Joseph

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

His Mother's Illness

Joseph was a mainstay of Lightfinger's work crew in Stormwind's Trade District. When his mother became gravely ill, he missed work to pawn his belongings for treatment. The guild's unpaid wages left him unable to meet the priest's costs 2.

VanCleef gave him a pouch of silver sufficient for one course of treatment and promised to find money for subsequent care. Nevertheless, Joseph later explained that the treatment required one hundred gold coins: selling everything he owned and receiving the guildmaster's help had raised only twenty. Distraught, he struck a tabletop with his wrench when Lightfinger questioned his absences 3 8.

His outlook briefly improved after VanCleef passed him twenty gold coins following the guild's meeting with Bolvar. Felix then recruited Joseph and Vladimir to scout the Mage Quarter, considering them his most reliable accomplices 12.

Saving the Guild Members

After the three watched Andromath leave the Wizard's Sanctum, Felix assigned Joseph to warn the guild's foremen. Joseph's technical reputation made him more credible than Felix or Vladimir, while his involvement in designing the sewers gave him a suitable hiding place for the workers 13.

Joseph falsely claimed that the sewers had structural defects and were close to collapse, drawing VanCleef and some guild members underground before the authorities could arrest them. He saved only part of the guild. When Felix and Vladimir returned, Joseph discovered that VanCleef had already taken the workers out to protest 17 19.

Following the violence in Cathedral Square, Joseph visited the Old Town monastery and found his mother dead. The surviving workers looked to him for leadership because he had protected them earlier, but he did not know how to organize retaliation and turned to Felix and Vladimir for a plan 19.

A letter offering weapons then subjected Joseph and Bazil to mental magic. Joseph saw an imagined scene of a Stormwind officer strangling his mother and became increasingly enraged. Dudmore interrupted the effect; the vision does not establish how Joseph's mother actually died 20.

Operation Spark

During Felix's meeting with Katrana at the harbor, Joseph and Bazil were assigned to guard the sewer entrance and evacuate the others if Felix failed to return within half an hour 21.

For Operation Spark, Joseph was assigned to lead the Old Town uprising with Felix. Felix also privately asked him and Bazil to watch Baros Alexston overnight, claiming that Baros might have been bought off by SI:7 22.

Joseph later arrived at the front with Bazil and the rescued VanCleef. He and Bazil explained Felix's escape plan to the guildmaster, but VanCleef refused to withdraw by ship and instead joined the confrontation with the nobles 25.

Westfall Raids and Capture

In Westfall, Joseph helped redirect a proposed attack on a murloc village toward its actual objective: obtaining money rather than exterminating the murlocs. While Felix drew the defenders away, Joseph and the other rogues raided the settlement. Their team escaped safely but recovered copper rather than the expected gold 31 32 33.

Joseph subsequently fought in the ambush of Goldshire's tax convoy and inspected its three money wagons. When Felix proposed killing the captured adventurers to prevent them from reporting the attack, Joseph advocated releasing them. The majority voted for release 36 37.

On the return journey, increased security at Westbrook Garrison blocked the Brotherhood's route. Joseph suggested posing as Alliance adventurers, but Vladimir rejected the idea. Felix then proposed that he and Joseph sneak through at night and burn the stables as a diversion; approaching SI:7 scouts forced them to abandon that plan 38 39.

Joseph warned the others to flee east while Felix stayed behind to delay pursuit. Once SI:7 caught up, Joseph concluded that the released adventurers had reported them and admitted that he had been too soft. He and Bazil failed to rejoin Felix's group and were subsequently confirmed captured 39 40 41 45.

Felix planned a later rescue disguised as an operation to free the Dark Iron prisoner Kam Deepfury, allowing Joseph and the others to appear to escape incidentally. The rescue was postponed because Stormwind remained vigilant after the street fighting. Joseph's latest documented appearance shows him refusing to answer Mathias Shaw's questions, even when Shaw offered freedom; Shaw responded by ordering the whipping to continue 46 47.

Appearance

• Short, young, and fully bearded: his build and beard are established when he first meets Felix 3.
• Initially gaunt and haggard: he appears reduced to skin and bones while seeking help for his mother 3.
• Rapid signs of strain: several days later, parts of his beard have turned gray, his eyes are sunken, and the skin beneath them is dark 8.

Personality

Joseph is devoted to his mother, selling everything he owns to fund her treatment. His desperation can erupt into anger, but VanCleef's reassurance moves him to tears and restores some hope 8.

He is dependable in a crisis: he accepts responsibility for warning the guild, devises a convincing sewer emergency, and promptly follows Felix's instructions when SI:7 approaches. The workers trust him enough to seek his guidance, although he recognizes his own lack of strategic direction 13 17 19 39.

His mother's death leaves him consumed by hatred, yet he remains capable of mercy toward captured adventurers. After their release leads to pursuit, he regrets that choice. In prison, his loyalty holds: he answers Shaw's offer of freedom with silence and contempt rather than betraying the Brotherhood 19 37 40 47.

Abilities & Skills

Stonemasonry and Sewer Design

• Recognized as a key technical expert in his crew and across the guild; the foremen are more willing to believe him than Felix or Vladimir 13.
• Helped design Stormwind's sewers and used that knowledge to shelter guild members 13 17.
• Made a fabricated structural emergency credible enough to bring VanCleef underground 17 19.

Rogue Skills and Stealth

• Participates in covert observation of the Wizard's Sanctum with Felix and Vladimir 13.
• Repeatedly fails to activate Stealth during the murloc expedition 31.
• Is later included in Felix's proposed nighttime Stealth infiltration of Westbrook Garrison. The plan is interrupted before Joseph demonstrates whether he can sustain the spell 38 39.

Armed Combat

• Uses a musket to shoot a convoy guard in the head; the shot dents the guard's helmet before Felix follows up 36.
• Kills two dwarf musketeers by cutting their throats with a dagger 36.
• Thrusts a longsword through a gap in a guard's knee armor while helping Felix and Jack overpower him 36.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Wrench — a work tool he uses to strike a tabletop during his outburst over treatment costs 8.
• Musket — used in the Goldshire tax-convoy ambush 36.
• Dagger — used against the dwarf musketeers aboard a money wagon 36.
• Longsword — used to exploit a gap in an armored guard's defenses 36.

Relationships

• His mother — Joseph sacrifices his belongings for her treatment; finding her dead ends his remaining willingness to seek peace with Stormwind 2 8 19.
• Edwin VanCleef — guildmaster and benefactor who finances her care. Joseph later protects him from arrest by luring him into the sewers 3 8 12 17.
• Felix Walkpatin — trusted comrade and planner. Joseph follows his emergency instructions, assists his raids, and warmly embraces him after the murloc operation 13 32 33 39.
• Vladimir — fellow scout and rebel. He supports Joseph's evacuation mission but criticizes his decision to release the convoy prisoners 13 37 40.
• Bazil Thredd — fellow bereaved guild member, assigned with Joseph to guard the harbor entrance and monitor Baros; later captured alongside him 19 21 22 45.
• Dudmore — interrupts the letter's mental magic before Joseph's anger drives him into reckless action 20.
• Lightfinger — work-crew leader who recognizes Joseph's importance but questions his absences during the wage dispute 2 8.
• Mathias Shaw — interrogator whose questions and offer of release Joseph refuses to answer 47.

Notable Quotes

“Vladimir, Felix, I won't let you down, and I won't let the Stonemasons' Guild down!” 13

“Are we here to seize gold coins, or are we here to wipe out these murlocs?” 31

“Then let them go.” — Advocating release of the captured adventurers. 37