World of Warcraft®

*tacked up in several locations in Ironforge in very plain sight*

With the authority of the Council of the Three Hammers granted to the Ironforge Guard,

Derscha Kettlebomb, CEO of the Anytime Anywhere Messenger Service, is wanted for obstruction of justice, as defined by the act of impeding an open investigation.

Nynra Lightheart, of Conclave, is wanted for treason, defined as engaging in conduct that assists by any means whatever, with intent to assist, an enemy of the Alliance.

In addition to the aforementioned warrants of arrest being issued, the Anytime Anywhere Messenger Service and Conclave are both hereby prohibited from conducting neutral business in the jurisdiction of the Ironforge Guard without an official permit granted by the Ironforge Guard, as well as any other neutral organizations that seek to operate in Ironforge. Refusal to cooperate will result in the arrest and imprisonment of the guilty member of the aforementioned parties.

This should serve as a warning to all members of these so-called "neutral" affiliations. As long as you are within the walls of Ironforge, you are bound by our laws and traditions. Fraternization with the enemy (associations with members of enemy groups that suggests a serious conflict of interest, if not the possibility of treason) is a crime, especially during times of open hostilies and/or warfare, and will be punished to the fullest extent of the law.

During these difficult times, Ironforge will continue to remain a staunch defender of the Alliance, not of neutrality. To open our doors to communications with a faction that has not only besieged our own fair city, but destroyed Alliance cities in the areas of the Hillsbrad Foothills, Dustwallow Marsh and Stonetalon Mountains is a clear and present danger to the security and continued survival of the Alliance. Ironforge shall tolerate discussions with the Horde by these "neutral" organizations no more.

Commander Buldin Skullhammer
Ironforge Guard

((Yes, I've spoken to both Derscha and Nynra. They're both okay with this and we've all but resolved how this is gonna go. Enjoy!))

*Stops in Ironforge and begins to read the paper* Oh? No neutral orginaization? I wonder how many people I would have to stab to change this.

*She mutters under her breath, glancing around.* No matter, not like my work will stop me from coming here anyways. *She then steps back into the shadows out of sight.*

*A copy of the notice found a prominent home in Kyalin's makeshift abode in the barrows starting from that day. Sitting in her bed - a loose collection of straw and hay covered by a quilt, she held it on her lap, reading it over for about the sixty-first time.

... and when she finished. She read it again... and again... and again....*

The Maggot Lord stood up from his latest kill, 2 dwarf-things who thought to stop him from fishing in Iron Forge. They kept on blathering at him in dwarf-drivel, though he could clearly hear something similar to AAMS in their gabble. Also, they had a proclamation in their hands which listed that organization, along with numbers and other chitter-speak.

As he threw another line, baited with fresh dwarf-liver, into the warlock pnd, he wondered what was happeneing. Maybe he should get involved, he could "help"!

Plans began to tick in his skull, scaring the maggots working therein.

"Hammerton!" Spriggel thrust the Ironforge Guard poster she'd "acquired" out to the dwarf, after he’d dodged his way through the many boxes (in a variety of bright, primary colors) littering the floor of the AAMS Ironforge office.

"Get this to Derscha. Immediately! If she’s not in her Booty Bay office, Find Her! The Guard has gone crazy. That Brudin is out to get her, and we may be in trouble too. Tell her we're packing up and can be out of here at a moment's notice.”

Spriggel muttered to herself while glancing around the room, the other couriers packing files away into bright purple boxes, “Just hopefully not any moment in the next day or two.”

She continued her orders to the dwarf, “What are you still doing here? See if she has any instructions for us. Now get!"

“How could this be happening now?” she fretted as she continued boxing up files. She had barely made a dint in sorting & refiling the office papers. With her left hand, she grabbed a handful of papers from her “These make me angry” stack. With her right hand, she grabbed a handful of papers from her “These are small and sealed” stack, and then she stuffed them both into her “These make me feel red” red box.

She hoped that she would have time to get the few other papers she had sorted into their respective “These make me feel . . .” yellow, orange, green and blue boxes. The majority of papers, regrettably, would just have to remain unsorted, all tossed into the “Don’t quite know how to feel about these” purple boxes, which probably she should call her "Didn't quite have time to get to these but I'm sure they are interesting" box.

