“You made a mess” Kathlin said a little plaintively as she peeped around the edge of the door into the study. Emerging to move into the room behind the dwarf, she moved first to the fallen White Hand members to check their pulse and heartbeat. Having satisfied herself that they were not dying, just unconscious, she looked up to survey Alfidious’ study. “That is a lot of books”

Ragnar was standing in the middle of the office, turning slowly on the spot and muttering to himself as he fruitlessly scanned the shelves. Kathlin wandered aimlessly towards Alfidious’ desk as she also took in the vast extents of the room. “If this book is important, the killer would have taken it last night if they could. Maybe they were incorporeal after all. That would explain the knife being left”

Upon reaching the mahogany desk, Kathlin pulled out the leather armchair behind it before flopping down with a sigh. “This probably means that nobody in the house was involved, at least. They had all the time in the world to retrieve it before now”

“…Not that that really helps in figuring out where it actually is, of course”

“Littl’ help would be nice, Lass!”

The lords chair had little wheels on the legs that allowed it to glide seamlessly along the wooden floor. Kathlin scooted it back and forth slowly as she twiddled her thumbs together absently. “Captain Adolph’s staying here for keeps as a bodyguard, yet he sent his men to get this the moment they got here. He must have been worried someone would find it, maybe Lady Rosemary or Mister Murphy? Besides, half of that stuff up there must have been there years. If this is something Lord Alfidious was working on or something, he would never have put it there”

“….”

Alfidious’ desk was completely bare, the top having been previously cleared to bear the late lord himself. Kathlin got up to cross over the floor to the shelf where she had dumped the stack of letters, copies of the Stormwind financial news, pamphlets and assorted paperwork that had graced it that morning, and came back with a small leatherbound book after hunting through the pile. It was noticeably dog-eared, and had a couple of dates etched on the front. “I think I might have something. Whatever ‘something’ is”

“Did Mister Alfidious die for this?”

Brow creasing as she studied the book in her hand, Kathlin sat back down in the chair as she started to leaf through it.

"Maybe the assassin could'a been in a hurry, didn't 'ave time tha find it... whatever he was lookin' fer." Ragnar mumbled to himself while the Dwarf walked alongside the shelves, trailing his fingers across the numerous books and covers, although with little clue what he was actually doing nor looking for.
"When killin' people, ya usually don't stay around to scrounge through an entire library afterwards."

In the meantime, Kathlin had retrieved a book from the pile.

It seemed to have been used a lot, its cover worn and scratched, and pages littered with traces of age-old bread crumps, wax and spilled water. Its date indicated that it was the latest in a series of ledgers, cynically dubbed in an eloquent and high-classed handwriting as 'Daily Headaches of the Royal Advisor', and further down on the cover; 'A compilation of notices, reminders and complaints'.

All the pages of the diary looking notebook were handwritten by Alfidious' own fine and luxurious handwriting, with elaborate mathematical graphs and calculations littering the pages. On the sides of the pages were little notes written besides the text, such as 'Remember to remind Guardsmaster Hastor, [X]', 'Have last week's taxation of Old District revised... again'.
Unlike your ordinary diary however, it was mostly concerned isolated incidents within economics, from Alfidious' discoveries of local bars in Stormwind's attempts to cheat the tax system, to even dated series about large, missing sums of money from the Stormwind bank itself years back.

His three latest entries however detailed three separate cases. The first two were related to taxation and evasion, with his typical, angry notes written besides them 'Notify the fool Hastor', 'Fire District Manager Sebastian!'. The third one, however, was a detailed report on the cooperation between the White Hand and "The Southsea Metal Import company".
The report detailed Alfidious' interest for the progress of the latter, a chart detailing the two organizations' total purchases and expenditure, as well as earnings and reported treasury, which showed both of the organizations to go in a massive minus.

However, a lot of the report also went into discussing the Southsea Company's seemingly abundant supply of metals, despite having hired almost no manpower at all from Stormwind nor Ironforge to explain their high production. The only people they had officially hired was a dwarf named Dagmar Stoneherder, a seasoned miner and certified Engineer and metallurgist, and his brother, Brann Stoneherder, a former mountaineer and geologist. Notes filled the page on either side, going from 'dwarves still missing, two months beyond contract expiration', 'Possible Horde cooperation?', 'Black Labor' and always ending in 'requires formal investigation!'.

"Found anythin' yet," Ragnar called back to Kathlin, while mindlessly looking through the pages of a large tax ledger he had found at the bottom of a chest, which pumped a massive cloud of dust up into the air when he dropped it back into the chest!

Falaani, who's pulse had been almost through the roof as the Night Elf had watched the shoddy procedure on the Blood Elf, had finally returned to a more relieved and non-alarmed expression as it turned out that Rae'liel would in fact not die.

"Praise Elune... I'm so glad I didn't have to report her death to Serphia!"

The sentinel thought to herself. A part of her suspected that if the Blood Elf had actually died, she could even risk being sent on a solo mission to Northrend to retrieve a Necromancer to reanimate Rae'liel's body just so that Serphia could have the second round that she demanded.
Now at least, none of that was necessary, and the only way the Blood Elf could die was if Liaena accidentally dropped one of her potions, or she slipped and broke her neck on her way up the stairs!

"My job here is done! I'm OUT before something else happens and they can blame me!"

"Patience is the mark of a good hunter, and patience requires restraint." Falaani commented, with a slightly smug smile as her feet shifted their direction towards the exit.
"Something it seems your kin lacks. Try to change that, as I would hate to report your death to my mistress!"

Falaani spoke as she walked towards the exit of the room, her eyes focused on Rae'liel and Liaena..

"May the goddess light your path, sin'dorei, you will ne,-"

*Crash!*

However, as Falaani was about to step out of the room, the tall Night Elf crashed with her head into the upper part of the doorframe while her attention was on the pair still inside! Pulling her head down and rubbing it fiercely, Falaani spat out a series of curses both in her native and common tongue.

