08-18-2013, 03:02 AM
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MT1Qy-v5eM[/youtube]
The Backstory
A Stromgardian man well into his early sixties walked the streets of Stormwind at the late hours of the night. His hands were placed quietly in his pockets, and his head and eyes aimed upward in reveling of the beautiful night sky of Stormwind City. Azeroth's two moons cast a solemn light over the streets as the old Stromgardian man, with a body built for a former soldier, tread through the streets. As he passed through, he saw guards on patrol, whom he offered polite nods, as well as night-owl citizens to which he also greeted briefly. The Stromgardian was Aldis Tannen, a former soldier from the great wars and troll hunter in the Arathi Highlands. He had had enough of war in his life, and so he had settled down within Stormwind City, in a house full of war relics, and lived a peaceful life.
All of it, despite whatever he might have thought on this beautiful Stormwind night, was about to change.
Aldis strode through the various reaches of the canals until he reached the ruins of the Park. Guards still stood on duty near some of the entrances, forever at vigil. Aldis offered each of them a nod as they recognized him. He frequented across all parts of Stormwind at night, enjoying the great and peaceful views of the capital city. He approached the edge of the ruins, for a moment looking down at the carnage. Barely months ago, Deathwing the Destroyer, the greatest Black Dragon to ever live, attacked Stormwind City. Stormwind attempted to defend itself, but a price was paid. The Park was devoured by the fury of the great black, in fire and ash and dust. After the attack on Stormwind, some people throughout the City had a new conversation changer. 'Where were you when Deathwing attacked?'.
The elder Stromgardian removed his hands from his pockets and stared down off the edge of the ruined district of Stormwind. The flames from the attack seemed to forever burn, as even months after the attack they still hadn't been extinguished. The flames licked at the air defiantly, and Aldis heard down in the distance yet another wooden beam of the old district's supports cracking and breaking. A crash from the sea's waters, and yet another piece of Stormwind joined the flotsam of the open waters. But, there was a different noise following it. Aldis leaned forward, his old ears opening more noise to his hearing.
The sound came up again. The sound of rough boots on cobblestone, but neither plate nor simple walking. Aldis swiftly jutted behind part of the ruined wall, staring out around the corner in search of the source of the sound. He waited a few moments, and then removed himself from the corner with a sigh. He may have simply been hearing things again. That did happen often nowa- There it was again! Aldis's attention flicked to the now-obvious source. A shadowed figure on the other edge of the district's ruins darted between beams and ruined wall stones as if with some purpose.
Aldis looked around quickly to look for where the figure might have come from, then returning his attention to a now gone figure. He looked around, swearing to himself that his one eye left wasn't playing a trick on him. Then, a glint came from where the shadowed figure once stood. There could be no mistake, that was a glint of light. Aldis cautiously moved around the edge of the ruined district, approaching the area where the glint came from. He arrived at the area, and found a sigil crafted of metal. But the metal that made it and the symbol that the sigil represented were both foreign to the war veteran and well-done blacksmith. He leaned down and picked it up, looking at it closely. The sigil was in the shape of a thick hammer atop a small metal plate.
Aldis took one last look around, his one eye narrowing, before standing and slipping the sigil into his pocket, wandering back to what safety his home would be. The walk through Stormwind was fresh of breeze, and Aldis leaned his head back and took in a deep breath. He hoped to the Light that whatever the shadowed figure was doing and whatever the sigil was was not a large matter. However, as curious as a soldier can be, he had to be sure. He reached the alley that led to his humble two-story house, setting a few copper coins in front of a beggar boy near his house's door. "I need you to contact some people for me, and tell them to come to this house." He pointed at his door, his voice heavily accented from Stromgarde.
"Tha'll be two more copper a person, 'en, ol' chap." The beggar boy retorted right back, and Aldis could at least forgive his cleverness. Ten copper coins found their way then to the boy's hand.
"Darik, Lanis, Pol, and Errin of the Stormwind Guard. The fifth is Calrin Lordsblade of SI:7. Make haste, I want them here tonight." Aldis shooed the beggar boy off, the young boy gleefully darting out of the alley and on with a purpose. He removed his house key from his shirt pocket and unlocked his door, shutting it behind him and then placing the sigil on the table, seating himself at the six-seat table. He sat back and waited patiently for the next two hours until there came knocks all in sequence on his front door. He stood, opened the door, and brought his five old comrades into his home.
"You'll need to forgive me, friends, if my usual hospitality is null and void tonight. There are more pressing matters to attend than seeing that you're all fed and given drinks." Aldis locked his door, moving and sitting down once more to all five quizzical expressions of his companions. He had served alongside each of them in a war. Darik and Pol had fought alongside him in the defense of his homeland during the Second War. Lanis and Errin had joined Aldis in troll hunts in the Arathi Highlands after the Third. Calrin, on the other hand, had actually saved and been saved by Aldis during the Second War, during the Push to Stormwind. All five of them were retirees from the army, but still used their skills to aid society as guards and one covert agent in the King's service.