“Georgia, run out and get some potting soil. We’ve got to move the office plants!”

((wonders if Hammerton is now feeding the fish - inappropriately giggles))

*Not to be outdone, Darnassus soon sported flyers of its own.*

In response to recent events in Ironforge, and to ensure the continued well-being of our people, the following requests are hereby issued:

-Derscha Kettlebomb, CEO of the Anytime Anywhere Messenger Service, is wanted for questioning.

-Nynra Lightheart is wanted for questioning.

-Anyone with a first or last name with Miragule is wanted for questioning.

-Any and all Draenei with eyepatches or glass eyes are wanted for questioning.

Each of these individuals in one nation of the Alliance or another are suspected of aiding and abetting the Horde, whose crimes need no enumeration. Any with information on the whereabouts concerning any of these parties, their accomplices and their associations are encouraged to inform the Sentinel Army immediately with as many relevant details as possible.

May Elune watch over us all,
-Warden Kyalin Raintree

Genevra looked between both notices at the Abbey in Northshire. She shook her head with obvious disgust. "Can't they just leave the past that... in the past?" The priestess was obviously dismayed with the current tune that the guards of the various cities took to singing.

"First the AAMS, now Conclave, you'd think these people had nothing better to do than persecute the quill pushers of Azeroth."

((removed))

(("What makes a man turn neutral? Lust for gold? Power? Or were you just born with a heart full of neutrality?" >_>))

Rokuro paused in front of the signboard in Ironforge. A rather important-looking notice was displayed at the top. He was still having difficulties with reading the scripts that the various races of the Alliance used, so he took his time, carefully sounding out each word.

When he had finished, Rokuro's brow furrowed in confusion. "Neutral business? Does this mean I am not allowed to send letters to the goblins of the Steamwheedle Cartel while I am in Ironforge? What about the fine people I met in the Argent Crusade, or the Cenarion Circle?"

Rokuro picked up the keg of beer he had been planning on selling. Ironforge was not as hospitable as he had been led to think, after experiencing the watered-down beer offered at their "Brewfest" and now this! At least he didn't have to worry about harassment from the guards, since he didn't wear a tabard or have any other indicator that he belonged to Conclave prominently displayed.

A letter is delivered to the Sentinel Kyalin Raintree, marked on the outside with a paw-print stamp.

"Dear Kyalin Raintree.

Yo.

What's up?

Name's Dante Blackpaw.

I hear you're lookin' for the AAMS, so I got the low-down on this crazy case for you. They're in - get this - Booty Bay. I mean, I had to walk around for an entire five minutes before I found their office.

I'll expect reimbursement for my time, this parchment, and of course a proper reward for aiding in your investigation.

Mark it to Dante, of the Pandaren - oh, and can you send it to Orgrimmar? Sorta of the Huojin. You understand. Still doesn't deny my right to fair pay, eh? If you need help gettin' it to me, use the AAMS!

Great folk. Plus, you know where their office is, now, thanks to yours truly.

Lok'tar Ogar, Sentinel.

- Dante Blackpaw."

"Hah!" Grimtote shouted happily, startling the 2 dwarves, 4 gnomes, the draenai and the pandaren that had gathered around the notice posted outside the library. That little group had been heatedly arguing over the pros and cons of neutraility, and that had drawn Grim over to read the notice.

"About time that someone took care of her," sneered Grim with immense pleasure. He headed back to his warehouse in the Forlorn Caverns, thinking for the first time in ages that there might actually be some justice in the world.

The Inquisitor was bent over one of his bonzai trees, snipping and fussing over the delicate little branches, when Cutter and Lucky stalked in. The two forsaken, a young and handsome but slovenly male and a cheerfully neurotic woman, were the most senior Guttersnipes in terms of rank and as such were two of the three mortals ever allowed inside his room.

A policy Liore was growing closer and closer to rescinding.

"What IS it, Cu-"

"BOSS. You've gotta get a load of this load. Of. Load. LOOK."

