The Great Thief

“Due to information being leaked and the betrayal of the Grimtotem Taurens, Varian, who was on a boat to Theramore was taken into Horde territory,” Jaina said wearily.

“And what about Stormwind City?” Lu Li asked.

These villains intended to cause as much trouble as possible, so they didn’t just kill Varian. His son, Anduin, was still young and managing Stormwind City. This was enough to keep him occupied.

“We will need to rescue him, so we can return him to Stormwind City,” Jaina responded.

“But I am sure you feel like something is wrong. The once wise and strong King Varian is now being led around all across the continent as if he was some frail being,” Lu Li commented based on what she had said so far.

“I initially suspected that it was someone else posing as him, but now I am sure that it is Varian,” Jaina said as she planted her Magic Staff onto the ground for a moment. “Mr. Thief, I put out this quest in search of someone knowledgeable. I want to better understand this situation.”

“Rest assured, I have the information you want. What kind of reward will I received?” Lu Li asked.

“If you found out about this quest through your mentor, then you probably already know what the rewards are,” Jaina replied.

“As you can see, I am a Thief, so your rewards are useless to me. But, I do believe that my information is very valuable.”

Lu Li was a Thief and had no real reason to earn the respect of this beautiful NPC, so he didn’t mind speaking more straightforwardly.

“I do have some other items. If you can help me, then this Cloak is yours,” Jaina offered as she handed over an item to Lu Li.

Lilian’s Embrace (Legendary): Armor +350, all Attributes +200, Movement Speed +30%, 3 Slots. Special Effect 1, Shadow Bayonet, Instant Cast, deals 1200 Shadow Damage to all enemies within 8 yards. 30 second cooldown. Special Effect 2: Death Grip, 2 second channel time. Absorb the surrounding dark energy and pull a target within 30 yards to the position of the user. 3-minute cooldown. Special Effect 3: Lilian’s Embrace, appear behind the target and immediately casts Throatkill with a 100% chance of landing a critical hit. 2-hour cooldown. Equipment Requirements: Level 70. Durability: 640/640.

There was a small inscription at the bottom: Life is as gorgeous as the summer flowers and death is as beautiful as the autumn leaves.

Lu Li felt euphoric. This has exceeded his expectations.

Supreme Five Ring (Legendary) *6: All attributes +160, Critical Hit +37%, Lifesteal +42, Damage +12%,

Special Effect 1: King of the Jungle’s Protection. Instant Cast, summons a natural shield that allows the caster to absorb the full damage of 1 skill. 3 hour cooldown.

Special Effect 2: King of the Jungle’s Blessing. Stealth Effect +30%.

Special Effect 3: King of the Jungle Cenarius’s special ability. The user may learn two Druid Transformation Skills and two skills that branch out from those skills.

Special Effect 4: The Demon Hunters grant the user the ability to transform into a Demon. When the caster jumps into the air and lands on the ground, Chaos Damage will be dealt to an 8 yard radius around the caster. This will also stun all affected units for 3 seconds. Upon landing, the caster will transform into a Demon. You can continue to use all skills from your original profession. Defense is increased by 70% and attack is increased by 10%. Lasts for 30 seconds. 8-hour cooldown.

Equipment Requirements: None

Durability: None

When comparing these two pieces of equipment, the Supreme Ring was not clearly better, even after being Fortified six times.

This cloak added 200 points for all attributes, which was 40 more than the Supreme Five Ring, even after it had been fortified.

It also increased movement speed by 30%, which meant that Lu Li would be faster than almost everyone except the players that deliberately stacked movement speed. He would be moving like the wind when on stage.

The first Special Effect was an area of effect damaging skill that dealt Shadow damage. Most players didn’t have much Shadow Resistance.

The second Special Effect was to pull a target towards the user. One could imagine a team match where Lu Li pulled the opposing healer and they were inevitably one shot by the team.

The third Special Effect was not only an instant-cast skill, but guaranteed a critical hit.

Lilian’s Embrace probably referred to Lilian Voss.

It was said that during her lifetime, she was a Scarlet Crusader killer. Her father was Scarlet Crusade High Priest Benedictus Voss. After Lilian’s death, she was revived by The Forsaken, but she refused to accept his identify as an Undead.

When she had become a Forsaken, she felt panicked, but she believed that her father could help her. She anxiously when to see her father, but her father, who was firmly opposed to the Undead, disowned her and ordered her execution.

She faced great distress and strangled her father, the High Priest of the Scarlet Crusade and fled to the gloomy corridors of Scholomance.

Instead of ordering the intruder to be destroyed, Darkmaster Gandling kindly guided Voss and taught her to embrace her fate.

Her anger and her blades were not used against Gandling’s enemies.

She was a very proficient killer and her killing method was always the same – she would slash the neck. If necessary, she would unleash shadow powers to take out a group of enemies in single attack.

The origins of this cape were self-evident. Lu Li didn’t know why Jaina had this cape, but he knew that it would be his quest reward.

“Let me tell you a story about gladiators. This story might be helpful in helping you understand more about Varian’s disorder,” Lu Li began to speak wisely. “One day, a patient with amnesia found themselves on Durotar Beach, captured by a Shaman named Rehgar Earthfury.”

“Do you mean to say that this amnesiac is Varian?” Jaina questioned with a frown. If that’s the case, then who is the current king of Stormwind City?

How had he managed to get pass the detection of so many Mages?

“Oh, that is not what I mean. Please continue to listen to me, o’ beautiful one,” Lu Li said. He seemed to be deliberately giving small bits of information at a time.

“This person was able to defeat the Shaman Gladiators in one on one combat even after taking his swords away. With his leadership and fighting skills, the Orc Shamans were led by him to become champions in the Doomhammer Arena.”

“Go on.”

Jaina frowned, unsure of what to make of all this.

“Since then, he has made a name for himself with the title of the Ghost Wolf of Lo’Gosh. He still can’t remember who he was, but he continues to work on finding that out with the help of his two friends. One of them is Broll Bearmantle and the other is Valeera Sanguinar.”

“I need to confirm that all this is true,” Jaina said.

“I have very detailed information about all this, and I have no reason nor the courage to deceive you or my master,” Lu Li responded.

“So, what should we do?” Jaina asked.

“Just wait and see. The truth of it all will soon surface. But how about I use this cloak for now?”

Lu Li was captivated by the cloak on his leg.

“You can take it for now. I’ll settle the rest with you when I confirm everything,” Jaina agreed.

She had believed in Lu Li’s information, but there were still some things she couldn’t figure out.