"Aaarghh! Fucking midget-architecture, shan-do falain radash, da'fein gnomen balorn!" Falaani growled as she exited the room in a hurry, passing by Sharon on the outside while holding a hand protectively over her head which she had recently managed to use as a soft tipped battering ram, having successful dislocated the upper part of the doorframe and caused it to jut slightly outwards.

Her voice could be heard long after she had disappeared up the stairs, the sound of what one could assume to only be an impressive and expansive native vocabulary of swearing aplenty still echoing from the upper levels!

Waiting patiently outside the door was Sharon, when he suddenly noticed the handle moving as someone was about to open the door. But it was shortly accompanied by an audible thud from the inside as Falaani smashed her skull into the doorframe, and a rather angry and pissed Sentinel emerged from the room to march straight past Sharon.

The High Elf choose to give the sentinel a wide berth as she marched to the stairs, deciding that it would be a most unprofitable venture to attempt to question or talk to the furious Night Elf whom at the time seemed more concerned with just getting away from the scene of the crime, or embarrassment.

Once she had left visual range, Sharon peeked inside the room, just to verify that A. The occupants were still safe and healthy, and B. Rae'liel was dressed. Stepping inside, Sharon motioned with his head behind him at where Falaani had disappeared.

"So much for the ancient grace and agility of the Night Elves." Sharon said jokingly, before turning to look towards Liaena and Rae'liel, choosing to focus on the Blood Elf.

"You look a lot better. But I would recommend getting yourself some rest, and keeping some distance to the Night Elves to avoid further... diplomatic incidents. My butler, Friedrick, has prepared a room for you in the top of the north eastern spire. Yes, the Night Elves are stalking the roof outside, but as long as you don't flip them off or anything, the windows should be all the barriers you'll ever need."

Sharon said, pausing for a moment as the High Elf seemed to be remembering what else to say.

"Oh, and yes, about our honored Captain Serphia. If all else fails and you should happen to get into a second fight with her, please either do it outside, use some shrink potions, or solve it through a game of cards or something. This is a house, not a castle. It can only take so much damage before collapsing down on our heads."

“Maaybe…” Kathlin said slowly as she scanned the pages. Getting up, she moved over to the dwarf to push the book under his nose open at the relevant page. “Look at this. Lord Alfidious wanted to investigate this South Sea company the White Hand are involved with. It talks about these two dwarfs, Dagmar and Brann Stoneherder. Do you know them?”

Ragnar gave her a funny look, before squinting down at the pages. “Do ye know all tha humans in Stormwind, Lass? No. I heard of them though, stand up chaps. Would ne’ have thought they’d throw their lot in with tha likes of tha lilies, pfft…”

“I can see why Mister Alfidious was interested. These financial records look weird, if they’re right” Kathlin observed as she trailed a finger along the page. “This says that the White Hand are bankrupt. I thought they had enough to build a castle”

“….”

“We need to show this to Lady Rosemary” Kathlin said decisively after a long pause. Closing the diary and sliding it into her pocket, she shot Dagmar an appealing look. “….We can’t let her hire these guys as bodyguards if they might have been involved in her husbands death somehow. And...even if not, whatever’s up with these records, Adolph was clearly trying to cover it up somehow which is really, really dodgy”

--

“Ah” Liaena said weakly as Rae’liel started to speak about her family, and then just to drive the knife in deeper, produced the rings. The girls eyes flitted towards the door, even as she kept the carefully controlled expression sculpted on her face. “I need to not be here”

“…How did you two come to meet?”

“…”

“Help”

The girl’s expression appeared to become even more fixed for a moment, before instantly recovering herself as she started to launch into a story. “Well, actually –“
It was to Liaena’s vast relief that Falaani picked that exact moment to butt in as the Night Elf swaggered off, not before cracking her head on the unfortunately placed doorway. The girls lips quirked back at Sharon as the High Elf stuck his head around the door to make a flippant remark. “Best bodyguards. She definitely killed that door for you, Sharon”

“….Either way, there’s something I need to get on with so I’m going to go do that, okay Sharon?” the girl said swiftly, before Rae’liel could say anything else, or start trying to talk to her again. Liaena edged around Sharon, patting his hand for a moment as she headed for the door. “You –“ this was to Rae’liel – “should get some bed rest, don’t use that arm for a while and don’t start another fight. Sharon…I’ll deal with what we talked about. Okay?”

Whether it was okay or not, the human did not stick around to find out as the door shut with a click. Liaena headed down the stairs, back into the main body of the house.

Rae'liel - The Honored Guest

Stubbornly as Falaani made her rather brashly worded exit, the Paladin clicked her tongue in disapproval. "Of course, where my kind can learn the virtue of patience, yours can do the same with civility and humility." Her words themselves were distracting enough to the trigger-happy guard that her temple collided hard with the upper edge of the door frame. As the Night Elven woman made her exit then beneath a string of curses instead of arrogance, Rae'liel could not help but a small smirk of triumph.

Such a smirk faded however, with the entrance of Sharon. His look of worriment soon vanished and melded into one of disapproval after a sly joke at the Guardian's expense, first he mentioned quarters by which she could stay while she helped him, of which she nodded silently to since they were more than agreeable. Yet his expression of dismay for the damages incurred upon his home not only by her, but also the Night Elves drew upon a small pang of guilt.

After all, she had been a bit hot headed in recent events. If anything she was equal in both blame and guilt.

To make this already miserable moment even more awkward was the seemingly ill suited social tendencies of her medic. Watching quietly instead of inquiring why she had to make such a hasty retreat, the Paladin adjusted the cloak about her shoulders uneasily. Having become so accustomed to bearing armor relatively as a constant made wearing light clothing like this feel almost too vulnerable.

Once the door clicked to a close and left her sitting there with Sharon alone, her expression darkened with both a hint of sarcasm and a foreboding nature. "You really know how to pick them, Sharon. That aside though, it's been six years, almost seven since I saw you last. Meeting his luminous blue with that of her glowering green, she had remained as steadfast as ever, just like those days years ago. "What darkness has your adversary employed? And where do you need me to strike?"

