some reading such as "Dougalas Birthday upcoming" - "Attend Meeting regarding Bradsburg's occupation clause" - "Give rally speech to Carth for revision" - with more short-hands found in the trash reading "Request Carth to fetch Dougalas - Must prepare for Birthday" - "Attend Mason's Really, Address Unions" - "Pick up Clothing from Cleaners - Get Carth to get them" - "Prepare for Ridgewell's Celebration - Donate in return for Favor!". Upon further scouring, Terezor came across a letter held down by what seemed like a rune-stone with two circles, with the darker circle eclipsing a slightly larger lightened circle serving as a paper-weight. The letter's ink was relatively fresh as if left in the open to dry in the meantime of the party. The letter was addressed to a "Priestess Moonvale" with the rest of the letter reading "I am writing on behalf of myself and the House of Nobles to congratulate you on your succession as High Priestess of Elune, and as well as give our deepest condolences for the recent loss of Tyrande Whisperwind; We only wish it were a happier time, we are truly sorry for your loss. I apologize I could not attend the coronation, but I hope you will continue to lend your support as I shall continue to do for you, and may our friendship provide a stronger tie between our people! P.S. - I must thank you again for your recommendation to hire Carth as my Caretaker. His attentiveness, attention to detail, and his initiative contradict his elderly frame. It has allowed me to focus solely on my work; it is almost as if before a minor inconvenience were to turn into a real issue, Carth has already taken care of it before it can develop into an issue. I don't know how he does it! Thank you. -Aldous Lescovar.-
With a new lead, the Pioneers reconvened outside of Lescovar's home, Terezor easily slipping out with the rest of the patrons and Vergil's involvement with the guards - whether intentional or not - continued to hold their attention much to their displeasure and annoyance, especially the guard who attended Vergil's "emergency". But before everyone could share their respective wealth of information, they had the issue of Theo, who remained outside waiting for any further news involving his missing friend. Theo was still a child in the eyes of the group and felt it best to lie and divert his attention elsewhere in order to protect him; and lied they did, leading him to the other end of Stormwind to wait for the them to aid in search for his friend while they headed towards the correct destination - the Stormwind Harbor.
Reaching Warehouse 19 by dusk, the Pioneers hid in a nearby alcove of shipment crates to observe if anyone walks in or out; after nearly an hour of inactivity the Pioneers took the opportunity to sneak inside to discover what lied inside. To their surprise, they were met with an empty warehouse interior hidden behind a hastily picked dead-bolt lock. Spreading throughout the warehouse, they could find evidence of footprints and disturbances and even the wheels of a wagon accompanied by a single pair of horse hooves but they seemingly end in the middle of nowhere. Closer investigation revealed a perfectly cube shaped marble piece missing from what appeared to be the middle-most marble square floor within the warehouse. Curious, Terezor revealed the marble runed-cube that was found in Carth's quarter's and placed it within the missing piecing on the floor - revealing an invisible rune circle that covered the floor in a ten foot diameter of eerie and ancient symbols. The symbols began to unveil itself to be an unfamiliar alphabet accompanied by three rows stacked on top of each other, each with differing numbers of lines dashed near the bottoms of the rows going across; revealing six - eight - & three lines from top to bottom row. The riddle revealed itself to be a style of filling in the blanks with correctly guessed letters to create three word - but if a letter was guessed wrong an ominous red X would appear, suggesting and ominous and horrifying warning to something dangerous as a possibility for an incorrect answer from an intruder. Through logical process of elimination, the Pioneers managed to guess the correct words in order - causing the marble floors to move revealing a dark and cold stone staircase descending down through the after-effects of the illuminated passphrase: Mother Embraces All The Pioneers cautiously descended down into the dark unknown. Sight was quickly impeded by an unnatural darkness within the stone halls that only broke by dim-lit torches burning a strange purple ember. The Pioneer's could feel a subtle vibration through the walls as they began to change from cold stone to almost a fleshy texture - almost alive. The vibrations began to mimic a heart beat, which the Pioneers felt themselves fall in sync to the rhythm of the further they descended. The dim-light torches lit the rest of the hall revealing banners displayed across the walls depicting a hammer within a circle of blades across a deep purple banner. The Pioneers recognized it as the sigil of the Twilight's Hammer Cult - Servants of the Old Gods, heralds of the apocalypse and former servants to Deathwing - and prepared themselves for what would come ahead. Dispatching cultists that remained dwelling within the dungeons, the Pioneers came to blows against a strange and dark warrior within the ranks of the cultists; It's armor looked to have been permanently singed within the flesh of it's maddened and deadly wielder from head to toe, obscuring any human-likeness from its visage even after slain. The room which the Pioneers faced this evil creature contained a door which they discovered to be locked - Which none of the slain cultists possessed a key for - and a darkened hallway of which they were sure they might find a key, or answers.
