[Alliance] Chapter Two: Session Twenty-Two
August 19th (Gil and the others)
The scene opens with the Lord of the Andilien estate asking why he should sell a mount to wanted fugitives.
Gil counters that he’s curious why he’s telling them that he knows.
Lord Andilien: “Because I’m not the kind of individual that strikes an unprepared foe. There is little honor in such things.”
Gil: “What is it you wish to do then?”
Lord Andilien leans back in his chair, his hands steepled.
Andilien: “Cutting to the quick then? Good. We have little need for pleasantries. As you are aware, the four of you are wanted, as are the other companions you are traveling with, who are presumably nearby. It’s a shame your sister is not with you. After all, she and your queen mother, my prince, have the highest bounties presently, but this is something we can deal with. Let me be frank. The four of you are, all things considered, worth a great deal. I’d say close to a 1000 gold pieces with a quick estimation. Perhaps more. That said, I’m a business man, first and foremost. I’m not exactly sure why you chose to come here of all places, but that is none of my concern. So. What sort of deal do you think we could make that could have all of us walking away from this table happy?”
Uther: “Before we begin negotiating in earnest, may I ask a question?”
Lord Andilien agrees.
Uther: “Have you given any thought to why we might be wanted?”
Andilien: “I can’t say I would have a need to run my imagination. ‘Tis quite simple. Velameestra Windrunner is wanted to attempting to assassinate the king. The others for aiding her.”
Uther: “One of the Windrunner family suddenly attempting to assassinated the king of Silvermoon. That circumstance holds merit to your mind?”
Andilien: “The mire of politics is quite complicated.”
Uther: “And she would be aided by two of the members of the Lordaeron royal family?”
Gil: “Uther, to save some time, I don’t think he’s concerned about morality.”
Andilien says Gil was correct.
Uther: “Allow me to appeal to your senses of survival. Not even a year ago, myself, Gilveradin, we stopped an attempt by trolls to unleash one of their blood gods into this world. A being of incomprehensible power. One of the tools they used was a dagger. The mess that myself and my companions find themselves in involves more than one of these daggers. Someone is attempting to bring something terrible to your land, and if they succeed, no amount of gold is going to save you.”
Andilien looks Uther up and down. “I see. I have no reason to misbelieve you, my young friend. Likewise, I have no reason not to believe that your implication that these bounties on your heads are more fabricated than one would be lead to believe. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily solve our problems here and now. If your cause is as just as you are saying it is, then after my men deliver you into the waiting hands of the authorities, you’ll be freed of whatever charges levied against you and you can continue your noble work.”
Uther: “That’s were you’re wrong. We’re approaching the end game. Every second you keep us, is another second the enemy approaches their goal, and I can’t speak to that nature, but I can tell you if they achieve it, Silvermoon, Lordaeron, Alterac, Ironforge, none will stand a chance by ourselves.”
Andilien: “I see you are in as much of a hurry as you seem. Well, let us not waste anymore time. 2000 gold pieces, all four of you walk out of here. 2500 and perhaps I’ll believe your story, and I’ll put what resources I have toward aiding you. I have influences across the elf lands, and I would not be above putting my own resources in your hands to help you prevent this calamity you claim is coming. 3 grand and I’ll set you up with my fastest creatures. They can bear you back to Silvermoon in less than a week. Without these demands met, then I’ll be delivering you back to Silvermoon in chains. You’ll be back where you need to be, and we’ll let those who have a greater sense of authority and justice sort things out for us. Alternatively, if you would propose a trade. One that I doubt you’ll be privy to. If you bring me and my followers to your Queen mother and your sister, then I have no issue with any of you walking free.”
Gil: “I doubt you’ll be able to walk away with them.”
Andilien: “Perhaps, perhaps not. I do have a great deal of resources. This is my offer, and I’d like to resolve this as peaceably as possible. I would remind you you are in the midst of my lands, and a great deal of the aficionados of my races are quite esteemed in piloting these beasts. You may escape if you try to flee, but perhaps not all of you.”
Gil comments he isn’t sure who is underestimating who, and Andilien counters that his captain of the guard is a retired from the Guardians of Eternal Spring. He also points out he isn’t opposed to a trade of another sort, as he gestures to the sword on Uther’s back, as a sword such as that is rare given the smith that crafted it perished in the Second Troll Wars.
Uther asked what it would be worth to him, and Andilien takes a closer a look. He said that it would easily fetch 1000 gold pieces off of the total.
Uther agrees, and Gil offers his bracers of archery, expressing they possibly belonged to the Raven himself. Andilien takes them, observing them. He agrees that, with the items, he is more than willing to allow them to leave, in addition to putting his own resources at his disposal.
