5/30 late morning
I met with Tyrande and Shandris, and really lucked out. I'd come with the intention of pushing them to make their assault on the portal at the same time I was planning on attacking the Wailing Caverns, and the joint attack with Orgrimmar was already planned to happen tonight. I promised my support with total sincerity; my dragons and dragon riders weren't half as effective when they were fighting in cramped caverns. I also offered to get them additional reinforcements if I could, and we made arrangements.
I was hoping that, since Xavius was clearly coordinating his forces and seemed to be taking an active hand in the nightmare's effects, he'd be easier to handle if he had more than one battle to manage. Ysondre was waging her own guerrilla campaign with Imriss, the green dragonspawn I've captured, and several dryads and fairy dragons she met with in the dream; she would also be making a move, though a far smaller one. It pained me to leave Ysera so quickly, but she would also have an assault to plan and I couldn't distract her.
We had a timeframe, though. In fact, with Xylinnia as a point of contact we could coordinate down to the minute. The Sentinels were attacking at dusk. Not exactly ideal for diurnal troops, but we were going into underground caverns anyway; most of this would be by the light of our jewels and spells.
We had a whole day to lead up to the assault, though. I needed to stay busy; I teleported to the beacon Onyxia had planted into her lair, and started teleporting and flying my way north to Theramore. It really sped things up quite a lot.
••••••••••
Theramore was a nice town, considering that it was in the middle of a swamp and lightly under siege. Ostensibly the city was at peace with the Horde, but that was either a polite fiction or a pleasant dream. There would never be an outright assault on Theramore while Thrall and Jaina were in power, but there were belligerent people on both sides and plenty of petty things to inflame tension. The goblins favor the Horde in trade, the orcs charge extortionate rates on lumber, any businesses or outposts built outside of the city walls end up vandalized or destroyed, and a dozen other small things upset the orc hating population of Theramore.
The orcs, in contrast, remember all too well how quickly Theramore turned on them ten years ago. Jaina's father appeared years after the Battle for Mount Hyjal and said to go to war with Orgrimmar, an ally and trade partner, based on old grudges. The populace largely ignored their ostensible ruler and went along with it. To this day, bands of Theramore deserters lived in the swamp for the explicit purpose of sabotaging any peaceful relationships between Theramore and the Horde; it was a mess. I was going to have a headache with general PR here, necklaces or no. Ok, I'll be honest, whoever I put in charge of PR here will have a headache.
Either way, it was a very pretty and bustling city, and the biggest Alliance trade port on Kalimdor. New faces appear all the time. I, however, had letters from the king of Stormwind and high priestess of Elune that made me important and official. In addition, I had psychic paper for Aegwynn; a letter from her son, asking that she assist the bearer of this letter in any way she could, seemed like a reasonable lure for her.
Jaina was the first person who was available, interestingly enough. Great. Jaina is a pretty woman, and a very powerful one. Aegwynn may be even more powerful at her peak, but I intended to collar both of them today.
I was escorted into the Lady of Theramore's office by several guards in midriff revealing armor and white cloaks. I see that the quest reward went into play as promised. None of the guards, male or female, seemed to have any problem with their unusual kit, and if I remember right this armor should be as effective as full plate because of magic. They looked a little silly, but also hot. A few of the men definitely seemed to be doing a lot of cardio and ab workouts too; I guess if your work uniform shows off your stomach, you might as well work on that six pack, even if it was more for vanity than anything else.
https://imgur.com/a/8JUG8oT
"So. You are a very busy man, Mr. Erius. Letters from two of my Allies coming from opposite directions. How exactly does that work?" She had a faint smile in spite of herself; when I entered, I instinctively shifted my scent to that of a kind of scented candles she favored from Dalaran. Comfort, relaxation. Too faint to be consciously noticable.