"Darkness... " Sharon repeated as he smiled. Although through his expression, his eyes deceived a greater concern lingering on within his mind.
"If only it was that simple."

Sharon continued, keeping up his smile. Taking a moment to gaze towards the door where Liaena had left, Sharon made a satisfied nod as he saw his lover disappear out through the door, before turning his attention back to Rae'liel.

"Seven years... yet to me, it feels more like days, Rae'liel." Sharon spoke in a soft, yet uneasy tone. The High Elf stepped through the laboratory, taking his time looking at the various potions and vials positioned on the tables and shelves around him as he chewed on his next words.

"Do you remember when I told you of my loss in the Third War? How all my kin and family had been vanquished?"

The High Elf finally asked, his gaze returning to Rae'liel.

"If only I was so lucky as to have my kin utterly destroyed that time. Fate, however, did not deem death and loss a fitting punishment for whatever sins I have committed earlier in life. My brother... he survived." Sharon paused for a moment, looking distant as he spoke. Moving his hand across the wooden surface of the table on which Rae'liel had been operated on, he erratically drummed his fingers on the wooden boards.

"Sherraine Daerin'lei. That is his name. The Third War did consume him, but it did not kill him. No, it made my brother into something else. And now... and now he is back, back here in Stormwind. Draped under the damning wings of the Scourge, he has reemerged. Why or for what purpose, I do not know, but he seeks my head." Sharon chuckled softly.
"Funny that Falaani should mention patience... it is a virtue that my brother possesses to an all too great degree, in fact. With my... despite all my protection, this mansion may seem like a fortress, but it is little more than a shrinking tomb as my brother advances all around me."

Sharon picked up one of Liaena's vials, a crystalline vial filled with a luminous yellow and thick liquid which he studied it intently.

"Eventually, my Night Elven escort will have to return to Ashenvale. My funds will expire soon, as they are too finite. If I keep the current course, my vulnerability will only grow, and in the end... so will he find me."

A silence ensued in the room between Rae'liel and Sharon. The High Elf continued to stare at the vial, before eventually setting it back down on the shelf from which he had retrieved it from. Turning his head back to Rae'liel, it was a blank, expressionless face that met her.

"The darkness of the Scourge is not gone, oh no... it has simply manifested itself in another place, here... at my doorstep. My brother has survived its damned embrace, and taken every thing he has learned back with him to end me!"

Rae'liel - The Honored Guest

With quiet countenance, the Sin'Dorei carefully regarded the Quel'Dorei's lament. Not a single detail was missed nor a minor subtle hint or clue. Still sitting upon the table which was still stained by her blood, a slow scowl crept up on her lips as he revealed that not only was the Scourge working its craft in Stormwind, but they were lead by a Deathknight to boot. That would be a prime target she'd enjoy removing from existence, as such abominations were foul and cruel creatures.

That aside, there were still details that Sharon had not quite mentioned, and it did not make sense! Why were the Scourge going after him, rather than infiltrating the city and rending it asunder by disease as they had done in Stratholme? Did he have some item of power or some type of knowledge that he had yet to reveal? If so, why hadn't he revealed it to her? Surely, saving one another's lives in the culling of the north several times was plenty to establish a bond.

Or...did he not know himself? Or was his reanimated sibling out for some ill-perceived revenge?

Folding her hands with one neatly over the other, the Paladin's posture stiffened, even in spite of her new injury to a more proper stance than her formerly relaxed state. "So you ask me to arrive here to help combat the evil that lurks right outside your door." She began, briefly glancing at her silvery armor and weapons that laid distant.

"You know all too well that I'd be more than happy to assist you. However, with your brother's fiends subtly knocking at your door; would it not be wise to move to a safer locale before the Night Elves depart? Shattrath is a better sanctuary, and the worried there is the Burning Legion. Which, honestly, may be Se worse than the Scourge, but with the Naaru so steadfastly present, your brother would have an infinitely more difficult time getting to you....As well as my complement of Blood Knights."

Brushing a strand of hair out of her luminous eye, she cracked a mild grin. "Let your brother have this mild victory. However, let your survival find new strength and allies in a foreign land, so that you may win the war. For Shattrath is a Sanctuary, there, the rotting claws of the Scourge will never find you or your beloved."

"This is something that I cannot run from. If I run, my brother will simply be free to continue with his schemes in my absence. I may live, but in the end, simply others will die instead." Sharon explained.
"He is ruthless and uncompromising. I have seen first hand what he saw capable of. Even free of the Scourge, he intentionally raided and sacked an entire port town in Quel'Thalas, simply for his own gains, before turning on the men he had manipulated and deceived into his service."

Sharon thought back on Lord Greymoon's little ill fated expedition, where his brother had posed as an agent of the king. With the Lord's own men, under the false guise of finding a fake cult supposedly after the Lord's life, Sherpa had attacked and raided a wealthy port town in Quel'Thalas. The deaths had been high, both for the elves living in the town, and the men he had fooled to serve him.

"Worst, he is not even undead. He is what the Argent Dawn used to call a Second Generation death knight, consisting of those recruited during the Third War itself. He is as alive as both you and me, and he uses that to his advantage by hiding among the general populace of this city."

Sharon paused, seemingly lost in thought for a brief moment.

"From what I understand, after the fall of the Scourge, he went his own separate path. But even with the death of his evil lord, his ruthless ambition seems to only have grown. What his ultimate goals are, I do not know, only that they are his own now."

Sharon's eyes narrowed slightly as he stared absentmindedly through the room, raising his hand above his chest to slightly rub his lower jaw with the back of his fingers.

"Exactly why he wants to kill me, I do not know. Maybe it is revenge, or maybe it is fear. Fear that I, as one of the few witnesses and survivors of Quel'Thalas, could jeopardize his plans, whatever they might be."

Rae'liel - The Guest of Honor.

Sitting comfortably with one leg smoothly crossed over the other, the Paladin silently allowed the High Elf to finish rummaging through his thoughts. Rolling through her own respective contemplations, she tried to discern just exactly what his brother might be after. If revenge, such a hot blooded cause normally wound rally up far more brash actions than apparently seen. Sliding to a stand then, she smoothly walked over to her discarded armor and took grasp of her sheathed sword.

