The Jeweler Paladin and the Refugee Warrior
Thanatas emerged from a rift close to the gates of a large city. Before the gates was a rugged red landscape of badlands. All around her were red mountains and red rock formations with hardly any vegetation anywhere except for the sparse white flowers growing here and there and roots that were not attached to any particular plant. Frankly, it would be a constant struggle to make a living in this region as a farmer.
The death knight proceeded toward the gates of the orc city of Orgrimmar. She was quickly stopped by the guards at the entrance. The green-skinned guards wore large red iron shoulderguards with spikes, a harness on their chests, brown leather gloves with red bands around the wrists, shorts of matching design to the gloves and steel-toed brown leather boots with red bands around the ankles. He carried a battle ax as a weapon.
“Who are you and what business do you have here?” one of the guards demanded. “Your skin looks too pale for you to be a living human. Are you one of those Forsaken who joined the Horde recently? Did that elf send you?”
“I have business with your warchief,” Thanatas answered. “This is a very important matter concerning the future of the Horde.”
The guards didn’t look very bright but decided to let the undead through. “Don’t cause any trouble here. We’ll be watching you,” the other guard warned.
The inside of the city looked like a bustling commercial district, despite the primitive appearance of the buildings. The roofs of the buildings were either made of red tile or hardened leather. The base of the structures were made of stone, wood and leather. There were also streets in the city that were dug and were paved with light gray stones. A bank lay in the center of the district and nearby was a building where goblins, a race of short, green-skinned, large-eared money grubbers with a passion for explosions, from the neutral Steamwheedle Cartel were buying, selling and trading wares.
Near the bank was a large tower with a bridge that led to the upper sections of the city. Thanatas climbed the tower and crossed the bridge, ignoring the stares from the orcs and the teal-skinned trolls, a race of lanky, tribalistic spiritualists with tusks of varying size at the ends of their mouths who worship the various wild gods of Azeroth, or loa as they call them. She took a right from the bridge and into a canyon, walking past a cavern entrance that was lined with bony spikes from some giant animal that died long ago.
Thanatas came up to a large building of stone, red tiling and bone spikes with an effigy nearby that held the armor and skull of a demon that she recognized. She entered the building and ignored the stares from the orcs and trolls around her and entered a large circular room where a troll who she was familiar with stood nearby. The troll had his face painted white and he carried a number of tiki charms on his back.
In the back of the room was the throne of the warchief. Sitting in it was a male orc with long black hair tied in two braids. He was wearing a set of black plate mail armor with yellow bordering. By his feet was a large hammer that was flat on both ends and had a wolf emblem on both sides of the weapon.
The undead moved to the center of the room and knelt before the warchief. Thrall took a moment to analyze the woman before him and a few more minutes to think about what the woman’s intentions might possibly be while coming up with a number of responses to each scenario. He finally spoke, “What brings you before me? I was informed that you have information that pertains to our future.”
“Warchief, my name is Thanatas and I come to offer my services as an advisor. I have knowledge of threats imminent and distant and I wish to assist the Horde with overcoming these threats.”
Thrall was unsure if he should trust the woman before him but his experiences with a mysterious prophet who warned them of a demonic invasion years ago prevented him from dismissing her outright. “That is a very vague claim. What knowledge do you have that would be useful to us?” Thrall asked.
“I know that the son of Blackhand, Dal’rend Blackhand is still very much alive and he will be plotting to overthrow you from his stronghold in Blackrock Mountain.”
Thrall slammed a fist on the armrest of his throne. “WHAT?! If this is true then we must send forces to deal with him immediately.”
“With all due respect, warchief, that is a very risky move as he has the backing of the Black Dragonflight. The chances of success are too low to risk so many lives,” Thanatas warned.
“Then what do you suggest?”
“Instead of quantity, I would suggest quality. Find some promising warriors of the Horde and test them to see if they can handle eliminating Dal’rend. We still have time before he becomes an actual threat. The Blackrock Clan that serves him still needs more time to prepare, time that we can use to our advantage.”
“Hmm…” Thrall shifted his gaze to the troll with the painted face. “What do you think, Vol’jin?”
“I think she be a cunning one. She definitely be hidin’ someting. But da spirits be tellin’ me dat she speaks true about da threat. If she be here ta help us, I’d say to extend a small degree of trust for now. But I be keepin’ an eye on dis one.”
