Prologue - Amaltheia
One minute she was sitting under the vast Ashenvale canopy, surrounded by darkened shades of purple and green while tending to crackling camp fire. The next thing she knew she was on open water under a wide blue sky and sunshine- sailing away on yet another unknown journey, bound to an unknown destination. She had to wonder, where on Azeroth would she end up this time?
This wasn't the first time something like this had happened to her, but Amaltheia had no way of knowing how, when, or even why these strange blackouts would happen to her. She would fall asleep sometimes out of pure exhaustion, and wake up the next day, or even the next hour to find herself in unfamiliar places. She was finding it increasingly difficult to keep track of time, and felt like she's been missing so much, she barely knew what day it was, or month. The time of day she could only guess at by simply looking at the sky. The dark circles under her eyes should be a tell all, as one could probably guess; this pale woman does not get very much sleep. Not if she could help it anyway. The constant stress, the disturbing thought of not being in control of her own body at times plagued her so much that she forced herself to stay awake for days and nights on end.
She sat huddled between two large crates on the main deck with space only enough for her to curl up in, almost completely hidden from any passer-by's. She bowed her head and let her white hood fall further over her face, hugging her legs tighter to her chest as some of the crew or fellow passengers walked by, thankfully without noticing her. She was sure she didn't have a pass. Why was she here? She didn't want to be here. Not that she had much of a choice in the matter of course-- she was on a boat, and there was nowhere to run to. Her stomach was in knots, and the rocking, swaying motion of the ship only made her feel worse. It was more than seasickness though, she had a bad feeling about this...a feeling that something awful was going to happen once they finally docked.
She straightened up and climbed to her feet, she listened to make sure there was no one around before slipping out from between the crates and onto the open. The breeze caught her by surprise and almost blew her hood back; but she caught it between two fingers. "Damn...” she muttered softly under her breath. One couldn't be too careful. There could be enemies anywhere, even on this little ship. Everywhere she went, it seemed anyone who recognized her either became hostile, or deathly afraid of her without explanation. Surely they were mistaking her for someone else, someone different - who they thought looked like her perhaps. A pale and ageless complexion, moonlight-white tresses...these things were not uncommon among elves; it was sometimes genetic, or simply age. In her case, it as the latter. Other than that, she was a little below the average height of the typical Sin'dorei, standing at about five-foot-six compared to the average of about six-foot. She has a slim-toned build, but in no way was she physically intimidating.
"E-Excuse me sir." She began, reaching out to the next crew-person she came upon in an attempt to find out where they were headed.
"Whatta ye want woman? Spit it out."
Amaltheia pursed her lips, "Forgive me. But can you tell me where we'll be landing? And when?"
He gave her an odd look, "We' be docking in Bilgewater Harbor in 'bout three hours I reckon, unload our cargo an resupply--"
"Thank you." she interrupted, hurrying away before he could finish. She stopped a short time later on the far side of the deck.
She gripped the wooden railing tightly with one hand, while the other held onto her hood. What now? Her heart was still pounding after the breif exchange with the crewman. Did he suspect something? What if he told someone once they docked?? They would find out she was a stowaway and surely throw her in prison--or worse. 'What should I do??!' she was starting to panic as her paranoia increased. Her mind was racing and her lungs felt like they were being slowly compressed by an invisible force. It hurt, it was as though she could barely breathe. She choked out a gasp, doubling over the ship railing and hyperventilating as she struggled to catch her breath.
"Oi, miss. Everything alright?" chimed in a voice from behind her.
She froze, her eyes wide and wild as a hunted animal. He continued talking to her, unaware--something about seasickness. It didn't matter, it fell on deaf ears. All sound had gradually faded, until even the sound of water crashing against the ship hull was lost to her. This wasn't unusual to her either, no, there was strange comfort in this silence. Her eyes peered over the edge down at the hypnotic churning of the water below. She wasn't scared anymore, she felt nothing. She'd closed her sea-green eyes, only for a moment, before they fluttered open again. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "What...what indeed." she sighed.
"Pardon?" A very confused sailor inquired of her.
She slowly turned around no longer gripping the rail, both her arms relaxed and at her side. "How long is it until we make port?" she asked in a crisp tone, her white hood casting an ominous shadow over her eyes.
"....Two, maybe three hours at most."
"Thank you. You've been most helpful...” She replied, pausing as she moved to walk past him. "Hm." she trailed off with a chuckle and carried on.
The elven sailor wore a quizzical, half-amused look upon his face. He turned around to watch her go, only to find that the strange hooded woman had vanished. He looked around a little bit, then rubbed the back of his neck. He muttered something under his breath and shook his head, before going back to work.
Amaltheia was not far away, but cloaked in shadows, stealthed and all but invisible to everyone around. A typical rogue's trick. She watched him until he was out of sight. He didn't know how lucky he was. If they weren't on a tiny boat in the middle of the ocean, she probably would have killed him she mused to herself. But it was more important that she remain inconspicuous throughout the rest of the trip, she didn't want any more attention drawn to herself.
-----
A few hours later the "Crimson Tempest" sailed on into Bilgewater Harbor. The weather in the meantime had taken a turn for the worse, the sky had darkened and the low rumble of thunder could be heard not too far off in the distance. Before the ship would dock, the rogue gathered all her belongings and slipped discreetly over the railings and into the chilled waters. She gasped underwater, a few air bubbles escaping her mouth before she could stop them. No matter, she reasoned, they would be unnoticeable in the ship's wake. She surfaced briefly to get her bearings, then melted back under the water and swam for shore.
She waited under the dock and until one of many Goblin Dockworkers had passed, finally she hauled herself up onto the planks of wood and simply climbed to her feet and exited the water. She was soaked and chilled to the bone, but she was a woman on a mission; a little cold wouldn't kill her anyway. She squeezed out her hair, not that it'd matter, then replaced her hood that had fallen away during the swim. She let a couple of smashed Orcs stumble past her, then started walking up the hill. They were making this almost too easy for her! 'They won't know what hit them..' she gloated on the inside. Naturally, when she'd almost turned the corner, she spotted a bunch of Kor'kron soldiers headed her way. "Shit!" she hissed under her breath, ducking behind a bunch of crates nearby and fading into stealth once more.
They continued past her, past her hiding place and down the hill she'd just come up not a minute ago. 'Curious...' she murmured inwardly. Could they be headed for the docks? She wondered. She couldn't risk following them to find out, but she was ~very~ curious. Perhaps they'd been tipped off somehow to her presence on the ship. Oh, to see the looks on their faces when they realized she wasn't there. This she had to see. She looked around, waited until the coast was clear, and then climbed the small mountain of shipping crates that had amassed behind her. The rest was easy, from there she hopped gingerly onto a rooftop nearest to her.
It turned out it was actually the best vantage point to suit her needs. She had a perfect, unobstructed view of the entire dock and the ship she'd just come from. She rummaged around in the small bag on her hip, then pulled out a small Spy's Scope. She adjusted it a little bit, then zoomed in. It looked like the Kor'kron were indeed looking for someone, they had forcefully rounded up the entire crew and passengers at gunpoint. "My, my...all for me? I suppose I should be flattered." she murmured to herself. They would probably strong-arm everyone unjustly into custody until they were satisfied that she was not among them. Or perhaps in their zeal and over-inflated sense of ego, they would assume that everyone was willing participants in her illegal hobbies. Oh well. Although useful, it didn't matter. It wasn't her problem anymore. She lowered her scope and stuffed it back in her bag. They were coming this way, leading everyone like prisoners. "Looks like things are about to get interesting..." she trailed off, before once again fading into shadows.
It was time for her to put her plan into action...