He’s glad the four of them made the wise choice. After all, it was an opportunity that allowed a greater amount of business to be done.
He then asks what he can do to assist them.
Vincent comments that Gil was looking to purchase a hawkstrider, and Andilien asks if they were looking for a single steed or multiple and what he is looking for. Gil returns he would be interested to see which one his son would pick.
At that moment, they hear the race on the grounds start, and in the distance they can see Andilien’s son riding a bright white hawkstrider with red tips in the lead.
Andilien muses that his son favors the swifter birds, though they lack in endurance. He’s quite sure he would pick one of similar stock of his own.
He tells them to relax for the time being, and he arranges for wine to be brought up. When the races are over, they go to meet with Lord Andilien’s son, and he expresses he doesn’t know why he didn’t just take his father’s word. Gil counters the man is an inheritor, thus he wants his opinion. He asks what Gil is looking for, and he returned one that travels well and won’t spook easily.
He is taken around to a female hawkstrider who is chestnut brown which fades into darker plumage. She’s very large. Her name is Swifthearth, and is a reliable old steed who was favored by his mother. There was also one of her grandchildren, who was a reddish-brown hawkstrider with reddish tips. She is much smaller than the first, and more lively. As soon as they walk around the corner, it’s already craning to get a better look. Her name is Swiftwind. She’s rather fearless, but she still needs a bit of training. She’s also a known ration thief.
Gil asks Lord Andilien if he would have picked the same, and he confirms, as they are also a bit more fair on the price range.
Gil decided on Swiftwind.
Lord Andilien wishes them the best, and then goes to take care of other guests while final transfers are handled.
The group leaves quickly, Gil and Tess mounting up on his new hawkstrider.
Meanwhile, Uther utilizes the find steed spell by whistling, and Radiant justs pops around a corner like he was there all the time.
They would manage to to arrive in Tranquilien a day early thanks to the mounts. However, about a half hour out, Gil pulls them aside, expressing he’s not completely certain Andilien didn’t let them go because he knew they were going to meet up with Velameestra and he wanted the money.
They scout around, but they find nothing.
That night, Vel checks in, asking how their situation fairs, and Gil simply says he has a new friend and a story and will be arriving on time. He gets a “What?” in return, and he tells her he will tell her when they arrive.
After the fact, Gil looks at Uther and comments that she’s going to be mad at him, and Uther says he would rather be Gil than himself. Gil agrees, as his sister won’t kill him. Besides, she has a bunch of other things to be mad about.
August 20th
The next day, Uther gets a sending from Jaina, asking if she’s to believe they will be arriving a day early. Uther confirms, and Jaina said they will see them there. Vel and Jaina prepare to teleport a day early as well.
They appear on the outskirts of Tranquilien in a small clearing with the town in view.
They head into the village, and nestled in the woods outside and napping in the warm summer sign is a familiar lynx. A large green eye opens and takes note of them as they approach.
Vel sendings Vereesa, asking where they are at, and Vereesa tells them to head toward the tavern. She sounds a tad tipsy.
As the other half of the party dismounts in the town, there is a quiet whistle. There is an elf wearing a reddish brown cloak around her form. It’s Valeera.
Gil asks if his aunt was at a tavern, and Valeera confirms, along with everyone else. Valeera, however, expresses they found some interesting things, and asks how the moonkeys went. Gil said about 50%, and she returned that’s better than nothing.
She also looks at the hawkstrider, expressing it’s new, and asks when he found time to find that. Gil said it was on the way. To dismiss Radiant, Uther clicks at him, and he wanders off, disappearing back to his stable in Lordaeron.
Gil stables his hawkstrider.
They two halves of the party see each other across the square as they make for the tavern. Vel asks who the new friend is, and Gil says he bought a hawkstrider. Tess spills that they almost got arrested.
Vel is alarmed, but just in that moment they hear some loud hooting from the tavern. Valeera comments that they are already rowdy at midday, and Gil comments how fun they must be at night. Vincent just… laughs. Vel doesn’t look particularly happy.
As they arrive, they see a bunch of half-elves and such around. Zaeneas is up pounding on the table with the mercenaries. Caleron is sitting off to the side, as is Arator. In the center of all of it, however, is Vereesa, standing on her hands, wielding her bow with her feet, and firing an arrow straight into the middle of a second one in the wall. With her feet.
Everyone cheers.
Vereesa comes over to greet them, and Vel looks like a deer in headlights.
She quietly sends Rhonin, commenting his wife is shooting a bow with her feet. And he just says “Oh man, I love that trick. It’s so hot.”