Taking up the belt and winding it so that the sword rested easily on the back of her waist once again, she looked back to Sharon with a wry smirk. "Seven years and you haven't changed a bit. I'll be heading into town for the next series of moments, and I'll be taking a look around town." Shrugging casually, the lightly clothed Paladin strode past Sharon and gently lent the softness of her fingertips to his shoulder briefly to comfort him. "After all, you said that the Night Elves won't be here for much longer. I'd better get to know Stormwind once again while I still have a chance."

Snatching the goggles up once again and tossing them over her eyes, the heavily tinted lenses lender their protection to her as she gradually are her way away from the Magus district and into the heat and chaos of Stormwind's bustling streets. With her light footfalls guiding her through the cobblestone streets, it did not take long for her to discover the new locales and pubs; each of the latter still bustling with noise and chaos of inebriation at even the earlier hours of the afternoon.

The newest addition did not escape her as she paced through a tunnel, and in turn beheld the newest fortification protecting the docks. Staring up at it with a minute expression that was in the least impressed, Rae'liel simply stood there, even in spite of the leering stare of a handful of White Hand members that were striding towards her at that very moment.

"On that, ye got me full support! Let's head out there before,"

"Span out, block the exits!"

The loud voice of Adolph could suddenly be heard outside the study. At the other end of the large hall outside, arriving from the stairs was fourteen white cloaked mercenaries from the White Hand, lead by Adolph in the first row.

Captain Adolph walked with fierce determination into the room, his eyes fixated upon the open door to the study where Ragnar and Kathlin were. On either side of him, his men were flowing by him like a river, quickly spreading out on either side in the room. The noise of their rattling armor and heavy footsteps echoed under the tall, arched roofs of the main hall.

Most of them were armed with halberds, razor sharp and freshly polished. On the walkway up above them in the hall, four other wind hand mercenaries emerged from the doors. All of them were carrying long muskets, except for one of them who was carrying a staff, with a book hanging below his arm in a leather strap. The latter in question seemed to be a battle mage, and there was another battle mage visible downstairs, walking behind Adolph.

"Sheit!" Ragnar cussed when he glimpsed the White Hand members outside the room, turning back to Kathlin.
"Quick, get the book, lass! We need tha move before they tighten the noose!"

---

The new fortifications that were being built on the tall reefs north of the Stormwind harbor consisted of a great fortress situated at the top of the tall, dark reefs. It's only direct access point from land seemed to be a bridge connecting the castle to the bastion wall overlooking the harbor, the bridge itself controlled by a series of heavy metal chains. Beneath it was a vast drop of no less than two hundred feet, leading straight down into the dark, winter water below where the waves rolled against the heavy reefs.

Although the castle was being built at the top of the reef, its towers and walls spreading out across it, a few fortified cannon posts built into the reef walls themselves and pointed out across the entrance to the harbor could suggest that there was also an intricate network of tunnels and rooms inside the very reef itself.

Short of the bridge that was overseen by both White Hand mercenaries and Stormwind soldiers, the only other visible entrance to the castle was by seaway; a large cave opening at the bottom of the reef that lead inside a hollow pocket. The cave entrance itself was fortified by a heavy stone structure built around it, and from the distance Rae'liel stood at one could barely glimpse some heavy metal bars at the top of the entrance to suggest that there was a movable metal gate that they could raise and lower to control entrance to the mini harbor under the reef itself.

Although the lower parts of the castle seemed finished, most of the main towers and keep remained incomplete; wooden support structures and scaffolding surrounding it. Distant noises and hammering traveled with the fresh sea wind to the docks itself, from the workers hard at work on the castle itself.

The harbor was as busy as ever, with ships sailing in and out. There was also a supply ship with a heavy rock load anchored next to the reef with the castle, positioned beneath a complex staircase of cranes and elevators used to lift the construction rocks up to the top of the reef to be used to build the fortifications.

The small group of White Hand mercenaries who approached Rae'liel were talking among each other, but as they passed the Blood Elf, they quieted down as a lot of the men turned their heads to look at the silent elf.

Walking in front of them was a dark haired human. It was Sevarian, the grandmaster of the White Hand. He wore a heavy set of silver-polished plate armor under his stainless white tabard and cloak, trimmed with gold linings and a pair of eagle wings decorating his shoulder. Under his left hand was an ornate, silver broadsword sitting in its heavy sheath, and in right hand he held a tall, white Oak staff covered in mystical arcane runes engraved in the rare wood. The Grandmaster took a moment to gaze at Rae'liel whom he passed with his men, seemingly curious at the odd little elf with the bizarre pair of goggles.
However, the White Hand members choose to ignore her as they continued on their way to the stairs leading up to the bastion walls surrounding the harbor, and ultimately, the bridge connecting to the new castle.

"Beautiful sight, isn't she?" One of the dockworkers who were passing by had noticed Rae'liel who was staring at the castle. Putting down the crate he was carrying to take a rest, he stood next to the Paladin.
"They say the castle's name is Hero's Watch, in commemoration of all the heroes who gave their lives in the defense of Stormwind during the Orcish attacks. Amazing piece of work if you ask me. They even got Dwarves and Mages alongside the normal human worforce, all working together to make the construct possible."

Trudging back down through the corridors, she walked down the stairs leading into the atrium after having organized with her sisters to increase the mansion defense.

After the incident with the mysterious shooter, all the curtains in the numerous windows of Sharon's mansion had been pulled down to block any line of sight inside of the mansion. The Watchers on the roof and balconies had been raised to red alert, keeping an even closer watch on anything suspicious around the house.

But even though the defenses and awareness had been raised on the outside, inside the house, the atmosphere remained as calm and lax as it had always been.

