World of Warcraft®

Old man Benson was a tired old thing. He lived through all three of the Great Wars, raising livestock and crops for the war effort. He managed to survive orc raiding parties, wave of goblin sappers, and the plague. But now, in his twilight years the old man was rewarded for his devoted loyalty to the Alliance with everything the human kingdom of Stormwind had to offer a man of his stature.
Absolutely Nothing.

Farmers, peasants, anything that didn't wield a sword or staff were left with nothing for all their effort. And so here he was, old man Benson. His skin a deep leathery brown, wrinkled and worn by hours of out door manual labor. His left hand was missing his pinkie and ring finger, taken from him when his tenth farmhouse was destroyed by a pack of berserk grunts. His clothes were tattered and worn- all that remained after he lost his last farm in Westfall. In fact, the only thing that didn't appear to bear the mark of age was a golden ring worn around his neck with a piece of string. His wives wedding ring. The only thing he had left.

On this day in particular, he found himself in Stormwind city, dragging his feet across the cobblestone streets next to the canals. The sun was already beginning to dip beneath the skyline of the cities mighty stone towers. He had arrived in hope of finding some work in the new outskirts of the city, but after a long unsuccessful venture, he'd been turned away and ran around in circles by politicians all night as he tried to get a plot of his own land to farm.
He paused, his old bones not what they used to be. A nearby barrel seemed perfect, trotting over and sitting down on it, his gaze finding its way to the water.
He stared for a while at the water, watching the reflection of the dimming sky for a long while. But just as he prepared to make his back out to the Goldshire inn, he noticed something in the water. A disturbance on the surface, like some sort of oil. And then without warning, a fish broke surface. And another. A small school, all within yard radius begin breaking the oily surface of the water. The old man went wide eyed before suddenly the thin twine that held his wives ring suddenly broke, plunging into the water with a *plip*.
Frantically, he plunged a hand into the water after the precious heirloom. It wasn't until he was elbow deep did he realize the size of the mistake he just made. A horrible burning sensation bit at his arm before turning into a torment the old man had never known in all his life. He tried to retract his arm, finding it far too easy as he pulled up nothing but a stub.
That was the last thing the old man saw before going wide eyed, falling into shock and into the water...

When the guards arrived, all that was left was a shin and foot, and a small collection of bone fragments floating in the oily water. The fish had all been dissolved entirely, and the stone walls of the canals had been stripped down to a smooth surface. The area was quarantined by the guards, and an investigation began. The very same barrel that the old man had sat on was discovered to have a lead lining, residue suggesting the remaining substance that hadn't been diluted in the water was being held inside it. On the bottom of the lead container was a half gear leading into a "PL" logo, and a 5/12 etched into it as well.
A call out to heroes on of the Alliance was made, asking assistance from anyone who may have any additional information on the matter.

"High Guard. There is something you should hear"

Ehlina looked up from the field reports on her desk to see Captain Jericho standing at the entrance of her office. He was still holding his salute.

"At ease Captain. What is it?"

Jericho slipped to a standard at ease stance placing both hands behind his back.

"New report from the S.I 7. Another barrel has been discovered."

Ehlina's mind flashed back to just a few days prior when she had seen a small green glowing keg sitting next to a mailbox in Stormwind. It seemed odd and out of place and she didn't like things that seemed out of place. After recently reports of mailbox bombs as well as the recent Defias resurgence she didn't want to take chances and called in the gnome bomb squad.

They discovered the keg was extremely heavy and there was a thick lining of lead within and a second metallic lid sealed air tight. After about an hour they had pried the lid open to find a corrosive ooze the emitted a vile stench.

After getting on of the shamans to air out the command center they ran a few test and found out the ooze was corrosive enough to eat though most metal and it moves across water like an oil until it comes into contact with a solid surface. Took extreme cold to freeze it and extreme heat to evaporate. Shadow magic seemed to make it stronger.
The bottom of the container had the letters "PL" and "2/12" carved into it.

Ehlina shook her had and focused her attention to Jericho

"Are we sure it's another container?"

Jericho nodded "Yes maam. It has the "PL" and this one had "5/12" at the bottom. I don't think our 2/12 was a date maam"

"Hmmm. Alright. Go to Orwyn and let the Stormwind City Watch in on this. They'll need to know we probably have 10 more barrels of this crap out there. Check near mailboxes and near the canals."

Jericho turned on his heals and left.

*A formal report delivered to Ehlina from the Stormwind City guard*
*Most of it is eye witness reports of the events that came to pass and a brief history of the victim. Unfortunately, there appears to be no suspects identified yet. However, the placement of the barrel appears to be put at roughly between ten and eleven o'clock that morning. It's assumed that the perpetrator returned later that day, only minutes before Arthur Benson's' demise given there was no distributional system attached to the barrel. Meaning someone had to of dumped its contents into the water. Currently, the city guard believe it was Benson himself who delivered the substance into the canals, before becoming overwhelmed by the powerful smell it lets off and passing out causing him to fall into the water.
Another portion of the report details briefly the effects of the substance. It seems that the acidic contents of the barrel quickly diluted itself across the surface of the water before sinking downward, turning that section of the canals into a vat of acid for a short while before diluting itself further throughout the canal system. Concerns are expressed that a series of barrels set off throughout the canal systems could turn the water ways into a serious hazard that would take a great deal of time to dilute.
Even worse is the risk of the fresh water stores could be the target of contamination. The guards are on alert until further notice*

*Stormwind guard report*
*9:00 pm, March 15*
During rounds tonight, Private Harrings was inspecting a collection of packages and crates after a guard dog detected a scent. These dogs have been with patrols since sources suggested that someone was smuggling some form of acidic substance into the city.
After a quick inspection, Private Harrings discovered trace amounts of the substance on the ground, along with what appears to be a shipping order that lists four barrels of "Kajacola" delivered sometime earlier this morning. They appear to have been delivered by a contracted delivery goblin in Booty Bay who was commissioned by a businessman in Ironforge who claims he himself was doing it as a favor for an associate in Gnomergan. The trail ends there- as the gnome in question appears to have recently evaporated in a freak accident. The supply crates in question were on the canal side of Trade district, across from the Mage Quarters.
It's possible that four new barrels of the substance that was deployed into the canals have been delivered into the city- putting a potential of fourteen barrels of the substance in the city.
All guards are to be on high alert once more and all incoming supplies are to go through an inspection.*