Thanatas shrugged, “Fair enough. I do have my own agenda, and providing assistance to the Horde while making sure they overcome the coming ordeals is part of it.”
“We shall see if you are worth keeping around.” Thrall said.
Sophia emerged from a rift in the middle of a lush forest. She could see the white stone gates and blue-roofed towers of Stormwind ahead of her, built between two mountains which gave the city some decent natural fortifications.
She spent a few minutes admiring the landscape, which was long enough for her to sense a few minds with malicious intent approach her. She counted four of them and going by their thoughts, they were your run-of-the-mill bandits.
She rolled her eyes before she turned around to see the four bandits approaching her. Each was wearing brown leather armor and red bandanas over their faces.
“Hey there lady, how about you leave your money and valuables on the ground and we can reconsider rabbit stew tonight,” one of the bandits threatened. The others simply snickered.
Sophia didn’t have time to play around with a bunch of scumbags so using her incredible speed, she punched two bandits into two trees and kicked the other two into two more within a split second. She was glad nobody else saw that as she needed to keep a low profile for a while.
Sophia used her Shadow Walk ability to sneak past the guards at the front gate. They wore full body steel armor with the shoulderplates having a blue bordering and the helm had a blue crest. He wore a tabard over his chest plate that was blue with gold bordering with the inscription of a lion on the center. His shield followed the same pattern as the tabard.
Sophia heard from Thanatas about the high levels of government corruption within the kingdom right now and she wasn’t sure who she could trust yet. It was best to remain hidden until she had a plan.
She crossed a large white stone bridge that held large statues of five heroes who bravely crossed the Dark Portal to Draenor, the orc homeworld, toward the end of the Second War against the Orcish Horde years ago but were never heard from again.
Beyond the bridge, Sophia entered Stormwind’s Trade District which was vibrant with activity. Hundreds of people were seen walking the streets and visiting the many shops in the area which were built close together to allow few alleyways. All of the buildings in the area had blue tiled roofing, which served as a color coding for Stormwind’s districts. Purple roofs for the Mage Quarter and Park, red roofs for Old Town, Brown roofs for the Dwarven District, and yellow roofs for the Cathedral District.
Sophia’s speed and stealth allowed her to reach Stormwind Keep where the regent ruled from. She crossed several bridges over the city canals, which separated the districts, to reach it.
Walking inside the keep, she picked up on the thoughts of a number of haughty nobles that made Sophia wish that she could bleach her brain. As she neared the throne room, her mind picked up on a powerful malice coming from the room. She managed to peer into the room and saw a number of guards around the room at attention with three figures in the center. Sophia figured that court was still in session today. She analyzed the three. One was a ten year old boy who she guessed had to be the crown prince since he stood beside the other two. One appeared to be the regent, Bolvar Fordragon who was a red-haired man who wore ornate silver and gold armor which was characteristic of a paladin, a warrior who wields the power of the Holy Light into battle. However, his mind appeared to be muddled, as if he had little control over his own thoughts. The third was where she was sensing the malice, a woman with black hair and wearing a red robe and carrying a priest’s white staff with a slight cross at the top and a gem in the center.
The woman appeared to feel secure enough in her mind that her thoughts were an open book to Sophia. Those thoughts informed her of the woman’s intent to rule Stormwind along with her collaboration with someone she called her brother residing in a nearby mountain to the northeast. The thoughts just screamed evil to the bunny templar.
She exited the keep and found a safe place to psychically transmit to Twilight. “Come in, Twilight. We have a small problem.”
“What’s the matter?” Twilight asked.
“The regent of Stormwind is being mentally manipulated by one of his advisors. I won’t be able to fulfill the objective of earning the trust of the leadership while the advisor is a problem.”
“Understood. For now, switch objectives to observing the targets. Two of them are currently in an abbey in a valley just to the east of Stormwind. We can deal with the advisor later.”
Sophia made her way back to the gates of the city. On the way she was feeling a little proud of herself for developing the ability to create a psychic network so she could communicate to her allies regardless of location.