As she stepped down onto the carpet of the atrium, Rithrynn suddenly saw the Blood Elf that Falaani had recently shot - walking through the atrium and towards the exit! It was enough to surprise Rithrynn, as the Sentinel looked after her. Images of Rae'liel being struck by an arrow flashed vividly before her eyes, and now, to see the Sin'dorei walking casually around as though nothing had happened was nothing short of astonishing.

"Elune! I refuse to believe that Liena just healed her up that quickly! Surely the little human girl must've pumped the stupid Sin'dorei so full of painkillers and chemicals that she is simply numb to her own physical trauma!"

Lost in her own thoughts for a moment, Rithrynn quickly woke up to realize that Rae'liel was in fact heading straight for the front door.

"Wait, you stupid little sin'dorei!" Rithrynn raised her hand towards Rae'liel as she opened the front door.
"There is a shooter outside! You can't just walk out and,-"

*Smack*

But Rae'liel had already disappeared outside, and smacked the front door behind her. Rithrynn, whose warnings had been utterly ignored by Rae'liel, scoffed angrily back in the atrium as she turned her shoulders towards the living room which had been her original destination.

"Oh, I'm a brave and stout Paladin, I don't have to listen to the warnings of the BOSS of SECURITY! Sigh... stupid cow, it's her fault if she gets her brains blown out... " Rithrynn muttered angrily to herself as she walked away, not at all happy with how the Blood Elf had ignored her.

*

Arriving back in the living room, Rithrynn had stripped and left her gear behind in the large heap that had formed in the hallway outside the living room, which was practically filled to the brim with the armor, weapons and belongings to Serphia's warband, making travel hazardous at best!
Now wearing a much more comfortable, thin silk dress with cuts at her legs and chest; she searched the room for her old chair.

However, when she found it, it had been occupied by no less than two of her fellow sisters who were laughing and waving their goblets; one of them practically dancing at the top of it.

Silently considering whether or not she'd put up a fight for her chair, Rithrynn instead decided to play the role as the merciless and benevolent mistress, and headed over to the row of pillows at the sidelines of the living room; slumping down in a small sea of cushions and silk.

"Maybe I should resign as temporary lieutenant. It's turning out to be a little too much work than what I care for!"

Rithrynn contemplated approaching Serphia and simply handing in her badge, watching her Captain from the other side of the room; but eventually decided not too. There was, after all, some perks with being a lieutenant! Surely the benefits would outweigh the cons, such as the added responsibility.

But as she sat and relaxed in the pillows, Rithrynn suddenly noticed a tiny movement beneath one of the pillows by her side.

Looking down, she saw the now tiny Shani hiding beneath the cloth, whom had somehow gotten shrunk from the last time she had seen her. Realizing that she had been seen, Shani immediately raised a finger to her mouth and gave Rithrynn a 'shhh' motion. Rithrynn couldn't hold back a sly smirk when she realized who the little sentinel was!

"I guess you didn't find your assassin?" Rithrynn asked in a deliciously mocking tone, at which point Shani's cheeks simply turned red.

"Shut up, just shut up! I know you were involved with it! Now just stay quiet and I won't tell." Shani sneered back up at the much larger Rithrynn, who was at the brink of bursting into laughter.

Finally managing to restrain herself, Rithrynn merely leaned her head back to rest it upon the pillows, and let out a deep, relieved sigh. Closing her eyes, she stretched out her legs and found her peace.

"At last, I can commence operation; Do-Absolutely-Nothing! Elune, I swear, if anyone dares disturb me; I'll throw her out the window!"

-Rithrynn pipped me, teh meanie-

Unknowing of the conversation that had taken place between Sharon and Ren’liel or that Ren’liel had left the building, Liaena was heading quickly back to the quarters she shared with Sharon while keeping a sharp look out for any Night Elves. Sticking her head around the door cautiously to check the rooms hadn’t been taken over by any drunk revellers or tigers, Liaena then slunk inside before locking the door behind her.

The bath that Frederick had promised was still standing there temptingly, and the girl was decidedly windswept and grimy after her mad run through the city earlier. Liaena merely plunged her hands into the cold water to splash the worst of the grime off her face, before stripping out of the once beautiful, now ruined oversized dress and discarding it on the floor.

Shrugging on an undershirt and the protective pads first, the girl carefully pulled the thorium chain shirt over her head before tightening the buckles and straps that held the interlinked rings closer to her body. Padding over to her wardrobe, after a couple of experiments it soon became clear that her robes disguised the fact she was wearing armour the best, and she pulled on a dark blue set with winter shoes. Checking that her dart-gun was in working operation and was loaded, she slipped it into an inside pocket in her robes, patted her satchel and darted out of the door closing it carefully behind her.

Padding back towards the atrium while remaining on high alert for Night Elves, or maybe one Night Elf in particular, it was very tempting to break into a run as she considered all the many ways a Rithrynn could wreak havoc in the house if she was under some sort of dark mysterious power. Liaena resisted the panicky thoughts with some difficulty. Rithrynn had already been in the house longer than she had, the girl reminded herself, had in fact been in close proximity with Sharon and hadn’t tried to kill him….which in itself was odd.

“What is Sherpa playing at? Isn’t he trying to hurt Sharon anymore? Or…maybe there’s something he needs her to do first?....”

Pulling open the door to the living room gingerly, Liaena peered inside. It was very easy to see several very large, obnoxiously loud Night Elves singing some sort of drinking song in darnassian, and Rithrynn lounging lazily on some cushions on the window seat.

“…Or not”

Slipping into the room, she was universally ignored by the other elves for the moment as she snuck up behind the snoozing Night Elf. Hesitating, she raised a finger before giving Rithrynn a poke in the back of the head.

“My seat. Go ‘way”

“….”

-poke-

“….I’m Lieutenant! Go ‘way or double shifts”

-poke-

“…In the snow!”