Lucky thrust out a worn parchment in a dead hand, waggling it in the Inquisitor's face before he could even turn from atop his stool. Cutter scratched at his head of curly, scraggly hair, as sure a sign as any that something saucy was amiss. Liore snatched the parchment from the dead woman and poured over it, his concentration fractured by sporadic spasms of girlish gigglefits.

A second time, but not a third. He frowned, handed the flyer back and patted some of Ironforge's everpresent silt off on his bottom. Cutter and Lucky stared at him with varying degrees of eagerness. As he scratched at his chin and stared at the distant wall, a notion detached itself from his tempest of thoughts and sprinted into his forebrain, too spiteful and silly to be ignored.

"Alright," Liore instructed his two officers. "Here is what we're going to do."

~~

Flyers would summarily begin to appear all across the great Cities, from Silvermoon to Dalaran, from Thunder Bluff to Stormwind, but not Gnomeregan, because that place is horrid:

"WANTED:
-Absolutely Nobody-

Please remain calm and continue going about your lives.

Report to any neighborhood Guttersnipe for one (1) free high-five.

~Royal Lordaeron Inquisition"

((Liore and Dante win many, many internets.))

"WANTED:
-Absolutely Nobody-

Please remain calm and continue going about your lives.

Report to any neighborhood Guttersnipe for one (1) free high-five.

~Royal Lordaeron Inquisition"

Shade, being the ever adept observer that he was, snatched up one of the notices and ran, nearly tripping over his own two feet as he staggered into the room rushing to hand the parchment to Liore. "Si..sir.." he stammered. "Have you seen any Guttersnipe? It says ...it says... nobody but what if that meant ... somebody.. and that ...somebody was me?" Shade said this in all seriousness.

Preposterous. Ridiculous. Insane. Outrageous.

Stupid.

Yes, that's the word, stupid.

Exactly the word that ran through Tyrynna's mind as she read over the multiple flyers Akira had gathered. Kyalin's notice was the first the Blood Elf had delivered to her. It made sense, as Tyrynna thought the warden to be rather uptight.

But something didn't seem right. Details were missing. The AAMS is a neutral order, they were supposed to help Horde and Alliance alike. And how on earth did Nynra fit into this? Tyr and the Priestess were mere acquaintances at best, but the huntress found Nynra, and the Conclave she served, to be tolerable, friendly, maybe even trustworthy on occasion. She didn't see how a group such as them could get wound up into all this trouble.

"...There's more to this, Akira, isn't there?" The Night Elf inquired to her spy.

"Isn't there always, Tyrynna?" the Blood Elf responded, as he handed Tyr a second flyer without missing a beat.

As she read the notice, Tyr's concern became painfully evident.

"Derscha Kettlebomb and Nynra Lightheart..." she read aloud, "...Are wanted for obstruction of justice and treason, respectively... with the authority granted to the Ironforge Guard?" Her expression turned to one of anger. "Why that little-!"

"I wouldn't waste your anger yet, Tyr," Akira interjected. "It gets worse. The Ironforge Guard has managed to get pissed off enough that neutral factions have been all but kicked out of the city."

"Then that just ruined a big chance for us!" Tyr growled, as she crumpled the posters. She flung them aside. "For the love of gods, why are people so damned STUPID?"

"I wish I had the answer to that, Tyr." Akira replied, shrugging slightly. "Though I will say, it IS rather ironic, considering this spawned from two neutral factions doing their job and being neutral. It shouldn't be so much to comprehend."

Tyr let out a sigh. "Well then... this is just effing wonderful..."

"Any course of action you wish to take?"

Tyr turned to eye the blood elf. "For you? No. Return to your post in Dalaran. As for me..." She slung her quiver over her shoulder and picked up her bow. "I have someone I need to talk to."

As the huntress stormed out of the room, Akira let out a heavy sigh. "There Tyr goes again... stupid people really should stop begging to be removed from the gene pool..."

Cray squinted at the notice. The dim light of Ironforge made reading it even harder. But he got the gist of it. Buldin had stopped by Hearthglen to inform the Presidium of this development.

