Hello people! My goodness, it has been a long time. If you have not read my author's note taking up the chapter five slot (which I will delete upon uploading this), it is March 10th, 2022 and I have been absent from writing since the end of March last year. I have been away for many reasons, primarily a combination of being pulled away by uni exams then and an inability to get back into writing due to my mental health issues since.. I have moved forward a great deal now and I am utilising my brief lack of home internet well by motivating myself to do something other than games, reading, and movies in my free time (Ha! As if there is such a thing for a university student). My life is back on track and I am excited to recommence my true passion, so here it is! I will be editing and reposting the first four chapters soon, but I will time it with the next chapter update so you only get 5 notifications for the chapter update at once instead of being annoyed by them all week. This chapter is shorter than normal and that is both due it being a kick in my own ass to get back into writing, and it being a transitory chapter. I will now be writing chapters of two types so I can maintain my schedule better: shorter chapters such as this one that introduce a new location or are lore chapters, and longer chapters for major battles, pivotal moments, etc. A note regarding a few reviews I've gotten: this won't be a sexy/smutty story like many others. This is a pure World of Warcraft combat and exploration story focused on the campaigns against the Scourge and, if I ever get to it, the Burning Legion. I want it to be quite long and focused on the fact that it was a war, not a couple of quests. An apt comparison to what I want is, for you Halo fans out there, "The Life" by casquis, which is a great fanfiction about an ODST during the war with the Covenant. My story won't be 1.6 million words, but that is the kind of style I am looking for. Anyways, that is all for today but enjoy the chapter and please don't forget to review!
Dustwallow Marsh, Theramore City
Theramore Docks
26 ADP, 2.5 Weeks Before The Battle of Light's Hope Chapel
First thing I've learned on this trip: portal transportation is rather abrupt. One moment I was standing in a clearing in the training grounds of the Argent encampment, stepping through Fitz's portal to Theramore, the next I was tripping over my own feet. The best way I can describe it is when you miss a step while going down the stairs and end up taking two instead, nearly sending you arse over teakettle, or in this case, arse over mithril helm.
I had decided to replace my ruined steel armour with an unenchanted set of plate armour made from superior materials, in this case, mithril, which as it turns out is very far in quality from the legendary impenetrable defence of Tolkien lore. Azeroth's form of mithril was a disappointing form of naturally alloyed silvered steel that is lighter and a bit more durable than the regular castle-forged steel most human soldiers are using.
I managed to avoid having my meagre savings wiped out by buying an unenchanted set. With my plan to get to Wyrmrest Temple dependent on convincing Jaina to aid us so we could be portalled to Dalaran 2.0 - now floating above Crystalsong Forest so the mages could fight Malygos' madness - I was hoping that I could acquire good enchantments for my armour much more cheaply from the more competitive artisan enchanters of the magical city.
That part of the plan had absolutely nothing to do with my imminent desire to visit Dalaran and geek out over a floating city. No sir, nothing to do with it at all.
Back to the source of my new headache.
I could hear the chuckles of Fitz and Thomas Stephens, my newly appointed political aides for this mission. Of course, they had come through just fine, not a hair ruffled or moustache whisker out of place. Fitz's 'stache was rather small to fit his gnomish height, but Corporal Stephens's auburn facial accessory followed the trend of his homeland, Gilneas. I'm not sure how the man managed to maintain it in a warzone, or how it could possibly be comfortable with a helmet on, but it was a source of pride for him so I had quickly learned not to comment.
Standing up, I crushed the sudden urge to awkwardly brush invisible dirt from my mithril fauld. We had portalled to the end of a pier in Theramore's harbour and I had only narrowly avoided being sent for a swim (or with the weight of my armour, a sink), so I counted my stumble as a win. I ignored my fellow delegates snickering and instead took in the picturesque city of Theramore.
Located on an island on the coast of Dustwallow Marsh, Theramore had fifty foot walls, ballistae on its towers, and a harbour large enough to fit an eight hundred foot long WWII battleship, with enough piers to house a small fleet.
Up until Lord Admiral Daelin Proudmoore's visit and failed war against the Orcs (to pursue old grudges, of course) Theramore Isle was essentially a colony city of Kul Tiras, so I suppose a large harbour made sense given their predilection to naval warfare. While it wasn't a completely neutral city in the on/off war between the Alliance and Horde, Jaina was much more diplomatic and reasonable than most of her fellow Alliance leaders, and maintained open ties with Thrall. After Daelin's death and Jaina's banishment from Kul Tiras, the city was now independent, but gave lip-service to Stormwind.