“…..” -poke-

Finally there commenced an angry sigh and the Night Elf reared herself into a seating position to swing around to confront her persecutor. Liaena stood her ground, just stopped herself from leaping back or reaching for her dart gun as she stared impassively up at Rithrynn. “She seems entirely normal. I’d never have known” “….You were taking up two seats”

To illustrate her point, Liaena stepped around the Night Elf to sit down in the other half of the window seat now that Rithrynn was no longer lying fully across it. Looking up, Liaena produced her most cheekily innocent smile that reeked of: “irritating? not me, surely?” to beam up at the Night Elf - before cocking an eyebrow at her. “So what were you up to last night? Sharon says you only just got back”

“So what were you up to last night? Sharon says you only just got back”

"What?" Rithrynn replied in return, her mind momentarily disoriented, having gone from thoughts of sweet sleep and laziness to now having to face Liaena's incessant questions.
"Wait... why are you asking?"

At first, the Elf's expression was slightly dazed.

Normally, she'd never even think over it when Liaena asked her random and totally meaningless questions. However, when her mind brought back the memories of Sherpa the night earlier, her eyes suddenly opened as she looked back at Liaena, slightly distancing herself.

"Goddess, does she know?! No, no no. She was with her midgets that night. This is obviously just a routine-check produced by her incessant paranoid and schizophrenic behaviour!"

"I was just... out shopping." Rithrynn replied, although received a long stare from Liaena.

"Wait, dammit. This isn't Darnassus. Most human close at evening hours. Goddess, improvise, Ri, improvise!"

"I had to get some stuff from our boat as well, and Nisha needed some fresh air. There's a limit to how long we can keep our nightsabers inside before they get restless, and we can't really let them prowl the city alone, so I had to watch her! Didn't want her to accidentally eat one of those little gnomes, heh."

Rithrynn let out a careful laughter as she gave a bright smile to Liaena, but the little girl seemed to only give her a cold and analytic expression in return, which left the Sentinel feeling a little uneasy.
Biting her tongue, her silvery eyes began to look around the room for a viable escape strategy, excuse or a bludgeoning tool if push came to shove. Most of her sisters around the room weren't paying any attention to them, preoccupied with their own activities, ranging from drunk apple archery, watching the mini fight club, or just sharing old stories and jokes about the humans and dwarves they had seen in Stormwind. The only one who seemed to be paying them the occasional moment of attention was Serphia and Naliyah, although the Captain's eyes kept trailing back to the rest of her soldiers in the room.

"What, you airing Nisha in this weather? Who threatened you?" Came the snide snicker from Shani who was hiding on the floor, who only just managed to dodge Rithrynn's angry kick which came as a reply to her question.

"Fal ein Elune, Shani! ... "Rithrynn sneered back down at Shani, who was throwing her the most evil gaze imaginable after seeing an opportunity to put her in a worse position! Quickly turning her head back to Liaena, Rithrynn raised her hands to explain.

"Look, someday, I'll get my own nightsab,-"

"Hai guys! What's going on?!" Without as much as a warning, Naliyah's had dive bombed the space between Liaena and Rithrynn with her butt, taking the seat and pushing both Rithrynn and Liaena a little bit to the side as she had landed. Looking back and forth between Rithrynn and Liaena, Naliyah beamed a smile at both of them, apparently having finished treating Serphia's bruisers.
"What are you talking about?"

"Elune, uh.. hi, Nali... uhm, just nothing." Rithrynn replied to her enthusiastic sister. At that point, Rithrynn felt a strange mixture of sheer discomfort, and pure relief from Naliyah's sudden appearance. Although the fact that Naliyah had already taken one arm around her and was leaning heavily upon her, she had also provided a brief respite from Liaena's little interrogation that bad been going badly.

" ... just the weather, and... uh, cats."

Rae'liel - The Honored Guest

Even as the White Hand members gave the strangely dressed Elven woman a suspicious stare, her gaze invisibly met theirs as they strode on by. She was doing nothing that warranted their action, nor did she seem like she was a threat, so Rae simply stood quietly as they brushed by. She was no fool, for drawing attention as an unknown would be most unwise; rather, she had simply wanted to see what her adversary had at his disposal.

Impassively looking towards the ramparts as the towered overhead, the Paladin contemplated just exactly how they small motley crew would have to infiltrate the massive structure. Biting her lip, her arms folded just as a new voice echoed out from a lower height. Sharply, her head would snap towards the voice, and it did not take long for her to recognize where it came from. A dwarven dock worker had piped up to her as he had taken a break, and the Elven woman looked down at him intensely from the guise of her goggles.

"It is quite intimidating, for a structure built mostly by humans," she would humbly state while drawing up her palms to rest them atop the curvature of her hips. "Though one can see its flaws. All cannonade has a specific range, and judging by the length of those barrels, these can shoot quite far. That being said, some ship cannon work can sit just outside the range of this fortress and bombard the harbor it protects into oblivion." Shrugging slightly as the Dwarven worker puffed his chest proudly in defiance, he would then retort harshly in kind to her words.

"Thos' re made of the finest dwarven smiths o' the age! Are you daft? No guns can out'ange them." As if on call, one cannon fired and the thunder of it echoed throughout the harbor. Yet the Blood Elf remained unimpressed as the shot arced through the sky and landed distant in the water. Then, and only then did she truly realize something wonderful; for all its bristling artillery and heavily reinforced walls, this fortress did not compensate for a specific kind of assault.

The kind of attack that she dealt with quite commonly in the savage Outlands.

"Sin'Dorei weaponry easily outrange that." She responded casually to the Dwarf, who fumed even further. "I've seen it, sadly. Do take care!" Casually waving a hand, she sauntered away from the docks and headed nonchalantly back towards Sharon's mansion. Taking the winding roads and alleyways throughout Stormwind to try and see if she were being followed, the Sin'Dorei could not help but hear the sound of another pair of feet scuffling as quietly as they could behind her.

Whipping about and drawing her sword, a blade came whistling towards her through the air, and she easily struck it aside. A shift of Shadows further drew her attention and this time, she stomped her foot stubbornly into the ground, and the alleyway's floor was suddenly filled with white fire. Burning the soles of a hooded man, he quickly turned to flee only to suddenly have the curvature of a Sin'Dorei's blade set upon his jugular. Her breathing however, was labored. The conflict from before having still taken its toll as she tore off the goggles to reveal emerald orbs instead of blue to allow her gaze to regain her focus.

