The Memoirs of a Contract Killer

[Xiphus]

Hmmm, how should I start my memoirs?

Oh well. I am Xiphus von Tleilax, youngest son of House Tleilax and an exile. Well, not much of an exile since the whole family was assassinated a month after I was booted out of the House. That's two months before the Scourge descended upon Stratholme. Nevermind that piece of history.

Regardless, I am not exactly fond of detailing events, but still, I believed this turn of event is significant enough to be written down.

Let's see, it all happened after Shadowfang Keep. Rather comfortable place to live in once it is refurnished. I wonder who has the deeds. No matter. So, I retrieved the Book of Ur, slain Arugal (not assassinated. Getting four others to slaughter your way through a huge Keep cannot be considered assassination), etc. etc., I came upon the Dark Templar meeting in Sepulcher.

I was under a contract with that Guild. And I had long considered canceling the contract. I hadn't gotten any jobs from the guild and I did not benefit from the contract whatsoever. Tonight was a fine opportunity.

So, I knocked at the door, shared tales, detailed the events which transpired in the Keep, and then said something that really angered the quick-tempered troll officer of the Guild. I said that the Book of Ur is an abominable book which graphically depicts the unnatural union of man and beast. That harmed the delicate morality of that troll, whose name escaped me. He kicked me out of the room, and warned me never show myself in the footsteps of any Guild holdings.

Of course, the book never depict anything obscene. It's just an educational book talking about the Worgen.

That was when I came upon a blood elf. His name is Kaelorei and he hates all Scourge. He seek adventurers to assist him in the slaying of Thule Ravenclaw.

Well, I was seeking his head as well, seeing that there's a price on his head. I agreed to help.

Once again, I did something I detested: needless massacres. Not my fault, really, but Kaelorei, the paladin, brutally slaughtered the rot hide gnolls. It was clear he hated the Scourge. We killed Thule, took his precious wand, and went on slaughtering everything that looks like a deceased dog.

His seething hatred for the Scourge interested me. I don't know much about the atrocities of the Scourge, so I did not hate them. I wasn't even back from the grave for six years since the plague came to Stratholme.

Inquiring why he hated the Scourge so, he told me a tale on how the Scourge destroyed everything in it's path. Well, that's what he said, but I suspected he must had suffered from the Scourge.

He asked me why I wasn't keen in slaughtering all Scourge in my path, and I told him that I was never there to witness the atrocities of the Scourge. In fact, I told him I was thankful for the Scourge.

You see, in my family, we always talked about worshiping the Light, all that bullshit. Dearest dad pretended to be a devout, but he hired assassins, my mentors, to cull 'the competition'. Needless to say, I hated and despite the hypocrite (he happened to want me to be a paladin too). The information that Arthas, a paladin, became the Lich King, served as another reason to laugh at my father's grave. Not that I knew where he was buried in.

Well, that caught Kaelorei's interest. Apparently, he never knew much about politics. If there's anything fouler than the works of an assassin, it will be the plotting of nobles and politicians.

But Kaelorei, despite all his naivety, was soon beginning to prove himself useful. He is a blacksmith, and he knew plenty about the lands abroad. He is also very generous, offering me some sharpening stones.

So I figured that I will assist him further. Together, we razed Ambermill, and that proved to be the first step of a partnership. He is a blacksmith, and therefore he will be an excellent source of equipment. He offered to forge a new dagger, and I offered a barter. Pearl-handled dagger for five healing potions. Quite a fair trade.

That business deal sealed our partnership. I found myself an outfitter, and a possible contact.

I am off a good start.

[Xiphus]

Hmm, ok, where was I?

Oh yes. So, Hillsbrad Foothills. One part of Lordaeron which is untouched by the Scourge. Still uncorrupted, still 'clean', unpolluted, etc. etc. In other words, it is fresh green with thriving farms and clean waters. Well, except Tarren Mill. Most of the place is the same as the last time I visited it around six years and a few months ago. Well, Tarren Mill's not the same anymore, and we have the Syndicate crawling around.

So, what is so interesting about this place? Well, for one, the foothills is, despite being so peaceful looking, a warzone. I still remembered walking into Tarren Mill for the first time in over six years, only to see a dozen corpses littering all over it and the Deathguards repairing the damaged fences and rooftops. Corpses of humans, dwarves, little childre....oh....gnomes, and purple-skinned elves (which I was told, were called Night Elves. Night Elves?).