"Fair question. As you know, teleportation spells rely on a known set of coordinates. My organization has developed a kind of beacon that we can use for rapid transport between these necklaces. You see, I am in fact a dragon. The green Dragonflight has decided to ally with the Horde and Alliance against our mutual foes. While these are legitimately letters from your allies, I am delivering them as a courtesy while I was planning on coming here regardless. I'm actually here to gauge interest from Theramore." The oil that Thrall used for maintaining his armor. A strange but stalwart friend and ally.
"You got Varian to agree to unification? It was all I could do to convince him to attend a meeting with Thrall." Just because she wanted peace didn't mean that she was going to completely throw out logic.
"We managed to convince him. You see, the black dragons attempted to replace him with a puppet. One of his own honor guards mentally and physically altered into a close approximation of King Wrynn. She escaped before they could properly condition her into obedience, but suffered near total amnesia in the process. I believe you met her and her companions, Valeera and Broll? They carved quite a path of destruction until we could find her and restore her true form. Sadly, her own memories seem almost entirely lost." The pipe smoke favored by Antonidas, her mentor in the arcane. Wise, trustworthy, knowledgeable.
"She?"
I gave her a smile. "Hung up on that, eh? Yes. Gina looks startlingly like a younger female version of Varian, but as far as we can tell it's only a coincidence. If only aesthetics mattered, she was the easiest to change of their potential candidates. They needed someone who could fight like Varian, that was intimately familiar with his life, and who at least superficially resembled him. A member of his personal guard that would inspire rumors of a bastard daughter if she ever took off her helmet definitely fit the bill."
It was a lot for the blonde archmage to take in, and I timed the beginning of my next sentence to hit her right when she'd processed the information, but hadn't gotten her bearings yet. "Regardless, that's how we got Varian onboard. Lady Tyrande's lover is suffering from an affliction many of my kind are facing as well, so we were able to establish a connection based on that as well as our long standing cooperation with the night elves. It is caused by a powerful demon within the Emerald Dream, whose forces she is going to do battle with tonight. I believe she may have mentioned it in her letter. My only hope is that not every ally we establish a connection to will require such heroics." The last bit was a half joke for her sake. 'Please by the light make this easy for me.'
She smiled back, but it was restrained. "I'm not sure how much I can do for you. Theramore is large, but what we need is far greater than what we have."
"No problem at all! One of our initiatives is actually to establish trade using our teleportation network. We aren't goblins; our main goal is to facilitate trade and strengthen our allies. Trade by portal can be prohibitively expensive, but that's just because those capable of it charge quite a lot for their expertise. Obviously we intend to profit, but not excessively. Perhaps a one percent surcharge on any goods?" I was only charging at all to avoid suspicion. Most of the merchants that would be involved would be under my control, either now or soon.
"Yes… yes I think that could work out. We would need to discuss details, but I'm willing to tentatively say it sounds like a good idea." Jaina was not a merchant herself. She was an academic and a soldier; she was better at logistics than economics. There was some overlap, but she knew how much she didn't know. I was fairly sure this proposal would be run past several people she trusted before she made any commitments.
"I'm glad. I would also like to offer you a few of the beacons for study." I pulled out two of the amulets from my inventory, activating the lure portion of Jewels of Discord. Her eyes locked on one of them and she got an extremely intense look in her eyes. If I hadn't already been handing it to her, I think she may have snatched it out of my hands. She put it on immediately.
She blinked. "I'm sorry. What just came over me?" Hint of suspicion. No no no, can't have that.
"I'm sorry! They give off a signal which is very enticing to those attuned to magic. It's the method that is used to establish the connection. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't think a human would have senses keen enough to be affected."
She relaxed a little, and I forbid distrust towards me. 132 ETE; only five and a half days. That's not bad for an archmage! I didn't have a collar on Aegwynn yet, but I would eat my hat if Jaina didn't show the fucking former guardian of Tirisfal the super special magic amulet she was given to study.
I offered to facilitate transport to Ashenvale if Jaina wished to join in the assault on the portal, as Tyrande requested. She agreed, and I arranged for one of my scout dragons to come by in a few hours to ferry them over.