Those two Rogues really did belong to the Syndicate, and they were partners. The skinny Rogue was a new favorite of Duke Falrestrasz, the Syndicate leader, and they were distantly related. The fat one was descended from a minor noble family in Alterac.
Three months ago, Tirion Fordring returned covered in glory. The news sent his apprentice, Barthilas Jr., into a panic. He immediately sent word to his uncle, Barthilas Sr.
His uncle was an administrative officer. He served under Haberion, the mayor of Andorhal.
Because of the war, some of Lordaeron's local nobles had run wild, like horses with their reins cut. House Barthilas had gotten involved with the Alterac noble Duke Falrestrasz! Barthilas Sr. and his nephew had started smuggling together.
Back then, Tirion Fordring wasn't yet the Highlord of Hearthglen. He and Barthilas's father had both been officers at Mardenholde, and they'd been old friends.
When the Second War broke out, they went to battle together. Barthilas's father died on the battlefield, while Tirion Fordring fought valiantly and became one of the first Paladins of the Silver Hand! After the war, he was granted the title of Highlord of Hearthglen.
Now that Tirion Fordring had returned, they knew he'd always obeyed the law. Meanwhile, Alterac had become the target of everyone's ire, and doing business with nobles who'd betrayed the Alliance was dangerous! To keep Tirion from finding out, they sent a family member to speak with the Syndicate and temporarily suspend their dealings.
But that man left with the letter and never came back. The anxious House Barthilas sent another messenger. When he reached the Syndicate camp in Alterac, he learned that the first messenger had never made it to Alterac at all.
The duke handled things well enough. He didn't want to lose this source of income, either. So he agreed to send two men to look for the missing messenger! Whether the messenger was alive or dead didn't matter. That letter, though, was damning! Noble correspondence needed a seal to be valid, and that letter bore one. Worse, it was stamped on a sheet of paper used exclusively for Syndicate communications.
If King Terenas found out, he might not be able to control his subordinates' subordinates, but he could still exile Barthilas to some godforsaken place to dig potatoes for doing business with the kingdom's enemy.
The lucky pair chosen to handle the matter were a fat man and a skinny one. The skinny Rogue relied on his connection to the duke and always looked down on the fat Rogue, ordering him around whenever he had the chance. The fat man could do nothing about it. The Syndicate had always been laxly run, and many of its members came from noble families and were spoiled brats. Bullying was commonplace.
That day, heavy rain began to fall. The skinny man sent the fat one out to get his lunch. By the time the fat man got back to their lodgings, he was soaked through. With nothing better to do, he went to the "recreation room" and played a few hands with the gamblers there. He won a lot right off the bat! Thinking he'd found a way to blow off steam and make money, he kept playing until nightfall.
In the end, he lost not only his savings but another fifty gold coins. Miserable, he went home and wrote it all down in his diary! The notebook Jaina slipped into Taelan Fordring's pocket was the fat Rogue's diary! The figures in it were the amount he owed and the names of his creditors!
Back home, the fat man stared blankly at the White Lady in despair. His soaked clothes, the abuse he put up with, his dead-end job, and now an unpayable debt—it all made him think of killing himself.
Then he thought of the skinny man. Before he died, he'd get even with the person who'd bullied him. Moonlight streamed across the dining table. As he stared at the gambling debt slip, a sudden idea struck him, and a new plan took shape.
The next day, he borrowed a little money and invited the skinny man out to have some fun. Curious, the skinny man went along. Just like the fat man before him, he won a lot at first.
The owner of the "recreation room" had powerful backing. The skinny man might have been the duke's trusted man, but the house always won! The ending was the same. This time, though, there were two men thinking of suicide.
The next day, as the fat man passed the "recreation room," a woman inside pulled him into a small room. He thought his luck with women was finally turning around! But he wasn't some reader, so what right did he have to that kind of luck?
The sultry woman tore up his gambling debt slip right there and then, and even gave him ten gold coins. The fat man immediately got the message. His life became comfortable. From then on, he brought people to the "recreation room" now and then!
If things had gone on like that, the fat man might have lived long enough to see Big Jaw fly over his head! But not long afterward, both he and the skinny man were unexpectedly promoted. They became adventurers. And as if fate had it in for him, the lucky skinny man received a gift from the duke: a weapon that drove low-level Rogues wild—the Barman Shanker!
The owner of the "recreation room" had a son, too! He was an adventurer as well, so the fat man received a full hundred gold coins as a deposit. After all, the Barman Shanker wasn't the "recreation room" shanker. As for whether he could bear to part with it, there was nothing a gambler couldn't turn into a stake once he'd lost himself to the game.
Just as the fat man was about to take the skinny man to the casino and clean the place out, the duke's orders arrived. They were being sent to find the missing messenger from House Barthilas.
Taelan Fordring thought of the letter in Jandice's hands. He guessed that the fat man had used Stealth to sneak over and steal from a messenger, but all he'd managed to steal was a letter!
Later, they must have opened it. Why did he think the fat man had stolen it? That was only Taelan's guess. The skinny man liked ordering the fat man around and taking advantage of him, so the letter was still in the skinny man's possession.
As for why the fat Rogue hadn't used Garrote on the beautiful Jandice, Taelan Fordring still couldn't figure it out. Jaina's Frostbolt was more troublesome than Fireball in terms of raw damage, but Jandice was a higher level and her spells were more powerful. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that she'd kept her distance from him throughout the entire fight.
Katherine couldn't figure it out, either. For now, she could only guess that Frost Mages were simply more troublesome in battle. Jandice had also deliberately kept her distance from Taelan. Melee fighters who were slowed never ended well. A Frost Mage's Frostbolt, Improved Frost Nova, Cone of Cold, and Blizzard all involved slowing or immobilizing their targets. That made life very difficult for Rogues who relied on agility to win. It really did make sense to take them out first.
Katherine asked, "What are you planning to do about this?"
"Tell King Terenas directly? Barthilas himself might be fine, but his uncle would be dismissed and then exiled."
Taelan Fordring said, "Father won't say anything. At most, he'll impeach Administrative Officer Barthilas. That won't change anything. I'll make sure Father keeps an eye on him!"
Exposing Barthilas now would only put off the danger. The result would just be even deeper hatred. It wouldn't change anything.
Katherine asked, "Then what are you worried about?"
"Auntie, that Druid's letter is more dangerous!"
"Why? It's nothing but the ramblings of a madman. I happen to know him! He was the first Night Elf to visit Dalaran. He belongs to the Circle of Cenarius, part of the Cenarion Circle. It's a very well-known animal rights extremist group."
"He and Archmage Kel'Thuzad hit it off, and started a cat-loving movement in Dalaran."
"Fine, but I think he's going to be in serious trouble. I still recommend that the Dalaran mages send someone to investigate Northrend. A while ago, I read a book at home about the legends of Tirisfal. My teacher, Grand Astromancer Solarian, told me that those whispers were extremely dangerous.
"Four thousand years ago, Tirisfal was the first place the High Elves landed in the Eastern Kingdoms! But after staying there for a while, many of them went mad. They'd heard similar whispers. And that Druid had heard them, too!"
Before you continue