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Arapache set out from Thunder Bluff on his raptor, Malemo, at what equates to a gallop. "So, Liko was officially missing. Haven't heard from him in months, and now a posters up. November eh? That was an uneasy time.." Many other thoughts ran through his head as he headed out towards the barrens. After a time he came up on what was once Camp Taurajo after sundown. He stole into the camp, doing his best to be a snake. Campfires dotted the town as looters went to sleep with whatever they thought was of value that they had taken during the day. He made is way to what looked like a sleeping Tauren, but was instead one who had been felled by a bullet. Concentrating, the shaman attempts to contact the spirit of the one he is now hiding behind. As the presence, Arapache recognizes as a spirit, grows stinger he begins to ask questions of Liko.



(( however much info you want to toss out here Liko))

04/28/2011 04:49 PMPosted by Dernes

"I thank you Brother. That he fought so fiercely is no surprise, he has always had a proud and true heart." Dernes smiled, "That he survived gives me hope we may yet find him. His family has been without news since that day... Is there anything else you," He glanced about the camp for a moment, "or the others here, might know that could help us? We know he came to the Barrens initially to find a kodo for his daughter, and he followed the herd."

Tawane beckoned him over quietly, so as not to disturb the sleeping orphans by her feet. "Don't be surprised if you don't find him with the humans. The quakes split the ground only a day after we settled here at Una'fe. He may never have reached any of their forts.

Still, I wish with all of my heart that you will find him, just as I wish that, one day, these children's parents will return."

A message bearing a seal consisting of a candle and candleholder finds its way to Dernes; it seems to have been in transit for a few days. When unfolded, the paper is seen to carry elegant, careful handwriting, written seemingly with a quill pen.

"News of your father reached me just recently. My family travels far and wide. Is there anything any of us could look for, or somewhere we could search? I will put a notice in our hall for everyone to be on the lookout for your father. The more eyes that search, the sooner he might be brought home to you.

Loa be with you."

It is signed with Poni's full name.

((In other words, feel free to post on the Homeland forums, or I can do so; I'll mention your plot to the guild, and when Poni isn't missing anymore, if Liko still hasn't been found, RP in-game with Dernes if you'd like -- and, of course, I'd enjoy RPing with anyone else who's responded in this thread!))

Margie ran her fingers over the rune of the large hearthstone and let out a soft sob. What could have happened to Liko that he lost such an essential item? She gathered Jack in her arms and hugged him tightly, stroking his head. He made an uncomfortable squeak, but didn't stir. After a moment, she set him back down and carefully placed the stone in her bags.

"I d-don't know how you found thisss, Jack, b-but th-thank you." The cat butted his head against her legs in acceptance, then began to trot east, turning back after a few feet and mewing as if to say, "come on, then!"

Hurriedly, Margie followed her little cat.

Gentyl hired several people to go around alliance and horde towns posting the notice. The chances of someone finding Liko after six months were slim, but the Ishnu had mentioned his return as a possible price for Faithe's release.

"Wanted: Information about the whereabouts of the Taruen bull Liko of the Ishnu Por Ah. Fifty gold will be paid by Gentyl D'Amond for legitimate information."

((Read this thread. Figure out what's already been done. Search somewhere and post here and on the Stomping Hooves thread and I will pay 50 gold either in person, via a Pia Presdium member or if it's a horde post through AAMS.))

"I thank you all for you assistance. We will keep searching for Liko, and any other survivors. Please, call on us if you need anything, or remember something else."

With heavy thoughts Dernes left the camp and returned to Taurajo as quickly as he could, sharing what little he had learned with Teicuih. Running low on ideas, they decided to stop for the day and plan a new approach come morning.

Once back in the halls, Dernes spread out a large map of Azeroth on a table and pointed. "Ok so he started here, and was in Taurajo during the attacks. He might have been captured by humans, or gone after them... but then the earth shattered just a few days later. He can travel rather fast so he could have made it pretty far." He stared at the map for a very long time, and tapped his finger over Camp Forward, "The attack either came from here, or Fort Triumph. But for that size, I would have guessed he went there..."

"You just goings to go ask them?"

"No chances of that working... They'll kill me before I get in sight of their camp." He sighed sadly, shaking his head, "No. We will sleep on it. It's been a long day, and we need a clear mind."

Before going to sleep, he wrote up next to each place they had visited any facts learned. "Tomorrow we go visit Alliance towns. As peacefully as any of it can be done these days."

