The following is the story of my vanilla rogue that came back to the game after quitting "for good".

Audelyn shivered as she looked once more upon the sickly, yellow-orange plaguelands. She looked down to see that she was wearing only smallclothes. Her jet black hair was tied with a white ribbon into a thick ponytail down to her waist. Her deep brown eyes, small nose, and thin oval lips kept her face hard to read, an ability useful in her line of work.

The last time Audelyn had looked upon these diseased hills was when she retired over a year ago. She never expected to come back. She had sold all of her possessions to Jessica Chambers, the local innkeeper. She was thorough, selling everything in her bags, her bags, the armor she wore, the weapons she wielded, and her black stallion Bella. Anything Jessica didn’t want she threw on the refuse pile behind Light’s Hope Chapel. Then she vanished.

The Dark Portal had opened just days before. The call of adventuring in the Outland beyond had tugged at Audelyn for days. Now she stood, once more, in Azeroth. Her first order of business was to get some weapons. She asked around the chapel but the best she found was a Skinning Knife from Jase Farlane. But Jase wanted 82 copper, a sum far beyond Audelyn’s net worth. She needed to lift some coin from the local undead population. She whistled for Bella and waited for a beat before frowning and setting off on foot.

The skeletons she met not only had no pockets to pick but didn’t take kindly to her intimations. She was forced to Sprint away to safely and rethink her plan. She sat down on a hill and looked out at all the monstrous plaguebats and carrion grubs. There would be very few pockets with coins in these lands. She needed to go somewhere with wealthy marks that were also less likely to spot her doing the deed. She thought for a bit and her mind wandered toward the coasts of Stranglethorn full of Bloodsail Buccaneers. She set off on foot back to Light’s Hope Chapel to catch a gryphon.

“Twelve silver!” she yelled as she stormed off down the path.

She walked through the acrid forests of the Eastern Plaguelands. She walked past the cauldrons of disease in the Western Plaguelands. She stealthed through Strahnbrad. She passed under the arch in Toradin’s Wall. She crossed the collapsed Thandol Span. She climbed the pass up to Loch Modan and Dun Morogh. She trudged up the path to Ironforge. Finally, she could rest her weary legs on the Deeprun Tram.

She walked out the gates of Stormwind. She walked through Goldshire. She swam across the river into Duskwood. She crossed into Stranglethorn Vale. She passed the Gurubashi Arena. She eventually walked out onto the beaches of southern Stranglethorn. Her journey had taken her a very long time and her bare feet were well-calloused.

But it was worth it. The pirate here were filthy with coin. A silver coin from one. A silver coin from another. Every pirate donated to her cause. Half-a-gold rich, she into Booty Bay. Kizz Bluntstrike sold her two maces. She felt their sturdy weight in her hands and smiled. She returned to her patrons to test out her new weapons. A short while later the beach was full of corpses and her coin purse was heavy enough to buy a gryphon ride to Netherguard.

Her second order of business was to head to Outland and get some real gear.

To be continued.