VanCleef had fought many battles in his life. From the moment he put down his mason's hammer and picked up a warblade, he had ceased to care about his own life.
He had once fought for his fellow masons in the Stonemasons' Guild, who had been deceived and slaughtered. After the First Orcish War, they had rebuilt Stormwind City for the Wrynn royal family, yet received none of their pay. Not a single coin!
The nobles had deceived them, mocked them, banished them, and finally killed them when they marched in protest. Stormwind City would not allow this scandal to be exposed. VanCleef had escaped that massacre, then gone from leader of the Stonemasons' Guild to leader of the Defias Brotherhood, from mason to thief, from commoner to avenger.
VanCleef thought killing was not difficult. Though he was better at carving stone, flesh and blood were much easier to deal with than stone, weren't they?
As an avenger, VanCleef had undoubtedly been successful. With the Defias Brotherhood running rampant, Westfall, Stormwind City's granary, had been completely severed from the kingdom and had almost become his private domain. Most importantly, with the help of a certain powerful figure in the shadows, VanCleef had accomplished a feat that many others had failed to achieve.
He had stirred up a riot, stormed Stormwind City, and even killed the king's queen.
Although VanCleef knew he could never have laid a hand on that kind queen, she was dead, killed in the riot he had incited. VanCleef knew he had been fooled. He was only a mason seeking revenge, and all he wanted was vengeance for his dead brothers. But at that moment, he knew he had become embroiled in a tremendous conspiracy. He had become a blade aimed at Wrynn.
From joining willingly to