Daughter of Azeroth

31 | TIME IS MONEY, FRIEND

After Papa's attack, VanCleef offered five hundred gold pieces for Jac's head, and one hundred for information which would lead to his capture. With a bounty like that on offer—more than two years' wages for most people—plenty came forward with stories of things they had heard, but all of them came to nothing. After eight months, VanCleef grew tired of wasting his men on what he called 'wild goose chases'. He took down the bounty and sent Kip out along with Benny and several rogues to hunt Papa down, but they never found him.

After more than a year of searching, Kip came back carrying nothing more than rumours that Papa had reappeared for a time in Redridge, then in Duskwood, and even for a time in a remote corner of Elwynn Forest. The wildest rumor had him keeping company with a band of pirates far to the south, at the very bottom of Stranglethorn Vale, at Booty Bay.

VanCleef listened to Kip's report, his lips thin. He nodded and said if Jac were hiding amongst pirates, then VanCleef intended to turn the pirates against him. A few weeks later, Kip and Benny set sail from the south coast of Westfall, the ship's hold laden with antique furniture, fine woven rugs, and crates of rare porcelain and gold candelabra taken from Jac's house on the square. They came back four months later. The pirates were more than happy to work with VanCleef, but Jac wasn't with them, and never had been. They promised if he turned up, they would catch him and turn him over, for a price, of course.

Kip and Benny didn't come back alone, however. When it became known VanCleef was looking for a ship to modify into a juggernaut, a small green creature by the name of Captain Greenskin offered the services of his ship and crew, but at an enormous price. Kip said no, knowing VanCleef could never afford such an exorbitant demand, but he couldn't get rid of the goblin once he learned the ship would be used to sack Stormwind, where everyone who was anyone knew the banks were filled with rivers of gold.

The goblin pirate's determination to be a part of VanCleef's Brotherhood troubled Kip, so he decided to set sail in the night, planning to slip out of Booty Bay and away from the odious creature, but the canny goblin was ready to follow. Guided by the light from Westfall's lighthouse, The Night's Cutlass steered thought the narrow straight between Westfall's deadly shoals, arriving just as the horizon glowed with the pink light of dawn. As the dock workers gaped, horrified, the pirate ship eased into the dockyard, its black flags snapping in the stiff ocean breeze. It put in just outside the Deadmines' massive water gates, and made herself comfortable.

At first VanCleef was furious. He had no wish to include pirates in his Brotherhood. He complained about it at every meal, blaming Jac for this unfortunate turn of events, bitterness tainting his every word.

The goblin and his crew remained on their ship, refusing to depart from the docks. Nothing could be done. They were pirates, after all. VanCleef ignored them for as long as he could, actively seeking other options for ships, but after five months of chasing false leads, the last possibility fell through when a message from Theramore arrived, informing him there would be no business done between them. He had only one other choice left to him, hire shipwrights and build his own ship, which he had neither the time nor the means to do. He raged and stormed around the house in a foul mood for a week, cursing the day he was born, asking no one in particular why everything always had to be so hard for him.

The next day, as sour as a man could be, VanCleef went to the docks and looked at The Night's Cutlass. When he came back, his mood had lifted. As Captain Greenskin had put it, now that he was already invested in the Brotherhood what with the costs of sailing up to Westfall and waiting at the dock for nearly half a year, he offered VanCleef a deal he couldn't refuse. For five hundred pieces of gold up front and half the takings from Stormwind's attack, the boat and crew were VanCleef's to use as he pleased. VanCleef consoled himself, saying he had made a good bargain, reasoning that Captain Greenskin's connections ran deep and he would be able to recruit more members to the Brotherhood, as long as they were guaranteed their fair share of the takings from Stormwind.