"About time, Nynra," he muttered, "You'll get yours now."

He wasn't always a fan of the AAMS, but he recognized the need for their services. In general, he liked Conclave. He considered Genevra one of his very few close friends outside of the Presidium.

But Nynra. That was different. As far as he was concerned, she was a monster hiding in the safety and charity of Genevra's organization. He couldn't root her out without causing strife with his friend -- and she'd been through enough of late.

That didn't mean he couldn't send other people to help the Ironforge Guard.

Kyalin sat on one of her favorite stools, with one hand pressed against her head as the arcanist in front of her - Verronia Fay, fluttered a stack of papers into order. "Where shall I begin, Warden?"

"Start with the smuggling attempts this week." Kyalin said nonchalantly, checking for a moment to ensure that they were far enough away from the cells.

"This week I sampled one-hundred and seventy-six ship manifests, tracing them back to letters of credit that the bank had drafted for the purchases. Of them, sixty at one time flowed through either Ratchet or Booty Bay, of those, fifty-four went through Stormwind first before reaching us, and of the sixty, fourteen of the shipments contained illicit products that the Sentinels were then called in to confiscate. I have provided, in my report, a list of those who had requested the drafts for these shipments - two of them are repeat offenders."

"I see you expanded the sample this week."

Verronia nodded. "I found more exceptions this week, so I expanded by substantive procedures."

"Go on then. What about reports from the front?"

Verronia flipped a couple of pages, appearing to know exactly where she had placed this data. "Three lumber mills were raided over the past few weeks, two of the attack groups were able to recover ledgers with sufficient data to get an idea as to what their capital structure, output, and financial position was. Based off of output projections based off of a regression equation that I performed on both of those locations, less projected expenses... the particulars are in the report, and reported figures of kills by the Sentinel Army, I have projected the minimum probable economic loss at fifteen-thousand, four-hundred and twenty two gold pieces."

"What about the third mill?" Kyalin asked immediately.

"According to the Sentinels, they couldn't find any ledgers there, which was consistent with the lack of goblins in the kill reports."

Kyalin nodded, pausing for a moment. "Alright. What about individuals wanted for questioning?"

Verronia shrugged. "For those that do have accounts within the city, I haven't noticed anything significant. Then again, notices like that tend to make people more careful than usual."

"I see... go ahead and leave your report here... I'll take a look through it when I get the time."

Verronia nodded, setting the report down on a small table that the Warden kept. "You may want to look over page seventeen, I've been compiling data on a gold-laundering scheme that I think has been going on for some time."

"Thank you, Verronia... oh... and one more thing." The Warden said as she stood up, pulling a letter out from under her cloak. "Talk to the postmaster and find out where this thing came from?"

Verronia nodded, accepting the letter.

Buldin opened a letter sent by Alliance mail and immediately raised an eyebrow. The seal had the image of a peculiar-looking animal pressed into it - like a gryphon, but too lithe. Upon opening it, he immediately noticed the handwriting was neat and precise block caps.

Dear Commander:

The following are names and descriptions of every known employee of AAMS, Alliance branch..

Happy early Winter Veil from your friends in Stormwind Intelligence!

Buldin folded up the letter and frowned in thought as he thumbed through the small stack of pages that came with it.

I really wish these people would include names with this kinda information, but... this'll make me job much easier...

Yet another notice appears...

To our loyal clients and supporters,

The Anytime, Anywhere Messenger service is still in service for all members of the Alliance, in all major cities. The Ironforge and Darnassus offices remain in operation. However, deliveries originating from and heading to those cities may experience delays as we accommodate local regulations.

In regards to the allegations of obstruction of justice, no arrests have been made. The AAMS has complied to the fullest extent of its abilities and guidelines to the requests of the Ironforge Guard, without violating the confidentiality extended to our clients. The AAMS will continue to protects our clients' right to communicate freely without the fear of reprisal.

True peace cannot be achieved through fear and closed walls, but via the courage to open the doors to new ideas.

Any further inquiries may be addressed to our main offices in Booty Bay.

Sincerely,
Derscha Kettlebomb, CEO
Anytime, Anywhwere Messenger Service