And she just… deadpans. Jaina laughs. Vereesa comments the Aurum Blades are buying all the drinks for the night, and Gil says they’re crazy, and is 100% going to to be making them regret it.
But before they relax for the night, they meet to discuss their information. Gil also explains what happened at the Andilien estate. Vel is not pleased, and she rips into Gil about the fact it was foolish to go there in the first place, especially seeing all they utilized the efforts for was to get a mount. Arator tells them to calm down, and Jaina agrees, stating they should look at what they have to work with.
Vereesa informs them that the moonkey was not the worse situation. One of her friends was one of the farstriders there, and they were able to speak with the magisters quietly. They were able to levy a few favors, and they were able to get the moonkey and then check out Goldenmist--the town that Telina had grown up in.
Telina didn’t come from a family. There was no Mirthbrook estate or residence. She likely grew up on the streets. If she had family, it wasn’t substantial, and Mirthbrook might not even be her real last name. However, there was an urchin with striking red hair, one that fit the description, and would fit the age bracket several years ago. Not definitive proof, but something.
In addition, there was one other thing. They were pointed to an old abandoned sanctum in the woods not too far away. Sometimes thieves and bandits would call the place their home, but other times urchins and other orphans. However, for a couple months it had been abandoned. They went and poked around, but found no one alive.
But there was something.
There were signs of struggles. A few of them. Some sort of ritual. Old candles burnt down to the wicks, and blood stains on the stone in a pattern of some kind. There were words, but Vereesa couldn’t make them out.
Gil asks if they can recreate the script, but they were unable to.
Vel then mentions that such a thing ties into the fact she met with the undead Council of Tirisfal that Gil had encountered and he seemed to indicate a degree of fear that Telina’s powers may be linked to a previous demon he had faced. She then tells Gil she would need the mage’s name, as it’s possible if she could narrow down the list of Council of Tirisfal members, she might be able to find information on what threats they had faced that might have this particular mage worried.
Gil, however, tries to dodge the inquiry, seemingly not convinced they have the resources nor time to follow up on such a thing. Vel counters that they have access to Kilnar, who is the Seeker of Wisdom, and whose entire job is to keep up with such obscure information.
Gil continues to counter her pressing with excuses of his own, until Vel ultimately states that she’s then sure Gil didn’t inform the Ranger-General about certain secrets kept on behalf of the party given he’s so keen on obscuring information that might be key in a larger threat. It was heavily implied the secret Vel was indicating was the fact Tess is a worgen.
However, Gil had, in fact, told the Council just that. Tess is clearly furious about the fact given she had trusted him with the secret.
They once again turn to immediate information, but tensions are clearly running high.
In regards to the succubus that Gil and the other had faced, Gil was able to observe the other succubus was subservient to her, so she might be some sort of leader of some sort. The hypothesize, given how the succubus was acting, she might have been being forced to act rather than do so willingly, which may indicate there are some different factions among the demons.
Vel asks questions about whether the succubus had dropped any information, and Gil retorts that she hadn’t while she was attacking them. Tess pipes up that, to be fair, Gil had ultimately immediately shot the succubus first, and she probably wasn’t too eager to talk with an arrow in her chest. Gil says she didn’t seem too bothered by it, but Vel seems frustrated they hadn’t tried to even encourage the succubus to talk.
Gil counters she seems to be the only one who had any inclination to do so, and Vel looks like she’s going to start arguing again, but stops herself, and states there’s nothing to be done about things that already happened, as Jaina and Arator had said.
They turn to trying to make a plan, and Vel states that ultimately losing one of the moonkeys could be used to their advantage as it’s possible the warlocks may take it to a rendezvous point, thus them taking one of the fakes could lead them straight to it. In addition, given Dar’khan’s arrogance, this victory may make him more cocky and more prone to mistakes.
Jaina suggests potentially luring them out, and expresses she’s quite certain they would be able to take Telina if they could spring a trap on her, but Vel is less sure given the uncertainty the Council of Tirisfal mage had and the fact that they know nothing about whatever she had made a pact with. Vel states she’d rather take Dar’khan over Telina at this point, though ultimately they may not be able to choose who comes to retrieve whatever they have.
They agree that Finnall and Valeera are still likely the best people to carry the fakes and get them to Kael’thas, though actually getting into the city may be more of a problem given the security measures likely still in place.
There is some concern about suspicion on the Aurum Blades given Finnall’s relation to Kilnar, but Theo reassures them it’s actually not an issue as Finnall and Kilnar don’t really publicize their relation and Finnall takes contracts from Kilnar’s rivals just as often as Kilnar herself.
