A request featuring Jaina Proudmoore from WoW and some ogres.
***
It'd been years since Jaina had set foot in Duskwood, and now, stumbling over a root and nearly colliding with a tree, the reason for that was abundantly clear.
"One little miscalculation and I'm up to my shoulders in weeds!"
Huffing and blowing a strand of honey-blonde hair out of her face, she hiked up her skirt and navigated herself out of the copse of forest she'd accidentally teleported herself into. Dense and dark, she tripped a few more times before breaching the brush. Beyond the vegetation that she crawled out of extended a flat plain interspersed with bushes and illuminated by moonlight. Beyond that, a cliffside perfect for scouting out her location.
In a blink she stood atop it, aided by the magic that had gotten her into this predicament in the first place. And for what, some upstart ogres causing trouble? Wasn't that a job better suited for the militia rather than an archmage?
Really living up to the accusations of being a pushover,
she thought.
Sighing, she scanned the horizon, searching for any unnatural light or sign of human habitation. Treetops bathed in the light of the moon extended as far as the eyes could see, broken up only occasionally by a patch of naked land. To her right, the river that split Duskwood and Elwynn Forest in half. To her left, more trees.
Finding nothing, she closed her eyes and pursued a different method of search, letting the cool air brush her skin and the silence of nature calm her. This high up, it would be easy to locate even the small town of Darkshire using less conventional means.
Like tentacular feelers her mind extended outwards in every direction, searching for an overabundance of mana or any slight aberration to indicate the presence of magic users or magical contraptions that would signify civilization.
Nothing... nothing... still nothing...
There you are!
For a split second the air reverberated violently, and then she was gone. Destination: Darkshire. Mission: freeze some ogres.
***
Some might describe Darkshire as a small, pleasant town. The kind where you could live a quiet life away from the discord of a city like Stormwind. Others, like her, would describe it as creepy. A few hundred people lived there but you wouldn't know it given what little light shined from the houses and what few people roamed the streets. The trees? Still there, except now their wicked fingers cast hideous shadows that reached even the inside of the mayor's finely furnished mansion.
"Lady Proudmoore, we're honored by your presence and so grateful you showed up to help us."
Just by looking at him it was clear to her that Mayor Ebonlocke's gratitude went beyond the mere formality that their difference in station required. Relief showed on his face clear as day, and it was apparent from the weariness of his eyes that he hadn't been sleeping very well.
"I'm happy to be of help, Mayor," she said, shooting him a reassuring smile. "How are the injured? Have there been any casualties?"
"No casualties. As for the injured..." He looked down at his twiddling thumbs as if unable to meet her gaze. "They are very strange."
Her brow furrowed upon noting the edge in his voice. "Strange? Do you need a healer? If you'd like, I can retrieve a priest within half an hour at most."
"No, no," he said, waving a hand and meeting her gaze again. "We've had local priestesses look them over, but there's nothing physically wrong with them."
"I don't understand. Were they not attacked by ogres?"
"Oh yes, the Splinter Fist attacked them alright, they just weren't precisely wounded in the traditional sense."
Before she could question him further, Mayor Ebonlocke stood up. "Follow me and I'll show you."
He led her out of the mansion and onto the cobbled streets. A crowd had gathered outside as if hearing of her arrival. Men and women stared, courteous and controlled, whispering to one another, but with visible hope in their eyes and demeanor. Despite her initial grievances and the misfire of her teleportation spell that landed her in weeds and thickets and earned her more than a few scratches, seeing these people dispelled any doubts she'd had over coming here.
"This way," the mayor said.
Circumventing the crowd, Ebonlocke guided them into a building outfitted as an infirmary. A number of healers were gathered round, flipping through tomes and hovering over a woman lying upon a bed far too large for her.
"This is the latest victim, Sarah Ladimore. One of our Night Watchmen."
He spoke in a hushed whisper, and though the woman couldn't hear, Sarah looked at them from across the room, a pleasant smile on her face as she ignored the priestess tending to her.
"She seems... fine," Jaina said. But as she spoke a sense of unease took hold of her. Something about Sarah Ladimore was off, though she knew not what.
"They all seem fine on the outside, My Lady. Their mind is where the problem lies."
"We suspect mind control." One of the priestesses joined them, a young woman so fresh-faced that she looked as if she were still studying magic. Turning to Jaina, she did a curtsy and smiled. "Susan Mercy. Pleased to meet you, Lady Proudmoore."
Mind control? That didn't seem likely to her. Some sort of mild suggestion magic perhaps, but not full-blown mind control. The way Sarah was behaving, dazed as if in a dream and outright happy, didn't fit, and she'd never heard of ogres utilizing such advanced magic. It was possible that the trolls in the south taught them, but that was a stretch and she could detect nothing of the sort emanating from the injured woman.
"Pardon me, but I don't believe it's mind control she suffers from. Tell me, what exactly happened to her?"
The mayor fidgeted nervously with his tie. Susan gave him a reassuring look and touched his arm with her hand.
"She was raped."
"As was my daughter," Ebonlocke said, strangling his tie now and visibly struggling to remain calm.
"Goodness... I'm sorry to hear that, Mayor." Jaina glanced over at the supposedly mind controlled woman, studying her and again trying to detect any hint of magic ailing her.
Nothing. But Sarah did smile back.
"I've never heard of ogres doing such a thing," Jaina murmured. Determined, she turned back to the priestess. "How many victims?"
"Nine in total, but three this month."
"They kidnapped Sarah here and my daughter Althea while they were out patrolling," Mayor Ebonlocke said. "Since then we've had to tighten our patrols and send them out in groups of four... And that's after we already tightened them last month into patrols of three after they kidnapped Watchers Keefer and Bukouris!" He ran a hand through his dark, disheveled hair. "We don't have many female watchmen, but they've taken just about all of them at some point or another."
"And they all display the same behavior as Sarah," Susan said. "They come back with scrapes or bruises at worst and deny any rape occurred. Some of them try to go back to the ogres, but when we stop them they lash out at us. Often physically."
Jaina's eyes narrowed in thought. 'Strange' didn't quite cut this case.
"Kidnapped, assaulted, and sent back with their personalities different, possibly altered." she chewed on her lip, glossing through a catalog of spells and local artifacts in her mind.
"Now you see why I wanted you specifically," Ebonlocke said.
She nodded. "Yes, I do. And I'll do my best to solve this before anyone else gets hurt."
"Do you have any idea as to what's wrong with them?" Susan asked.
"Nothing concrete, but before I go out tomorrow I'd like to talk to Sarah, if that's okay."
Pleased, the mayor smiled and finally let go of his tie. "Certainly. While you do that I'll round up some men to go with you tomorrow."
"No need for that, Mayor. I can handle myself."
"I don't doubt your abilities Lady Proudmoore, but surely a small entourage would be worth taking?"
"I appreciate your concern, but no. I don't want to put your men in any unnecessary danger. I'm perfectly capable on my own."
"As you wish," he said, and then nodded towards Susan who smiled and gestured towards the bed that Sarah Ladimore rested on.
"Let's talk to our patient, shall we?"
***
Little could be gleaned from her conversation with Sarah Ladimore other than the woman's extreme insistence on returning to the ogres and her utter denial of mind altering magic of any kind. The other victims Jaina talked to said much the same, and at times became belligerent under questioning.