Aldis regaled the tale of his finding of the shadowed figure and the strange sigil to the five, and all of them but Calrin stared at him with very strange looks. "Not a lot of people know about that group." Calrin butted in. "Most we've ever seen of them was a disturbance in Kalimdor some six or seven years back as well as some trouble in Silithus during the 7th Legion's campaign there."
Pol made a noise of recognition. "Right, now I remember. Twilight's Hammer, right? Some sort of cult worshiping the elements."
"Anything but peaceful shamans it sounds like." Darik added in.
"Hold on now, so what does that mean then? A shadowed figure, then a sigil of the Twilight's Hammer?" Errin said, hands raising as he leaned forward in his chair. "Did you bring me for a conspiracy, Tannen?"
"Not a conspiracy, Errin. Well, not as much as I'd like it to be. Now that I actually know what that sigil is, well... I don't know, my friends." Aldis said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, tapping a finger on his arm.
"I don't think that could be a coincidence." Lanis spoke up before anyone else could. "Deathwing, 'aspect of the earth' as those elves call him, attacks Stormwind, decimates the Park, and then flies off. A few months later, a symbol of a cult that fanatically worships the elements - mind you, just like the Blacks have been doing lately - turns up."
"What exactly are you suggesting, Lanis?" Darik asked.
Lanis was about to speak when Pol cut him off. "He's trying to say that we might have a connection, or that some elemental cult is taking some interest in the ruins of the Park."
"Why would they take interest in a broiling hunk of rock and wood?" Errin asked, looking between them all.
"That's exactly what needs to be answered." Calrin said, quieting the entire room. "And that's exactly why we're here, I guess." He looks at Aldis.
Aldis sighed softly, unlocking his arms and cracking his knuckles briefly. "We either have two outcomes from me finding that sigil. One is that it's a coincidence. A cultist may have passed through and that shadowed figure was them, and they accidentally dropped this. The other is that we have a serious problem. A cult that's possibly worshiping the Destroyer, and even that's just a guess, that is hiding out in Stormwind. And we all know what happens when cultists hide in capitals." He looked at each of them as they nodded in unison recognition of a fallen kingdom.
"Since we know the Hammer has some sort of a presence here, let's see if it's serious, and if it is, let's put a stop to it before Stormwind City pays the price for us putting this off. I'll gather a group of heroes to help this in case it gets rough. In the meantime, I want you four - " He gestured to the guards. " - to keep an eye out for possible informants within the guard. As horrid as it sounds, we all know there's going to be at least one." The four guards all nodded in grim confirmation. "As for you, Calrin." He looked at Calrin. "I'm definitely no ringleader, nor am I in any way your superior, but I need you to drop a few words off to your superior to see if they can keep an eye out for Twilight's Hammer." Calrin nodded in silent confirmation. "If this is all just a pretty coincidence, then you'll not hear word from me that this is undergoing. If my and the heroes I gather find anything, we'll commence... Ehh... Operation Homefront. Seems an appropriate name."
"Defending Stormwind City from threats beyond the normal street thug." Errin jokingly commented. "Oh, what it would be to tell the story of a day in the life of a Stormwind Guard."
"True that." The others commented lowly, save Calrin, who was already lost in thought of the entire predicament.
"Light bless, friends. Hopefully if this is serious, we'll catch it before anything bad happens. Goodnight." Aldis said to them, motioning them out the door after he unlocked and opened it. He locked it once again after they all had left, sighing deeply and staring at the sigil that rested on his table. "If you're the bunch responsible for what happened at the Park, there'll be hell to pay."
Operation Homefront
The old Stromgardian by the name of Aldis Tannen has requested aid from adventurers of Stormwind and the Alliance in something involving Stormwind's security. Rumor has it that he's gathering the adventurers together to fight off a kobold infestation in the rural sections of the Stormwind City bounds. He'll be paying well for any aid that's given, but they must gather at the Gilded Rose at the suggested time and date.
OOC;
The official kick-off of the War in the Highlands storyline will not actually be in the Twilight Highlands as many might've guessed! Operation Homefront is a prequel-chain that ties loosely into the events of the War in the Highlands. ICly, the events of Operation Homefront take place three weeks after the Roaring Farewell Tournament, when Commander Dalikan Godford sailed for the Twilight Highlands with several battalions of men.
Operation Homefront consists of three events, and most of the events are actually not combat oriented. The events will be limited to five participants each. Since the events take place in Stormwind City, rightly only Alliance races can join in on the fun. However, there is absolutely no discrimination against characters that will participate. I would prefer that guilds oriented around events avoid signing five guildies into this, because as much fun as running a little guild-helps-Stormwind thing would be, I would prefer OOCly to have some variety in interests.
The first event of Operation Homefront will be taking place on Sunday, August 25th, at 1:00 PM Server Time. I'll toss out an LFG and the first five that whisper me get the shot. Sorry, the events are a bit small for large groups.