Gil suggests perhaps willingly getting captured, but arrange it so they aren’t captured by any of their allies, and there’s some discussion on that, but ultimately it’s decided they have time to finalize their strategy on the road as there was only so much they could talk about now.
Jaina goes back to Dalaran for the night to give Talath the blueprint for the second key, and everyone goes to start dispersing to drink. Vel stays in her room.
Tess, however, pulls Gil aside.
Tess: “Gil, I’d like to make somethin’ straight. All of you are real good friends of mine, and without any of your help, I dunno where I’d be right now. But what you did is something nigh unforgivable. I’m lucky all the bloody farstriders aren’t walking around with silver arrows. If you ever do something like that again, I won’t hesitate to slit your throat. I trusted you with that secret, and I trust you to keep it, regardless of what member of your family comes asking for it. You got your people that you have to take care of, and I have mine. Lets take care of them all without betraying them, aye?”
Gil nods, and Tess smiles again, expressing they should start drinking things away.
Vincent, meanwhile, goes shopping. He’s looking for regents for making healing potions. He does find an older elf running an apothecary, and he engages in small talk. He finds out she happened to know Lord Andilien, and he asked her to pass a message along. He wanted to take him up on a certain offer. She agrees.
And then he heads back to the tavern.
Vel pulls Uther aside into her room as she sees him heading to bed, and has a brief conversation. She expresses she wants to apologize, a notion Uther is a bit confused on. She explains that she had not really been clear in many of her approaches to him, and had been a bit unfair in “wanting him to think more like her.”
Uther said that, had that been her intent, it was a bit unfair, though he also stated that she had also been right in her concerns. Ultimately, his life was worth more than others in many circumstances, and while he felt his life was a small price for him to pay if it meant protecting others, she had raised points that he had never even thought to consider. However, he was going to endeavor to do that now.
Vel sighs, at least a bit relieved about the fact, and muses that she probably owes her brother an apology. Uther agrees she was a bit heavy-handed, and Vel just says she’s been stressed. Uther agrees he’s been as well.
She tells him that’s all she had to speak with him about, and Uther reassures he that, while the apology wasn’t needed, he accepts it, and then goes to leave. He stops for a moment, takes a breath, but then turns around again and hugs her. Vel, as expected, tenses at first, but then slowly does return the hug.
Uther then goes to his room for the night, leaving Vel to her own devices.
Derevan is drinking carefully, also reminding people to drink water and drinking a lot of water himself. Furia has no problems holding her drink. Valeera, meanwhile, is drinking casually, and made bank on challenging people to the knife game where you stab between your fingers.
Arator was drinking a bit, but as soon as he got a bit blushy, he used his magic to take the edge off and was first on the scene when people got cut playing the knife game.
Zaeneas got tricked to play the knife game with Valeera.
There is a moment when Gil is drinking with Tess, and he feels her body is very tense, and her shoulders are trembling a bit. As she looks over to him, he sees her eyes have transformed, and she’s gritting her teeth.
Gil is immediately sober. Tess grabs his arm, and he sees she has the magic chain wrapped around her arm. Her breathing starts to slow, and he sees her teeth, which were elongating, start to shrink. She exhales.
Tess: “I can take care of myself.”
Gil: “Or you can give me heart attacks. That’s fine too.”
Tess rolls her neck. “Still. Feels awful as hell though, I can tell you that. Stopping that from happening. At least it’s only once a month.”
She gestures to the window, through which they can see the full moon.
Gil: “You know, how did we forget about that?”
Tess: “I never forget about it. For most folk, it’s just another day. It’s never been that for me. It’s easy to forget that. I ain’t the only one.”
Gil: “It probably hurts because you aren’t supposed to resist it.”
Tess: “Probably not. But until I can control it completely--”
Gil: “You were able to speak, so that suggests you’re getting there.”
Tess: “And it only took two decades. I wonder how everyone else is doing. That bloke we met in Durnholde, and everyone else if it’s as bad as I think it is.”
She continues on, expressing she’s been considering going back, and she was going to talk to her mom about it. She hands Gil another drink, and Gil comments that she seems like she’s trying to get him to pass out. She retorts they could try and see.
August 21st
The next morning, Gil definitely has a half-elf Aurum Blade in his bed with him. He’s rather average, though he has one really cute dimple as he smiles in his sleep. He’s cuddling an empty bottle. The cork of the bottle is under Gil’s pillow.
Gil doesn’t remember anything that happened.
He wakes the guy up, who clearly has a hangover. He twitches at Gil’s touch and falls out of bed.
Jaina rejoins with them the next day, and they prepare to leave.
It’s going to take about 12 days to get to Silvermoon, arriving around the 1st of September.