Imagine classic European medieval-era architecture from a city like Prague, then crank it up to eleven or twelve on a scale of one to five. Surround that with massive white stone walls, towers, and a keep the size of Edinburgh Castle. The threats of this world were many and very dangerous.
It was a breathtaking example of mortal ingenuity and construction, and the first thing of such a scale I had seen in this world. I had seen the ruins of Andorhal, but after the many battles fought there they were just that: ruins. It did not have the defences of a proper city anyways. In the game, the size of Theramore was more akin to a small town or outpost, with only a few stone buildings and a central tower, about the same size as Menethil Harbour. But that was because of the limitations of the game's graphics, servers, and world size. This isn't bound by such.
It was a large town or a small city. I wouldn't be surprised if thirty or forty thousand people lived here.
No way in hell was I letting Garrosh drop a mana bomb here.
If Theramore was this big, how big was Stormwind? Ironforge?
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Fitz asked me, grinning.
I nodded absently.
Inside, I was squealing in joy. I have lived my life in fantasy novels, games, and movies. And here I was, in a goddamned fantasy world. Granted, I did miss many modern conveniences. Medieval life is brutal and hard, especially in Azeroth. But I wasn't some scrub peasant, I was an adventurer! A hero of the ages! I would not live in a poor dirt hut until I was fifty and died of cholera. I would die at thirty-three, being torn apart by a pack of ravenous ghouls who wanted to suck out my marrow and make a pie out of my internal organs! Yay!
At least I was paid.
But as my least favourite character from Game of Thrones said, chaos is a ladder. Azeroth is insanely chaotic, even more so than Planetos. I had been here a few short weeks and was a lieutenant in a major military faction. I had magical powers, badass armour, and actual gold coins in my pockets. I was on an important mission to save said military faction from an innumerable enemy, and in the process I would talk to the gorgeous leader of a nation as well as actual fuck off dragons!
Sign me the hell up.
"So...where do we go?", I asked Fitz, idly tugging on the edge of my badass black and grey Argent Dawn tabard. Game graphics really took away from the presence and sheer awesomeness that a heavy suit of armour and well-crafted livery could provide. My pauldrons were not quite on the level of Space Marines, but were nonetheless much more substantial than anything that doesn't weigh a million pounds should be.
"We're unexpected, so we'll need to report to the on-duty guard captain or commander. He'll be able to either take us to Lady Proudmoore for an audience, or find us diplomatic housing until she can meet with us.", Thomas said. "As for finding the captain, well, just ask a guard."
The guards at the harbour gate into the city were very helpful, telling us that the captain of the guard was currently at the training field next to Foothold Citadel, which was somewhere off to the right once inside of the harbour gates.
An Azerothian citadel was true to its name. Approaching it, I could spy ballistae and archer posts all along the top. The heavy steel-reinforced gate was over a foot thick of solid oak, and a bit behind that was a solid portcullis covered from above by murder holes. The barracks was an entire wing of the complex, and there was a white stone armoury in the rear of the complex. The training field next to it was a few hundred feet across in each direction, a great trampled dirt square with weather-beaten training dummies, archery targets, and duelling rings.
More specific instructions from some practising guardsmen sent us to a tall, wooden observation post from which the guard captain and a few sergeants were overseeing combat training.
"Ahoy up there!", I shouted from the ground. "Captain Evancane?"
A helmed head leaned over the side to peer down at our troupe. "Aye, who wants to know?"
"Ambassadors of the Argent Dawn, sir!"
I heard muttering from the observation tower. "Hold on!" A pair of armour-clad legs swung over the edge of the tower and the man they belonged to started climbing down the ladder.
The captain was a gruff, no-nonsense, grizzled veteran in his forties with blonde hair and three days' stubble. "So, what's this then?"
I saluted him. "Lieutenant Helios of the Argent Dawn. I've been sent on a diplomatic mission to speak with Lady Proudmoore. City watch at the docks directed us to you, sir." I handed him our ambassadorial papers.