Within a small valley east of Stormwind, a small garrison of soldiers protected the only building in the valley. The abbey in the valley known as Northshire stood defiant despite being surrounded by local threats. The threats themselves were known to be small fry in the form of short rat men called kobolds who wore candles on their heads and practically idolized them along with a gang of bandits wearing red masks who declared themselves as members of some criminal organization called the Defias Brotherhood. The bandits were still untrained though.
Overall, the place was perfect for a new generation of adventurers to begin honing their skills before seeking challenges outside of the valley.
Assisting with the training of the new fighters who had just reached the age of majority was a human woman in her mid twenties. Her black hair, which was just past shoulder length, was styled so that it curled up at the end. She was currently dressed in the standard armor of a Stormwind guard but that was only when she was on the job as a trainer. Apparently, her ornate gold and silver plate mail armor studded with purple gems was seen as a distraction to the young recruits.
“Miss Cartier?” called out one of the guards. She turned around to face the voice to find that the garrison leader, Marshal McBride, was the one calling out to her.
“Please, just Bella will suffice,” she responded.
The marshal nodded and pulled out a sack of gold coins. “Thanks for your assistance in helping these youngsters get their adventures off on the right foot. This is all we can afford to pay you right now.”
Bella waved her hand dismissively, “Your payment is not necessary, sir. I am happy to assist these fine people. That money should be used for more important things.”
The marshal smiled and shook his head. “Even when the Silver Hand disbanded years ago, you still helped where you were able. A paladin of your talents shouldn’t be wasting it on teaching new aspirants, especially given that you’re nearly as young as these recruits.”
Bella giggled, “Oh stop, you flatterer. I can assure you that I still get my fill of adventure keeping the wildlife population under control. Though the increase in bandits does have me worried.”
“Yeah, rumor has it that the increase in bandits means that the Defias Brotherhood is about to make their move.”
“It really was cruel what the nobility did to those poor workers,” she said, remembering the gang for the Stonemasons Guild they used to be. “They put their blood, sweat and tears into rebuilding the city into the wonder it is today only to get swindled in the end. I can’t say that I sympathize with them though, their response was quite extreme as their riot cost the queen her life.”
The two had a moment of silence for Queen Tiffin.
“Anyway, they won’t be our problem around here since our mutual acquaintance is busy cutting down those bandits who have taken over the nearby vineyard,” Marshal McBride said. “A shame that we can’t just arrest the whole lot of them, but the Stockade is nearly filled to capacity and the Defias have a whole army prowling Elwynn and Westfall with a report of some activity in Duskwood as well.”
Bella nodded. “All the same, I do wish that Miss Jaqueline would lighten up. I’ve only known her for four days and I have not seen her smile once. I tried some light humor, and she simply grumbled and turned away.”
“Can’t blame her, I heard that she lost her parents and her older brother to the Undead Scourge five years ago. She has a little sister who is being raised by her aunt and uncle in Stormwind. A girl like that has to be carrying a lot of baggage.”
“The poor dear…” Bella shook her head. “Well, my work is finished for today, time for me to return to my room in Goldshire and get back to work on my latest commission.” Bella walked into the abbey and the room she placed her armor in before closing the door and changing into her personal armor.
Once finished changing, she made her way out of the abbey. However, Marshal McBride stopped her to ask her one more question. “I have to know, you came from the Cartier family, a family of some of the most talented jewelers in the world. Why would you choose to be a paladin instead of going into the family business? I’ve even heard that you crafted that armor yourself.”
“Well you see, darling, while my talents in jewelcrafting are at the same level as my sister, Tiffany, I found that my calling was traveling around and protecting others. One day I cut an immaculate gem and as I peered into it, I received a vision of a glorious destiny if I learned the ways of the paladin. It seems to be an unusual ability I was born with, though I’ve also learned that imperfections give flawed visions. As for my ability to craft armor, that came about as a result of a mix of disgust toward seeing damaged or subpar armor and a desire to help others along with years of practice crafting new armor for spellcasters, scouts and warriors and an eye for detail.”
“I have to say that you’re a woman of many talents, Bella. Thanks again for your help.”
“Anytime, darling!” Bella walked down the road to the gate leading out of the valley. Along the way, a woman with long blonde hair that went as far as her upper back walked up beside her. Bella suppressed a cringe when she looked at the shoddy workmanship of her companion’s plate mail. She offered to give the blonde warrior a much needed upgrade to what she was wearing, but was turned down because she wasn’t looking for anything fancy.