And my very first job, other than collecting animal parts to concoct some strange elixirs (I should learn to make some. Potent poisons they are), is to go and wreak havoc in the Hillsbrad fields.

What truly interest me is not exactly my job, but rather, how....shall we say....how much bad blood existed between the Alliance and the Horde.

Let me be honest, I was quite surprised when I learnt that we Forsaken, once humans, had joined the Horde. We are on the same side as the Orcs, Trolls and Bullmen (called Taurens). To think that we used to be enemies like, what? During the Second War?

So I did make a few inquiries about the nature of our alliance, and I will say this, the reasons behind it all did make much sense. What didn't really make sense was the pathological hatred between the Alliance and the Horde.

Fine, I understand why humans hate the Forsaken, being zealots, religious propagandists and all. What I find interesting is why they insisted in hating the rest of the Horde. I will say, from what I gathered from my history lessons, and comparing the Horde then and the Horde with which the Forsaken (and the Blood Elves) were allied with, this is not the same Horde as the old days.

So why the hate?

Well, I have some theories. One: Ignorance. They probably still thought that the Horde were a bunch of bloodthirsty barbarians. Next will be narrow mindedness. I mean, it is so obvious that we Forsaken were nothing like the Scourge, but they persecuted us anyway, ignoring all the difference.

But of course, I can never prove it. I will never know why there's so much fighting around the Foothills, since they won't rest their blades and talk things through, especially with me. I had a feeling that this is not the only warzone in this world.

No matter, I will just kill them and claim the 'honor' bounty the Horde placed on their heads. That, or I will kill them at first sight, since it is clear that they are probably, nay, will inevitably be threats to whatever I'm doing.

And speaking about the Horde, they also displayed pathological hatred against the Alliance. Orcs are just as likely to rip apart a human without warning, despite what the Warchief decreed. I guess old hatreds do not die easily. Nevermind that.

Oh, and one more thing: The Alliance obviously deserved to be test subjects for the new Plague. Not that I care about it, but it is about time to give them a rude wake up call that their religious propaganda is a nothing but a pile of nonsense.

What a wonderful time to rise from the grave. So many opportunities abound to kill and get paid for it.

Which reminds me, I should go and find my father's grave, and then vandalize it. He and his hypocriticism. All about the Light, wanting me to be a paladin when he hired assassins to kill his rivals. All I had experienced so far is a good enough reason to laugh at my father's dead body, and then defile it.

[Xiphus]

Saturday, 14th of July.

It was the very early mornings. The sun has not risen yet. I was stalking within the compounds of the Lordaeron Internment Camps. I d claimed three Bloodstones from the Forsaken who had, in the words of my client, betrayed and stolen the important artifacts, the Bloodstones, from the vaults of Undercity. All I had to do was to kill the last one and claim the final piece of Bloodstone for my client.

The task was done easily enough. I slaughtered my mark and all witnesses. That was when I found a journal. I decided to bring the journal back, before the Dalaran guards realized what had happened. It wasn't safe to just sit back and read.

And read it was what I did after I returned the Bloodstones to my client. The journal had some very intriguing pieces of information. Information about the Bloodstones. The Bloodstone has an affinity for blood, and it was theorized that it was the blood of....something. However, before further studies could be conducted, one of the Bloodstones, the one sent back to Dalaran, disappeared, the carrier slain.

I assumed that one of my kind, probably another Deathstalker, had reclaimed that Bloodstone. Pity. I had grown interested, and would like to learn more of it.

However, later that day, I learnt that that wasn't the case. I recovered several Bloodstone amulets from the members of the Syndicate in Northfold Manor in Arathi Highlands, when doing a troll's bidding. These were depleted samples though.

I returned the amulets back to Hammerfall, and learnt that it was possible that the demonic rituals conducted were done with the help of these stones. Not only were the Bloodstones the blood of something, it does indeed have properties that might make it a dangerous weapon, just as suggested by the journal. I did not share my findings with the troll. As the troll launched his investigation, I too, launched my own investigation.

The Bloodstones were components for demonic rituals. Perhaps it is possible for the Bloodstones to serve as potent weapons in the hands of an assassin?

[Ninorra]

((Bloodstones?? Uh oh!! Hehe!))