Captain Evancane squinted at them, flipping through the sheaves of parchment. "Seems to be in order. Right. And it's Lady Jaina to you lieutenant, the only ones that still refer to her as Proudmoore after the debacle with Lord Admiral Daelin are the Kul Tirans, of which there are few. They've been a solitary lot since the last war, and that business didn't make them any more keen to support our efforts here." He waved for us to follow him and started walking towards the mage tower that dominated the center of the city.
"Theramore is an impressive sight, aye, but like anyone else trying to do more than sit on their walls and hide - bloody Gilneans - we're spread thin. The fact that many of our number came from either Lordaeron or Khaz Modan is both a blessing and a curse. We have strong ties to the Alliance, but because of that we are also expected to offer men and material support to their causes, and yet are given little aid in return to our own troubles. Stormwind is happy to have a friendly, human military outpost in Kalimdor, but as soon as an issue of theirs is out of sight we are forgotten. Dustwallow Marsh is beset by ogres, murlocs, naga, and all manner of thuggery. Hells, we even had a few displaced centaur and quilboar raiding parties that the Tauren pushed out of their territories to the Southwest. Tensions with the Orcs are constant. Lady Proudmoore may have convinced us that open war was idiotic, but that doesn't mean most people see their dead loved ones when they look at them. " Evancane peered at me. "So if you've come looking for more help against the Scourge, I warn you now, I'm expecting you to go home disappointed. Lady Jaina only just returned from aiding Regent Lord Bolvar Fordragon in finding the lost King Varian. It seems that some member of the Black Dragonflight waylaid him, and they set out to hunt the dragon down and kill it."
I sighed. "I understand, but I have to try. We're expecting the Scourge to make a major offensive in the Plaguelands soon, and we desperately need reinforcements. Everything has been pointing to the Scourge preparing for a new assault to retake old Lordaeron, and we can't count on the Forsaken to offer anything."
The captain snorted. "Not likely. Those things may have been our kinsfolk once, but I reckon there wasn't much of that left in 'em when the Lich King turned them all. " He shuddered, "I pity them and I think they have got a bad situation, but you would think they would do everything possible to get revenge on the Scourge and protect the livin', not make their own monsters and become the Scourge-lite."
The two guards outside the entrance to Jaina's mage tower saluted the captain and our delegation as we approached. This edifice was an eighty-foot tall structure of wood and stone that loomed over the buildings around it and undoubtedly offered an excellent view of the city from the top floor windows. It closely resembled Jaina's tower from the game on the outside, bowing inwards in the middle, meaning it must be woven thick with magic that helped support the structure.
There was a faint buzzing sound as we crossed the entrance and stepped inside. "A barrier", the captain informed us, "it tests for hostile intent and transformation magic to make sure people are who they appear to be."
I smiled. "And if we weren't who we appeared to be?"
He grinned back. "Then our mage contingent in the guard would have had a fun time immobilizing you, wrapping you in chains, and tossing you into the sea with an anchor around your legs. It wouldn't be the first time. Some have made a game out of betting on what gets them first; the thresher sharks or the drowning."
Looking up, I could see that the interior was similar to the game as well: a latticework of sloped staircases, pathways and platforms meandered its way up the majority of the structure, although the inside was noticeably bigger than the outside would suggest. "Expanded space?"
"Oh yes," the captain said, motioning for us to start climbing. "One of our wizards was one of the preeminent experts of the subject in Dalaran before it fell during the Third War. The process requires some expensive materials and an excellent understanding of some very arcane theory, but from what I understand, it is quite possible to make interior spaces even twice as large as their exterior dimensions. I have been told that the Guardian Tower of Karazhan is an excellent example."
Luckily for us the council room was only on the third floor, and rather tasteful. "I shall inform Lady Jaina that you are here.", he informed me. "Feel free to partake in refreshments while you wait." He gestured to a low table along one wall, populated by bottles of all shapes and sizes as well as preserved mana biscuits. He proceeded to return to the staircase and continue up, muttering.
Note to you all: stairs are not kind to plate armour.
I elected to wait in a rather plushy chair along the wall of the room, rather than the supremely uncomfortable wooden chairs circling the table in the centre of the room.
I have no doubt those chairs are deliberately uncomfortable to make meetings move faster.
Finally, I heard footsteps descending the stairs and the bottom of the captain's armoured boots appeared from the next floor.
It was time to meet Jaina Proudmoore.
Man, it is good to be back. Let me know what you think!