The Pioneers had decided to trickle down the hall slowly, one at a time to cautiously traverse further. But, to their surprise they were each haunted by nightmares of events that has happened, might happen, or will happen in their lives. A strange magic - or curse - clouded the hallway that created paranoia, hallucinations, and sensory deprivation to all who dared walk through. At the end of the winding cursed corridors, the Pioneers discovered an abandoned laboratory lit only be a sickly green glow emitting from large experimental test-tubes against the eastern walls. Within the tubes were white, organic matter of various sizes, shapes, and disturbingly humanoid-like qualities painted with in-human alabaster flesh and floating within a black and green viscous ichor. As the Pioneers explored further within possibly the most vile room of the dungeon, their eyes were immediately drawn to the body of a teenage boy laying on an unnervingly unclean operating table - accompanied by equally unclean operating tools. The boy revealed himself to be Dougalas, who was alive and visibly shaken as he shot straight up and advanced towards Viska to plea for the Pioneer's help, citing he did not know how he came to be in this dark place, and wished to go home to celebrate his birthday with his father. Willing to oblige, Viska hastily agreed and embraced the frightened boy to give further comfort - sympathizing with his situation. Unfortunately, this proved nearly fatal, as Dougalas surprise-attacked Viska with what appeared to be a transformed appendage in the shape and form of a bladed weapon, revealing his true form as a shape-shifting creature.
After dispatching the horrific creature, it reverted to it's original form - that of which appeared to be a fully grown form of the organic creatures that were growing within the test-tubes, accompanied with eyeless sockets and a sunken pale face absent of teeth and wrinkles. The Pioneers began to investigate the room in it's entirety to finally find some answers, as well as nursing the grievous injury that Viska had suffered from their encounter. Beside the surgical table of which the creature laid in deception was a desk littered with damaged papers, blood-stained notes, messy short-hands that appeared to be both non-nonsensical and Eldritch in nature. If this had been the secret lab of Lescovar's Caretaker, the Pioneers thought, this was the exact opposite of the room which Terezor found to be Carth's "public" living quarters. Among the uncompiled mess of short-hands and maddened manuscripts, there appeared to be thick book titled "The Blessings and Teachings of Archbishop Benedictus", a worn and damaged copy of the book that was gifted to Viviri from Carth with one exception, the inside of the book cover hid a handwritten message that read "The Twilight Father shall return to bring the Night-Mother home. Our Mother. Our Home". Hearing these words read aloud by Terezor caused a surge of great pain and anxiety to envelop Viviri - specifically Viviri - a vision began to take hold as she saw the visage of a humanoid in blackened armor, similarly to the dark warrior the Pioneers fought in the rooms before, but with purple trimming and black tendrils protruding from it's helmet and shoulders highlighted by the green flames of a burning city of which Viviri did not recognize.