The last thing he remembered to do was to leave a note for Margie, to see what she could have possibly learned.

Margie,

We are going to look for Liko again tomorrow. I left everything we found out on the map and now we need to question the Alliance. Let us know if you find out anything else! Or want to translate. I'll try not to start trouble.

Dernes

Arlston wished he was somewhere else.

It had been only a short while ago that Lady Vanressa had tasked him to finding this Tauren for her purposes. Once he had received his orders, and all preparations had been completed, he gathered his usual tricks of the trade, and boarded the ship for Kalimdor.

Upon arrival, he left the neutral town of Ratchet to begin his search. The notice that he had read while aboard the ship said the Tauren was heading east, towards the Barrens, from Mulgore. It was a place to start.

The heat from the Barrens was stifling, but Arlston was quite cool from the breeze as he rode Dusk, the dark colored Gryphon who would be nigh impossible to spot at night. Watching and noting everything below his as he flew, he approached the large crevice that now divided the Barrens.

Arlston skimmed the ground closely, his face expressionless as he searched for any sign southwards of the large fissure. Keeping his altitude low, and trusting Dusk to remain silent, he knew that he was in a for a fun interrogation and torture if the Horde found him in their territory. The Horde races would execute him painfully, or take him prisoner, just like the human Priestess he had been informed of had been taken.

And Arlston didn't have any combat hardened bodyguards with him...

Arriving at the entrance to Mulgore from the Barrens, Arlston quietly contemplated the options possible. Knowing there were skirmishes fought all along these lands, he instead headed south, towards Razorfen. Surely a wizened old Tauren wouldn't head alone into battle against an entire Alliance regiment or outpost? He'd want to avoid the majority of the warfare, and the only available option was....South...towards the Razorfen.

Arlston dismounted Dusk and let him soar high above, watching the Gryphon circle above him carefully. Sighing quietly to himself, Arlston set off at a fast pace, hoping to find and possibly capture this "Liko" before anybody else did.

And hoping to find the missing Tauren, before the Horde found Arlston...

((Sad thing is...nearly died when I flew too close to some Horde guards....))

Jaszmin spent the night in Booty Bay at the Inn before taking the ship to Kalimdor. The missing Tauren was more likely to be hiding somewhere if he was not dead. Six months is a long time, he could be anywhere and likely even captured by some ambitious Theramore troops out on patrol.

She studied the layout of the land from high above on her gryphon, coasting on the thermals rising off the warm desert and deep cleft that scarred the land from Deathwings passage. She marveled at the power the huge dragon had and hoped she would not meet him as he continued to spread his fire across the area.

Landing at an Alliance outpost shortly before dusk, she made her way to the command tent and inquired about setting up camp on the fringe. Sitting around the camps fire she listened to the tales from half drunk troopers. She noticed they were all on edge and asked how they were faring in the aftermath of Deathwing. Hoping to spur some clues about the lost tauren.
Too many tales were told and some were bound to be exaggerated. But she stored them in her memory and hoped to glean something truthful or useful.

One trooper in particular seemed to be boasting of killing more horde than anyone else and Jazzy smirked at his boasting, not counting it as anything of importance until he started talking about slaughtering kodos for sport. Listening to him she surmised that this was common practice among the Allied troops to lessen the available food and means of transport for the Tauren. One man even boasted killing a white calf and Jazzy felt all the alarms go off in her head. Something about the man needed further questioning and she waited. Soon all were asleep except for the night watch.

Jazzy bade the watch good night and walked casually off to her modest tent on the fringe of the camp. There she slipped into the shadows and crept towards where the boaster slept. Without a sound or disturbing his sleep she went through his things and found a carefully rolled up kodo skin. Even in the dark, it seemed to glow with a magical light of its own. Jazzy carefull scattered things about to make it look like an animal had snuck into camp and stolen the hide. Most were so drunk she doubted they would have heard a kodo stomp into camp.

Tucking the hide into her bags she packed her gryphon just as dawn approached and waved at the guards as she took off into the early light. Now to find out if a white kodo hide would interest the Ishnu Por Ah.

Spinock fingered the notice that he had found lying on his desk with trepidation, his beard bristled ever so slightly as he sighed heavily. He hated when friends went missing, and there were precious few of them left these days it seemed. Before heading out of the office to find someone from the Ishnu to bring him up to speed, he grabbed a sheet of parchment and wrote a quick letter to someone he hoped could help.

