Capítulo 163: An Excellent Purchase
5/25 lunch
I picked up an amulet Onyxia had set aside for me on the way to tea with Moira. Not one of mine; it was an old amulet belonging to some famous priest or other that helped focus the light to cast healing spells. Nothing too ridiculous, but it was an appropriate gift for a visiting foreign dignitary that happened to be a priest.
According to Onyxia, who was fine after a quick application of the Insignia of the Alliance, Moira's conversation with her father had gone about as well as could be expected. Neither set of guards had needed to actually draw their weapons at any point, nor did the Stormwind Royal Guard need to intercede. It had started out civil, but devolved into a shouting match the moment they moved on to discussing anything of substance, with Magni getting angrier by the minute and Moira actively baiting him by the fifteen minute mark. It was not exactly productive, and Moira saved the pregnancy reveal to the end, when she was storming out.
That had stunned Magni, and finding out that he was going to be a grandpappy prompted quite a few emotions. He still disapproved of the marriage wholeheartedly, but the chance of not being able to be in his grandchild's life definitely made him rethink a few things in the direction of reconciliation. Moira, for her part, seemed to be alternating between entirely cutting him off and using visitation rights as a political bargaining chip.
When I went to visit her for dwarven tea (with a splash of whiskey) on her balcony, she had composed herself. I could still sense a bit of rage simmering under the surface, so I decided that I wouldn't bring up her father. She took my necklace and showed it off to her entourage before putting it on. One of her maids oohed and ahhed over it for a bit longer than necessary as she identified its properties out loud. The process was disguised as Moira showing off the gift to her friends, and the testing was couched in such a way that no sane person would be offended even if they noticed.
Well, that decided what I'd use my credits on. Valeera should join the retinue some time during this meeting, and the rebates would push me up to my target number. Until then, I might as well keep chatting.
"You have truly accepted the Dark Iron Clan as your people, haven't you?"
"Aye. And why shouldn't I? I've gotten as much respect from them as I did in Ironforge; more, half the time."
"Setting aside the aggression between the dwarven clans? I worry that certain elements are unsavory. The clan's culture itself is rich and very impressive, but there's something deep beneath the surface that holds them back. A raging fire that strengthens them, but I worry could also destroy them as it did during the War of Three Hammers." I was trying to be oblique; at least 3 of her 12 guards were also spies for one faction or another. I didn't want them telling anyone that I was shit talking Ragnaros; he was worshipped as a god by at least some of the clan. Moira, however, was not one of them.
"Aye. It's not ideal. Hard to harness, likely to burn, but it's more dangerous to throw it away. That fire is what the Dark Irons rely upon to survive in a world where they have ten enemies to every ally."
"Oh? What would it take to douse the flames safely then? It would be nice to be able to visit Shadowforge safely. Erich and I have a few other friends that would all love to take a holiday there. Reasonably influential people; the kind that can make things happen."
She smiled. "Ah, who knows. Making a few friends outside of the mountain would do a lot of good for Shadowforge. Fine upstanding gentlemen like yourself, yeah. We would need to build a strong bond, and no fair weather friends either. We need strong lads that we can bring along to gather about the fire and share thrilling stories of battle."
The timer ticked down, and I received a rather large influx of credits. Without a second thought I purchased Jewels of Discord. Nothing else really compared for empire building; talent sharing would keep. With a flourish I pulled out a newly enhanced amulet and presented it to her.
"These are the tokens of our organization. We sometimes share them with promising individuals, as they allow for communication between each other. Together, we can build a future where Shadowforge and Stormwind come together to gather around the fire and tell some great stories."
"Aye. I'll drink to that." She responded before laying her eyes on the amulet. Her mouth fell open as she saw it, with a look of mild awe at the emerald pendant set in copper. "Well damn. Almost a shame about the other one. I'm not going to wear two necklaces at once, now am I? Oi, Riley, would you look at this?" The "maid" that inspected the last one repeated her duties; she was impressed with its enchantments, but not at all alarmed.