“I take it that the bandits have been wiped out?” Bella asked.
“Yeah, they weren’t even a challenge. Ah’ve seen baby dwarves handle knives better than those chumps.” Jaqueline paused for a moment. “So, we done here? Ah need somethin’ more challengin’ than the pickpockets and animals in this forest.”
“Almost darling, I still have to finish my commissions before we move on to another location. I should be done tonight and we can set off in the morning.”
“Finally, ah need ta improve mah skills a lot more if ah’m ta be ready to retake mah farm from them no good Scourge.”
“I’ve heard that a new paladin order emerged from those dreadful, overzealous Scarlet Crusaders. They might be able to help you reclaim your old home.”
“Ah don’t need no help from a bunch of psychos, Bella. Ah went ta those Scarlet crusaders one time lookin’ fer help. Ah barely escaped with mah life. What makes ya think that new organization will be any different when they come from them Scarlets?
“You can’t go around judging others because of their horrid origins Jaqueline, that wouldn’t be good for your mental health. Sometimes, you need to have a little faith that things will get better.”
Jaqueline sighed, “Ah’ll try Bella, but it ain’t easy for me to trust others. Right now, ah’m still on the fence about whether or not ah can trust ya. Ah’m only followin’ ya because ya promised to help me get stronger.”
“I understand darling, it would be remiss of me if I allowed you to return to the Plaguelands underskilled and under equipped. Though I do hope that you will reconsider my offer to craft you a much better suit of armor than…that,” Bella said as she channeled all of her disgust toward Jaqueline’s armor into that last word.
“Ah’ll think about it, too bad yer skills with forgin’ weapons ain’t nowhere near as good as the armor you craft.”
“I can’t be great at everything darling, I simply do the best I can. It’s all any of us can do.”
The conversation continued as they walked all the way to Goldshire.
Sophia had been listening in on Bella’s conversations from atop a tree. Her Shadow Walk ability kept her invisible to any prying eyes. Through a crystal on Sophia’s wrist, Twilight and Midnight observed the paladin and the warrior.
“It seems that more facets of their original personalities came through the reincarnation process than I thought,” Midnight said.
Twilight smiled as she saw the new forms of her old friends walking down the road. “Rarity’s as generous as she was in her old life. Applejack seems to have inherited the stubbornness of her old life.”
“Unlike Rarity’s old life though, this version seems to have expanded their repertoire from just clothing to armor of different types. Those skills could prove useful later.”
“What’s the status of the others?” Twilight asked.
Midnight looked through her reports. “Two of them seem to be giving abnormal readings. Of them, one seems to have been exposed to radioactive vapors but her physical health is still at optimal levels while the other I can’t get a clear read on. One is among the night elves of the world tree of Teldrassil off the northern coast of the western continent. No abnormalities. The status of the last one is unknown.”
“Unknown? What do you mean? And what’s this about radioactive vapors? I didn’t think this world was advanced enough to work with substances like that.”
“Just like with Elicoor, this world has places with advanced technology while the rest of the world is either medieval or savage in technological level. Gnomes are one such race capable of such ingenuity. As for the unknown, I’ve scanned all over the planet and cannot find any trace of the target. She may be off-world since the scans would have at least picked up on her corpse if she were dead.”
“I hope she’s still alive, wherever she is.”
Midnight nodded in sympathy, “Sophia, continue your observations on Bella and Jaqueline. If they get in over their heads with something, give them a little assistance.”
“Roger,” Sophia affirmed. Once she closed the link, Sophia began tailing the two humans by jumping from tree to tree, using her impressive stealth skills to avoid being noticed.
Stats
Page generated in 0.022 seconds
Total duration
1,096 users online
2,094,295 hits today, 2,364,530 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Making people recognized in a text based adventure under different names... Hot damn, you did bloody fine.
I can't really imagen former Applejack going back to Farm life until old age would force her. And than not to long at that...
She is simply to over qualified...
Generosity is well and hot, but one should never leave 100% reward behind. It's the principle that should keep 1% to be received
Twilight should make a big ass equicment for Spike. Literally a Dragon fitting into the setting
👍
11513086
Bella's income is primarily from armor crafting commissions and the quality of her work earns her thousands of gold each so she would be fine turning down a small sack of coins.