((Part two to follow from the character Spinock is writing to))

Tacey slid the letter from the small stack on her desk with surprise and delight. The AAMS seal was tinted red, for the horde office, but she was always glad to hear from her friends in the courier service. As a postman's daughter, she regarded her days as a courier fondly, and tried to maintain the connection for the benefit of Gentyl and the rest of the order. Her grin faded quickly as she scanned the contents of the letter.

Tacey,

Enclosed is a copy of a notice about a missing Tauren. Liko Farstrider is a friend of mine. I don't know much more that what's in the poster for now, I'll update you when I know more, but I wanted to get you started sifting your contacts as soon as possible. I won't tell you your business, but try to keep your head down on this one until we know what's going on -- I might just be getting paranoid in my old age, but the Barrens isn't the place it used to be, and I never rule out foul play. You may consider this an officially sanctioned mission from the AAMS, and may forward expenses to the alliance branch offices.

Best of luck,
Spinock

Behind the note was a copy of a poster for a missing tauren. Tacey recognized the name and description from a notice Gentyl had been asking for volunteers to help post around town recently. Tacey had been skeptical, worried about the reaction from the town guard and the king's officials, but hadn't thought too much more about it. Now she was getting the same notice through AAMS channels, and from an old warhorse like Spinock. She respected the old bull, and a friend of his was worth sticking her neck out for, sight unseen.

Rolling the parchments up and stuffing them into her pack, she slipped out the back door of the barracks and headed for Old Town. She suspected she'd have to make the trip to Southern Barrens, and maybe Theramore, to talk to the troops on the line. But after several months, that trail was no doubt cold. Tacey still knew a couple of guys in the SI:7 offices, and they owed her a few favors. Their spies might sooner stab you than give you the time of day -- Tacey knew, she'd worked as one during the war in Icecrown -- but the analysts and clerks were the ones who really knew things, and Tacey had always made it a point to be the one with a heavy coin purse when they went out drinking after work. Her grin returned for a moment. It wasn't a pleasant situation, and with relations with the Horde getting worse by the day she'd have to be careful, but nothing made her day like having a new assignment.

Smoothing an errant feather in his purple plumage, the lone avian settled in comfortably in the lofty branches of Nordrassil. He clicked a few times in appreciation fo the magnificent vista before him, then traded one mantle of feathers for another, rising slowly into his kaldorei guise. Slowly, careful not to lose it, he pulled a single precious feather from a pouch at his waist. With Avianna back in the world of the waking, such talismans were much easier to come by. Within his mind's eye he recalled her scream as her death destroyed so many of the legion, and offered a small thank you to the winds that the Ancients had seen it fit to return at long last.

Yet feathers from allies and the mist of memories was not why he was here. As he swayed in the bough of the high tree, his thoughts turned to the urgent requests for a lost father, and the pleadings of a son. Golden eyes blinked in solitude as he considered himself, recently chanting the litany of the fallen during the Lunar Festival, a single tear shed for a daughter recently lost to the necessities of war.

It was not necessarily in his nature to assist the horde.

It was not necessarily in his nature to leave any sentient being without a sense of closure.

Reaching into his Dreamtime self, he began to chant softly. Sparks of essence danced in the feathers of his mantle as he began to focus his will and mindset into the sacred feather he held in his hands. skimming just a little of the latent geomantic energies around the world tree, he gathered his will into a singular pulse centered on the feather. Sweat gathering at a furrowed brow in concentration, the ancient druid released all of this into the air, his whim
and will made manifest.

And then Winterstar was still.

They began arriving slowly, roosting in the tree in ones and twos. Subconsciously, the night elf traced the old rhymes in his mind: "One for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told..." The druid smiled inwardly. as one who listened to the most Resplendent of Whispers, he especially loved that latter one.

The parliament had gathered, often croaking, clicking, and watching the druid gathered at the center of the high reaches of the canopy of the most holy tree. Birds of several species were represented, though with a strong favoring of corvidae. On one hand, like called to like. On the other, the missing tauren was said to be decorated with the feathers of a raven. In its most simple, this was basic sympathetic magic.
Beginning to work his will upon the ancient talisman once more, he began to implant the knowledge he had gained of the missing tauren into the avian minds around him. As he worked, he began reaching to them in spell song, knowing that while he was a sparkly object, that the assembled would need more to old their attention long enough to complete the magical working.

With a smile, his voice carried into the far reaches of the tree.

"Come on your wings so swift afar
Gathering 'round this ancient Star.
Birds from the land in wonderous flight
Implored you serve this Winter's Night.