Moira happily held her hair out of the way to have the necklace clasped onto her. 104 ETE; not bad for a headstrong princess. She genuinely hoped I was a new ally, and was willing to extend me the benefit of the doubt. Nearly no time would be wasted on getting her to see me in a positive light. I didn't immediately fuck off after she put on the amulet, but the rest was chit chat and platitudes. I had a group of adventurers to visit.
••••••••••
I called ahead of course, asking Valeera if they were in a safe place. I'm sure I'd have made a reasonable showing, but I didn't want to show up in the middle of a random, pointless fight scene, exp or no. Valeera, newly captured, responded with an affirmative. According to my maps, they were moving south towards Redridge at a careful pace. A war zone, behind Blackrock lines.
I flickered into existence behind them and waved. On a whim, I brought Lividia along. "Hail, friends. I bring greetings from Stormwind. I am Erius, this is my betrothed, Lividia Prestor." The whole team was on high alert immediately, except for Valeera. I had a swole night elf man staring me down and multiple weapons pointed at me immediately, though Windsor calmed down when he heard Prestor. A bit.
"Strange place for a walk, friend." Lo'Gosh remarked. Valeera started smirking.
"Relax. This is the guy who helped heal me. He's a friend."
I smiled. "And the one who alerted Reginald here about your coming, incidentally. The situation in Stormwind greatly concerns me. Once I was able to find you, I came as quickly as I could. I would hate to interrupt your hike of course, but I could make your trip just a bit faster, if you'd like?"
Varian nodded and sheathed his blades. "Excellent. My feet hurt. The rest of you?" There was a general chorus of assent. I had helped them twice before and was offering them assistance again; why question it?
"I can open a portal for you all, but you'll need to put on these necklaces first. I'm not strong enough to teleport more than one person at a time without these making it easier on me."
••••••••••
I needed to steal amulets from a few of my c-listers like Yanca and Dasha, but when nothing happened to Lo'Gosh upon putting on the amulet and Thargas didn't see anything suspicious on a cursory examination, the rest of the team fell in line quickly enough. I stowed them all in my apartment for now, and briefed Onyxia on the situation. I figured she could stall them long enough to capture. She couldn't come immediately, of course. She was dealing with the Defias, so they would just need to wait.
Lo'Gosh was surprisingly vulnerable; only a 72 hour ETE. I suppose that while he has all the willpower, Himbo Varian has all the nuance. Lo'Gosh was not a terribly complex man; he wanted to fight and to protect things and people he saw as his. Not in a cruel or even particularly domineering way; he just wanted to turn his brain off and stab evil. My Varian would think forever and never commit without someone forcing him to, this one would commit immediately unless someone made him think.
Broll was easy enough to manage; he was a night elf druid, so letting slip that our organization was backed by Tyrande Whisperwind and the green dragonflight went a long way towards making him trust me. Not completely; he wanted to see proof before he committed, but the amulet could figure that part out. Plus Ysondre could come during one of Onyxia's visits; I'm sure a plausible explanation could be manufactured.
Thargas was basically unknown to me, but he was loyal to the Bronzebeard clan. When I apologized to Windsor for leaving him in prison for so long, I claimed that all of our resources in Shadowforge City were focused on ensuring Moira's safe return. I loaded the whole team down with lies and half truths meant to keep them quiet and happy while my amulets did their work.
I casually asked about Aegwynn, probing to find out where she was. Theramore, apparently, working for Lady Jaina Proudmore. Makes sense I hadn't run into her then; I had been avoiding Jaina Proudmoore, the ruler of Theramore. Jaina was the strongest frost mage on record, with the possible exception of Kel'Thuzad. On top of that she was extremely well connected politically to both the Horde and Alliance, and probably could have figured out what my amulets did with a glance. She'd have been as bad as Sylvanas. Probably worse, actually; she wouldn't keep it secret from her allies. Of course, she's also a gentle and friendly woman who gives people the benefit of the doubt (at this point in the timeline), so with jewels of discord I probably could just send Valeera to visit them with a package containing two amulets and call it good.
Later. For the first time in a few days, I had more reasonable targets than I had amulets. A good problem to have. It was, however, about time for me to go meet up with Sadie. I was extremely ready to start back on the path to mind control.
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