"Tell your boss something for me, won't you?" She inquired of the trembling human. "Tell him that the Rae'liel, Light's Vengeance is coming for him. Deathknights have no place here." Pulling her blade away and sheathing it, she glared harshly at the man as he stumbled first and then broke into a horrified run straight back towards a certain fortress upon the cliffs overlooking the sea.

Finally however, after a few more winding roads, she returned back to Sharon's mansion among a literal sea of glares as she opened the door and quickly shut it. Ignoring the huntress e's and striding past them, the Paladin made her way back up the trashed stairs and ruined hallways to find none other than her courteous host still musing in his thoughts.

"Your brother has quite the fancy house," she joked first, cracking an amused smile at the thought of it. "However, if you cared to strike while you still have a commendable force at your fingertips, I've a plan. It requires me to ask a favor of an friend, but I assure you that it will work." Taking up a pencil, she began to sketch a picture of his brother's fortress with remarkable accuracy and detail, down to even the number of cannons on the ramparts.

"He has too heavy of a guard on the front door and the flanks are too heavily armored. So, from the ground and from the sea, one could say that this is near impregnable. However, " she matter-of-factly stated as she drew her pencil to point at the ceiling. "The only defense he has against the sky is a few makes and archers. Those are fairly negligible, if we use what we have now. I can call in a few dozen gyrocopters that are heavily armed from the Scryer engineers in Shattrath. They can soften up their defenses, and a handful can attack from above. After the roof is cleared, they can access the gate controls, open the doors, and let your huntresses run wild."

Rae would cracked a confident grin in the moment that followed. "Then, and only then, we could infiltrate amongst all the madness, find your brother, and remove him of his mortal coil. How does this sound?"

As the doors to his study opened and Rae'liel walked through, Sharon looked up from his edition of the Stormwind Royal News to turn his attention to the newly arrived Blood Elf. Noticing the snow and water still lingering on the side of her boots, it seemed as if she had been out on a trip. It was enough to generate a small chunk of worry in Sharon's mind, as the High Elf thought of what she might possibly have been up to.

Finally, having heard the Blood Elf's proposed attack plan against Hero's Watch, Sharon merely gazed back at her for a moment.

"Are you saying, that you are proposing a direct assault on my brother's castle?" The High Elf asked, letting the question simply hang in the air for a moment while he simply looked at her.

After a brief pause and silence, the High Elf slowly placed the newspaper down on his desk while letting out a sigh.

"The castle is in built in a joint effort between the White Hand and the Stormwind ministry of Defense, with the King's own blessing. To attack it openly, unprovoked, would be the same as declaring war on Stormwind and become a rebel in his own city." Sharon slowly explained while gazing back up at Rae'liel.
"Even if I had an entire army with enough munition to level the entire place, as long as the attack could be traced back to me, I would become an enemy of the king in the process."

Sharon smiled briefly, his mind moving to other things.

"I don't think that even Captain Serphia, despite her indifference to human life and collateral damage, would want to make an enemy of the king. Even she isn't capable of causing such a political crisis."

Or at least, Sharon thought she didn't have the sanity, or lack thereof, to do it. Even if she had a flair for the reckless. The idea of her causing a war between Stormwind and Darnassus on her vacation was one that was very amusing to Sharon, especially considering the explanation that she would have to give when she returned to her ancient people.

"We cannot ever risk an open attack, at least not without some pretty damning evidence that proves that the White Hand is an enemy of Stormwind." Sharon continued, his eyes still on Rae'liel.
"Without such evidence, our only choice is a covert operation that cannot be traced back to us. Lest we be branded as terrorists for sabotaging Stormwind's own defenses."

---

"The mansion has gotten a sizeable defense upgrade since the last time I was in it," Donald answered the Blood Elf's question while casting a brief look across the roofs to Sharon's mansion, before turning back.

"How about we first leave the scene of the crime? We do not want to get spotted by the new guardians of the house, especially not in such an exposed and damning position as this."

Donald suggested, the rogue motioning for the two elves to follow him down from the roof. He had little interested in being turned into a proverbial pin-cushion by the Night Elves, a thing that would surely happen if they spotted them after Solares had already fired a shot at their house.

"I will be more than happy to answer all of your questions once we are out of sight, my lady."

Kathlin glanced briefly down at the book in her hands, before slipping it back into her pocket. Hester, apparently sensing danger took flight from her shoulder to vanish somewhere at the top of the walls of shelves. “Okay, okay. Move where?”

….

“…Any ideas, Lass!?”

“…If I had any ideas, I would be a lot closer to solving this locked-room-mystery thing…” Kathlin mumbled a little testily as she looked around, trying to figure out what best to do with the tramping of steel boots bearing down on them. Ragnar, about to give up and barrel straight towards the White Hand all guns blazing, found himself pulled back by the girl as she rolled him into the dusty trunk of archived papers, closed the lid and arranged some papers tastefully on top. “Uh, lets try this. Try not to breath too loudly, okay?”

The little dwarf successfully hidden along with any expletives he might choose to share with himself, Kathlin turned to run deeper into Alfidious’ quarters. Along with his office and extensive library, there was also an alcove leading to a small living area where the man had clearly retired to those times he had spent the entire night in his office without returning to his lady wife. Rattling the key briefly in the lock, Kathlin gently opened the door to a mahogany wardrobe to clamber inside. Pushing aside velveteen dressing gowns and evening suits, she shut the door quickly behind her to pull out the small bent wand that she carried and squint at it. “I do think that this thing’s defective”

Poking it at the door, the seal of the two wardrobe doors became encrusted in a thick layer of ice, effectively holding them together. Screwing up her eyes as she shivered in the sudden cold, Kathlin squinted through the keyhole at anything she could see from her current vantage point, listening carefully to the White Hand.