I'll tell you ye birds why come ye here,
a Tree of life held most dear.
Quickly to seek the Tauren Liko,
for his fate his son to know.

Rooks and Ravens, Birds of the sky,
time for your evening flight is nigh.
Seek ye the place where Liko doth dwell.
Return with news All Well! all Well!

Return with news All Well! All Well!"

With the final words uttered, the spell was complete. The myriad corvidae and other assorted avians took flight, as a very drained Winterstar leaned heavily against the world tree.
Perhaps they would return with news he could pass on to others.

He groused as he began an incantation to return to Moonglade. He was getting too old for this.

(( With deepest apologies and deepest affection for the poets that went before. ))

Flying swiftly from Moonglade, Zherron landed high in the boughs of Teldrassil, landing near the gateway to Rut'theran. His timing was good - his target was coming towards it on all fours, fast. "Amendera!" he said quickly, halting her. He swapped out of his bird form, then back into human form.

"Packleader?" Amendera Kynes looked surprised, remaining in her worgen form - her mane wild, her teeth bared. "Good to see you! I didn't realize you were in Darnassus."

"Just arrived...bit of a long flight from Moonglade. Privileges of druidism." Zherron smiled a bit, but then became somber. "Listen to me carefully. Are you still headed for Stonetalon?"

"Word just went out that they need people to fight off Horde marauders," Amendera replied, nodding. "What's up?"

"I've just heard something in Stormwind, going around courtesy of the Messenger Service. Apparently they're looking for people on both sides to find a missing person. Tauren, I think they said. Disappeared in the Barrens not long ago." Zherron pulled a pipe from his vest and lit it, puffing thoughtfully as he read his lieutenant's expression. "I know you're wary of the Horde because of the Forsaken. Light knows I am too. But if you're going to be in the area anyway, keep your eyes peeled. The hunter may have ended up in Stonetalon. Check the place out as much as your orders from the field commander permit."

Before Amendera could speak, Zherron raised a warning finger. "Since you're fighting the Horde, don't let slip that you're looking for a missing tauren, since most of the field commanders are from Stormwind, and they seem to be of the shoot-first-ask-later variety."

Amendera nodded. "I'll do my best, Packleader."

"I know you will, child. Go swiftly."

She hadn't spent much time around Thunder Bluff, let alone inside the Bluffs themselves ever since her return from Booty Bay. She had been walking about the pond visiting the many traders and leathercrafters around, providing some leather braids herself. In the distance she had to cover from the leatherworkers to the blacksmith, a familiar face appeared before her.

It was her comrade and friend, Arapache. As they caught up with each other, her friend had some terrible news to unveil to her.

" ... It's not all of it, friend Akiae. You must've learned that Liko has gone missing, have you?" said Arapache.

Her face twisted in sad surprise.

"W-what are you telling me, Friend Arapache! Liko Farstrider, gone missing?! How long has it been? Ha-have we found any traces of him? Any hints at all?"

As she started making mental lists of potential suspects and motives, her old friend brought her back to facts, explaining to her they had no idea as of yet of who was the culprit, or what had become of him. Only a few traces here and there, otherwise anything was possible. The motives weren't clear.

"If there was any motive at all... hm... the suspect would have to be quite close to him. Otherwise... hrrrrrm... -- What if... revenge? Punishment? Hrrrrrrm!!"

----

She had decided. Whatever she could do, she'd do it: it wasn't exactly hard, as opposed to the efforts being time-consuming. All she had to do is search. Look out for him. Ask around, make a mental list of his usual whereabouts, where she remembered him hanging out, what she knew about his habits.

And ask around.

"Someplace... someplace...-- Ratchet!! Yes! The tavern! I remember him sometimes hanging out at the tavern! It was a while ago, but maybe he went back there some time before he disappeared...! They should know something..."

She had known the tavern's owner for the longest time, as she had worked there back in her days with the AAMS. Wiley was a good acquaintance and a business partner and she knew she could trust him on some topics. As soon as she walked inside the small building the goblin turned towards her, waving and grinning wide with his rotting teeth.

"Aaah, lady Dawnveil. Now hazzit been a while! I was wond'rin' if ya'd ever come back. What c'n I do for ya? A drink maybe?" inquired Wiley.

"No thank you, Wiley. Today, I'm here for a different kind of business. See, I'm looking for a comrade..."

((Hey folks, I'm going to be trying to respond to this over the next few days. Between my account being down for a while and staying pretty busy RL, I haven't gotten the chance just yet.))