Spilling from the side of the desk among the crumbled and blood-stained notes the Pioneers began to fit the pieces together for the answers that they were seeking. Searching the scattered mess on the stone floor revealed formally-written letters that appeared to have been exchanges between Carth and various members of the Masons discussing how they may better "support" Lescovar - detailing plans to cripple Bradsburg from the inside. To reinforce this, found among the letters are multiple signed contracts enlisting the aid of an unknown group known as "Bladefist's Chosen" who were instructed to "lead in chaos and disorder" as well as bringing Carth "live specimens" One contract in particular employed an assassin by the name of Yorick Poisontip who was instructed to stage Bradley's suicide, and another who had accepted under the condition of working another contract that happened to be in the area - A contract to kill a Draenei Performer named "Viska" for "thievery and manipulation". Further investigation from the ground back up to the disorderly desk eventually revealed notes that are deciphered to be "results" involving experiments known as "Shifters" - A creature created as a result from a twisted form of alchemy that when allowed to grow within it's hibernation stage, the creature can turn any form of it's body into an exact replicate of anything or anyone they physically touch, but very few of these creatures have been successes. Unnerved, the Pioneers continued to investigate, finding an old iron key that they deducted had to go to the only other room they had not entered yet, and a final letter that could easily have been missed within the others reading "We are beginning the next phase before the next moon cycle. Begin to spread the mother's love to that we may all be together to celebrate her return and embraces us all. The Puppet has served his purpose. -F" The Pioneers found all the evidence they needed and began to retreat back towards the room before the haunted halls to find out what laid beyond the locked door, and their answers was just as shocking and disturbing as the incriminating letters and notes. The people who have been reported missing for over a week were here all along, locked in cramped cells wallowing within their own filth, finding Dougalas among them with wide, dried-red eyes. Apprehensive, the Pioneers began to ask questions, some specifically directed at Dougalas in order to avoid another trap possibly laid by another Shifter. The paranoia was subsided when to the Pioneer's surprise, Theo arrived to give validity to Dougalas' claim that he had been kidnapped by his Caretaker, Carth. The other captives told similar stories about how they were violently kidnapped by relatively normal looking people in bandannas, all led by individuals they overheard were referred to as "The Bladefists". Theo explained that he knew the Pioneers lied to him. As a traveling orphan, he was used to knowing when people were sincere to his cause, or lied in order to be rid of him. So, Theo tailed the Pioneers to Warehouse 19 and staked outside waiting for something to happen, or someone to walk in or out. Impatient, Theo decided to enter the warehouse and descend down the dungeon entrance, cautiously, and began to follow the trail of slain cultists that led Theo straight to the Pioneers as they returned from the lab and haunted halls.
With everything coming to a head and the desire to leave growing prevalent, the Pioneers began to head back to the entrance of the secret dungeon, leaving the prisoners hanging back with Theo in order to make sure no danger laid in wait. Their suspicions were correct. At the top of the stairs near the warehouse entrance waited a group of dock workers, one of which exposed itself as another Shifter, and Carth Everend himself - goading the Pioneers into returning down to the dungeon cells with the prisoners. This was met with immediate retaliation by Terezor, who shot a quick fire arrow in hopes to rid Stormwind of this vile man once and for all. This would prove costly, as Carth received the full force of Terezor's sneak attack, Carth remained standing - stunned for a moment that he had actually be harmed. With the cracking, sinewy sound of bones, Carth's arched back began to straighten into a menacing posture - with the arrow still protruding from his torso- and ignited a ball of fire into the Pioneers. During the chaos, Carth took the advantage to retreat from the warehouse, ordering the dock workers to "kill them, and bring me the young boy - Theo - alive." Beaten, bruised, and at their limits, the Pioneers stood victorious over the disguised Twilight Hammer cultists and the Shifter, but Carth was already long gone by the time they began to search for him outside of the warehouse. Counting their losses, the Pioneers escorted the prisoners safely out of the harbor and entrusted Theo to escort the poor souls the rest of the way to the city guard, and to return Dougalas back home with said guards to investigate the whereabouts of the traitorous Carth. With their Artisan mission finally completed, the Pioneers returned back to Bradsburg for their reward, promotion and much needed rest. Waiting for them to their surprise was not Mesner - Bradley's Caretaker - but Bradley himself to give thanks and payment personally to the Pioneers for their service to Bradsburg and the Pioneer's Guild Chapter. But, before the Pioneers could count their pay, Bradley requested another Artisan job from the Pioneers, one that he claimed would be easy but trusted no other to complete - deliver a closed and sealed letter to the King of Arathi himself, Asbjorn Bjornson
Plot type
Mystery/Adventure
Parent Plot
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