[Xiphus]

Sunday, 15th of July

I had uncovered more details about the bloodstones, or rather, how the Syndicate, the rivals of my permanent employer, Lord Ravenholdt, knew about them. I was tasked by some orcs to seek out one of their imprisoned brethren in Sthranbald, Alterac Mountains. Well, that's what I thought it spelled like.

While my task is in no relation with the bloodstones I am investigating, I did learn something in relation. Call it luck. I learnt that the Syndicate are allied to a group of dark spellcasters of the Argus Wake.

The spellcasters of the Argus Wake specializes in the use of shadow magic, and necromancy. In fact, when I was very close to eliminating them, they will transform themselves into skeleton warriors, a hint of necromantic practices.

The question of whether the Argus Wake is a member of the Shadow Council, or maybe part of the Cult of the Damned is unanswered, but I do know one thing: These warlocks are the ones who had provided magical training to some of the Syndicate members, thus explaining how a group of rogues also have mages and warlocks in their ranks. This would also explain how they had knowledge of the bloodstones, thus allowing them to steal some samples from Dalaran and use them in Northfold Manor.

Still no further information regarding the nature of the bloodstones.

Later that day, the troll contacted me. He had discovered a scheme to use these bloodstones for a major summoning in the ruins of Stromgarde. I was tasked to go and stop them, and steal the stones back. I was not the only one who was tasked with this job, there were several others.

Perhaps after this task, I shall learn more about the coveted stones.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I finally found employment with Decimate.

[Xiphus]

Saturday, 4th of August

The crisis within Stromgarde was resolved, but it was unfortunate that I wasn't actually in the compound when it all happened. Not only did I fail to retrieve the bloodstone, I failed my task. This said alot about my abilities. I wonder if my skills were stagnating.

Also, Decimate had been disbanded, and Malebrignon has joined the Grim, and he brought his retainers with him. Nicoleta, one of his underlings, had gone off and took over the Silvermoon University, per request of the government of Silvermoon.

Fearing stagnation, and not wanting to fail another job and thus hurt my abilities to find employment, I joined the University as a student. Perhaps my failure with the bloodstones will not be repeated, once I learnt more about assassinations in the University.

[Xiphus]

Sunday, 12th of August

After some setbacks, I managed to scramble a competent expeditionary force into Uldaman. With ace 'meat shield' the tauren named Densel, Razy, a female blood elven paladin colleague of mine, Hidoaki, a blood elven rogue I had known for two weeks already and a Forsaken warlock whose name escaped me, we ventured into the depths of Uldaman, braving the troggs and the Dark Iron dwarves who had set up shop here.

We all had different motivations. Me, I was seeking the gems for a necklace, and a power source. I managed to acquire the gems from my previous failed expedition (I escaped with my life), but I need a power source, utilized by a massive construct hidden somewhere within the unearthed ruins.

Of course, I did not tell my colleagues and allies about it. I had no intention to let them claim my price.

Regardless, we braved the dangers of Uldaman. There is, however, one danger that I would like to take note. They were nothing like anything I had ever fought against. They are enemies way more perilous than even the mindless Scourge, and they are more resilient than any warrior I had the misfortune of murdering in my previous jobs. They were the ones that decimated (no pun intended) the previous expeditionary force I was in. I am speaking about the golems and their crafters, the Earthen.

The Earthen were unlike anything I had ever faced before, and unlike anything anyone living or unliving has ever fought. These creatures looked like dwarves, but were blessed, or I would rather say, cursed, with hides far thicker than any creature in existence. So thick their hides are, they are immune to all attempts to control their numbers, resilient to any form of physical attacks and possess exceptional resistance against magic. Many times had I tried to hit one with my blackjack in hope of incapitate him, only to find that not only did it not work, the Earthen seemed oblivious to me hitting him in the back of his head.

I would say, stabbing them is as effective as stabbing a solid wall. If not for the exceptional qualities of my Widowmaker and The Ziggler, I would be defenseless in an instance. If not for Densel's exceptional talent in attracting attention and aggression, and the warlock's great penchant of destruction, we would not had survived the battle against them.

Not to mention, they fought really hard, as it they wanted to keep us out. Some time ago, we battled a massive stone humanoid who called herself Ironaya, who said something about the Makers. Who are the Makers? Is it their secrets the Earthen are trying to protect? Is that why they are so hostile against us? What secrets lay in wait within to warrant such devotion to their defense?

I shall learn more as we ventured further into the depths and tunnels of Uldaman.