*

Liaena schooled her face into careful impassiveness as she listened to Rithrynn babble, her heart meanwhile sinking like a stone. Confusion, or unawareness that she had even left the building was what she had been hoping for. Instead, she got fairly obvious attempts to cover up her movements, which under the circumstances was precisely the last thing that she wanted to hear. “Light…whatever he did, she’s still under it. I need to be careful”

“…Nothing useful then? Fair enough. I just thought you might have found something to help Sharon” Liaena remarked a little acerbically. Her eyes drifted over the contents of the room, laughing, drinking, partying Night Elves. “You guys are here as his bodyguards, after all”

Naliyah, who had been snuggling up to Rithrynn, suddenly popped up to give her a quizzical look. “We’re here as someone’s bodyguards?”

“….”

“Yes.”

“And to be very much in my way, apparently”

“But yeah. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about, Rithrynn” Liaena continued, completely ignoring Naliyah. Looking up at the uncomfortable Night Elf, she allowed some excitement to seep into her voice. “I’ve been doing some legwork, and I think I’ve got an idea of where Sherpa might be hiding himself…”

Locking eyes with Rithrynn, Liaena carefully mouthed ‘Cathedral District’ at her. Satisfied by the way the Night Elfs eyes suddenly widened that she had gotten the message, Liaena stood up, brushing herself off before grinning wickedly up at her. “I think I’ve nearly got him now. I just need some help to pinpoint him, if you’re interested?”

Motioning towards the door, Liaena glanced back at Naliyah, before raising her eyebrows coldly at Rithrynn. “…but then if you’re too busy doing nothing, then don’t worry about it. I’ll just figure it out by myself, and then take it to Captain Serphia. Then she can lead the op”

"That's... brilliant news, Li!"

"Crap... crap, crap, crap, crap!"

So many questions were now racing through Rithrynn's mind! Had Liaena witnessed her in the Cathedral district? How did she even know about Sherpa's presence there in the first place? Was this some sort of conspiracy by the Red Midgets, or Vanguard as it was called?

And what was she going to do about it?!

"If you need any help, I would be happy to tag along!" Rithrynn said as she tried to rise herself up from her seat, but soon realized that Naliyah was in the process of acting like an anchor to her, keeping her seated.
"Then we can finally defeat his evil - together!"

Rithrynn said, the Night Elf suddenly adopting a very cheerful attitude to the news of coming closer to finally catching Sherpa. It was, after all, her only choice. Any opposition could simply be seen as more fuel for Liaena's incessant paranoia!

"So, uhm... how are you going to pinpoint him? Have you told Sharon? And, isn't it going to be dangerous to chase after Sherpa alone?" Rithrynn finally asked, giving Liaena a more curious expression as she gazed back at the little black haired girl.

At this point, Rithrynn felt unsure who to fear the most for. Herself, Liaena or Sherpa. If Liaena had somehow seen her with Sherpa's mansion, there would be hell on earth in Sharon's mansion. If Liaena decided to chase after Sherpa alone, there could come nothing but trouble! And what about Sherpa? If Liaena did suddenly rally Serphia to her cause, would he be able to escape?

" ... you have thought this through right, I hope?"

...

"CAN I COME ALONG?!"

"Elune, no Nali!"

The sound of the steel soles of the White Hand chevaliers could be heard by Kathlin and Ragnar as they tread carefully into the room. With swords and pistols at the ready, three chevaliers had entered the door and looked around in the room through their metal masks. They immediately spotted their two unconscious comrades, one lying unceremoniously in a lump on the floor and the other one stuck behind a table.

"The room's clear. Send a physician." One of the Chevaliers called back out into the hall.

Upon hearing the news, Adolph's brows narrowed as he gazed towards the open door to the chamber, and then around in the great hall.

"Where did they go? They were inside there a second ago!" He muttered angrily, before turning to the battle mage next to him.
"Did they teleport. Are they invisible?"

"If they had tried to teleport, I would have known about it, but... " The battlemage responded, but gained a slightly thoughtful expression at the second possibility, of Kathlin and Ragnar having become invisible. Raising his staff into the air, the battlemage muttered on a quiet spell, and soon large swathes of the great hall around the entrance was showered in blue magical particles that rained down from above.

" ... no, there's no shrouding spells active in this room or the study."

"What the hell is this... " Adolph grunted angrily, before walking towards the doors himself. Entering the study, he was passed by the White Hand field medic whom rushed past him to check on the two unconscious chevaliers in the study.

With his hands folded behind his back, Adolph gazed around in the study chamber, searching for clues as to where the Kathlin and Ragnar had gone. Six more chevaliers had followed in behind him, stood ready to await his command.

"Search the room. Turn it upside down if you have to. And have group Sapphire, Crystal and Emerald set up parameters around the house. No one gets in or out without my blessing."

"Understood, Captain." The Sergeant behind him answered, rushing back out into the main hall. The five other chevaliers, including the first three who had entered the room, spread out to either side as they began to search through parchments, behind shelves and try to pick open locked chests. Four of them walked into the smaller living room, and two of them seemed to have their eyes on the wardrobe containing Kathlin.

"Light's mercy, what is this commotion all about?" Suddenly sounded the chirp voice of Lady Rosemary, whom had just appeared in the study door. Behind her and at her side stood Murphy, the servant silently watching Adolph and his men.

"Nothing you should be concerned about, my Lady." Adolph replied, returning to gaze back at the Lady.
"It is part of the security protocols."

"Is discharging firearms inside the very house protocol by your standards?!" Rosemary angrily inquired, as the lady raised her hand to point at a picture of herself leaning against the wall amidst a pile of books and scrolls in the corner. The picture in question was the one that the chevalier who missed Ragnar earlier had hit by accident, where there was a bullet hole going neatly through the temple of Rosemary in the painting.

Looking away for a moment, Adolph returned to look back at the aggravated Rosemary.

"An isolated incident, we will pay for the damage. There will be no more commotion in the future, that I promise you."

"I don't care about the painting, it was ugly anyway! What I care about is the behavior of my guards! I was promised Professionals, not a band of bumbling moronic peasants! Am I to hire another group just for public appearances, that WON'T randomly fire their weapons willy nilly?!"