Day One
It was in the middle of a dazzlingly and beautiful evening dusk that the man arrived at the pass. His brown stallion whined in exhaustion, his iron horseshoes clipping slowly up the stone pebble streets.
"We're almost there boy," said the man bracingly, patting the horse on the head.
The horse rolled his eyes at him and snorted in reply.
Several moments later the building appeared, a lone black tower sitting on a hill of green. The sun had nearly finished its glorious descent and the towers shadow was long against the trees. The top of the tower lay in ruins but the base of the structure remained strong and intact.
"Varin's Tower," he muttered darkly, "That wizard better pay good."
The land steepened and the horse whined again but the man ignored him.
Finally they arrived at the door. Swinging off his horse, the man touched lightly on the ground his gray and blue cloak falling down around him. His grey eyes were hard as he approached and knocked on the door.
The door swung open as if on cue and a brown disheveled man stepped out. His robes were brown and dirty, his glasses round and thick. He had a great white beard that hung past his chest.
"Hello?" he asked squinting.
"It's me."
"Who?"
"The man you hired."
"I hire lots of people; you can't expect me to remember them all!"
"I'm Darus Astevus," he said with annoyed tone, "You hired me to-"
"To reclaim the Gem of Varin!" finished the tower dweller excitedly. He looked at him with a sudden cunning awareness.
"Do you have it?"
Darus undid a pouch on his leather belt, and grasped it with a gauntleted hand. Considering something, he hesitated for a moment, before tossing it over to the man. The old wizard's claw like hand shot out like a viper catching it before it fell.
"Of course I do," Darus replied.
The man looked into the pouch and smiled. He dug into the deep pockets of his robe and drew forth a handful of coins. They glittered in the dying sunlight. Most shined silver but Darus noted the occasional gold shine with an appreciative growl. Taking the coins into his hand he quickly redistributed them ito one of his own pockets. He then dipped slightly in a bow.
"Pleasure doing business with you."
He turned to leave when the man asked, "I hope the gem's original owner didn't give you too much trouble."
Darus held back a grimace, "She chose to fight back. She is dead now."
He glanced back to see the old man nodding gravely, "Pity."
Then the wizard closed the door and Darus was alone with his horse.
"Let's go Daunter," he whispered after a moment, leading the horse by the reigns as he walked down the path to Darrowshire.
Several hours later found Darus on the outskirts of town near the ruined old tower, at the bar of an inn known as the Hanged Man's Luck, his horse Daunter snug and fed in the innkeepers stable.
He sat drinking his sad excuse for a beer an expectant look on his face, almost as if he was waiting for something. It better not be much longer, he thought. He fully intended to getting raving drunk tonight. Suddenly a single agonized scream ripped through the air carried on a heavy wind. Nearly all residents of the room froze in terror. Darus grinned widely.
"That sounds like it came from Varin's Tower," murmured one man softly.
"The scream of a dying man," whispered a gnarled scarred town watchman.
Darus hailed the bartender, who after a moment's, reluctance shuffled over.
"I'll have a pint of your best drink good sir," said Darus still grinning.
The man moved to the back room and returned with great wooden mug.
"So what's this for?" asked the man distractedly his eyes trained on the large inn door. Darus slid over several silver coins and replied,
"Celebration."
"For what?" asked the bewildered man.
"For a job well done."
"The gem belonged to a seventeen year old girl?" asked Mayor Ebonlocke in disbelief.
Darus nodded grimly, "The bastard had me convinced she was a succubus in disguise. I probably would have gutted the poor thing if Theocritus hadn't arrived in the nick of time."
"Theocritus? The Azora Tower Mage?"
"The one and only."
"The poison gem was his idea I assume?"
"Yes," Darus nodded, "And he paid me well to deliver it. Though for the life of me, I haven't been able to figure out what a mage of Azora is doing with a gem that kills anyone who touches it."
Ebonlocke gave a wry smile, "Have you been working for the Sanctum long now?"
"I've done a few jobs for them and they certainly pay well."
"I suppose strange times call for strange bedmates," Ebonlocke said before he cleared his throat and continued, "And speaking of strange times, there have been a number of odd occurrences in Raven Hill. Would you mind checking it out? I have coin to give."
Darus shook his head, "This was nothing but a courtesy call Ello. A heads up to my old friend not to worry about the happenings in Varin's Tower."
"Still…"
Darus held up his hand, "My business is in Elwynn."
The mayor leaned back with a sigh and rubbed his eyes.
"It's not like the garrison here is doing much," reasoned Darus, "Why don't you send a few of them to check it out?"
"I would if there were any here to spare."
"What do you mean?"
"The order came down a few days ago. There has been increased aggression by the native trolls against Stockcrown. Colonel Kurzen has requested more troops and the Stormwind nobility in all its eternal wisdom has decided to grant him his requesting– by taking them away from Darrowshire."
Darus opened his mouth but the Mayor ran over him.
"I mean Light! How am I supposed to look after the town when I spending all my time organizing the Night Watch? If the nobility in Stormwind would stop bleeding the town of the king's men, I might actually be able to keep the roads safe without stealing from the farms. And how am I supposed to raise taxes from people who spend all their time locked in doors for fear of their own shadows?"
He stopped suddenly. Leaning forward he murmured with a tone of defeat," You don't really care about this at all do you?"
Darus stood up, leaned over to pat his friend on the shoulder, and answered frankly, "No."
And with that the mercenary walked away.
Reposting this hella old story with some fixes and the intent of building on it provided anyone's interested. So if you liked the first chapter feel free to drop a review and I'll make sure there are plenty more. :D Though likely the story will take a dramatically different approach from the old one starting after chapter two. One last thing. I will be tinkering with the lore a bit so locations that don't exist in WoW, such as Stockcrown, may be mentioned throughout the story in an attempt to make Stormwind feel more like a real life kingdom.