“It is good to see you again, Rithrynn.”

Rithrynn peered back at Sherpa, unsure how to continue.

This was after all a den of villainy and thievery, populated by cut throats, rogues and assassins. Not to mention the walking dead and spirits of the damned.
Even though Rithrynn could convince herself with a little stretch of her imagination that Sherpa did not have anything to do with the mentioned former, she found it much more difficult to absolve him of any connection to the latter.

After all, he was a Death Knight.
And Stormwind did not have a large population of dark practitioners, at least as far as Rithrynn was aware.

Yet, then again, this was perhaps a chance for her to solve all their problems?

Lowering her arms, Rithrynn eventually smiled back at Sherpa. Despite the circumstances, the unanswered questions and the suspicion, Rithrynn felt her old feelings for the man resurface as he smiled at her.
Without a warning, Rithrynn suddenly lunged forward and grabbed the High Elf, giving him a steely hug as she squeezed him against herself.

“I’m so glad to see you too!”

"Damned humans, they call this tinkering!?"

Mitonk hated tinkering after Humans, they couldn't get anything right he thought looking at the large and bulky contraption that was several times too large. If a Gnome had done it, it would be smaller and more efficient. Now he was stuck down here in the sewers having to fix some idiots mistake and the the sewage was rising at what seemed to be a noticeable level.

"Lets see what we got."

Pulling out is tool box and Gnomish army knife, with every single tool and swirly known. Plus a few extra's of his own. Examining several of the levers hitting a few with his wrench, and few more times. Scratching his goatee and then a sudden light bulb went off. Jumping up trying to pull the outtake lever down. Hanging several inches of the ground trying to pull it down jerking with his minuscule weight.

"Infernal contraption."

Letting go he went down flipping the magnifying lenses on his goggles up to investigate further. Utilizing his Gnome army knife pulling out his poking stick. Poking around both sets of gear boxes to see what the problem was. One major part is the idiots had lubricated the gears and its was grinding the gears shut. Poor lack of maintenance seemed to be the most logical conclusion that Mitonk came up with. Of course if was Gnomish it would last without maintenance throughout the ear and keep going.

"So that's why. They cant check on it and keep it greased. Bah.... Humans so typical sometimes."

Pulling out of his tool box an odd look cylindrical shaped bronze can, his handy dandy grease in a can. Well grease by products but it worked just as well and it provide some lubrication until he could actually fix the problem. Which would require new gears, new crank shafts, whirling gizmo's, lots of man hours, and who knows what else if there were any more problems. Which he figured that there would be but it was paying a job and he needed....wanted a drink. It would also be his first descent paying one in ages it seemed like.

"There we go hehe...."

Jumping up grabbing the lever once more, the lubrication worked except the gears were wrong and the passageway for the sewage slammed shut and the back up pressing against the gates. Letting go and trying push it up it was stuck, not budging as the onslaught of sledge kept building up.

"BACKWARDS! Why in tinkering would they put it BACKWARDS!" Sputtering out curses in Gnomish. "I will fix the problem."

Grinning ear to ear as the most devious idea slid into his head.

"This will fix the problem and teach them a lesson at the same time."

Rummaging threw his tool box looking for specific items, tossing a few peculiar things out with regard of the volatile nature. Climbing the adjacent later down in the sewage ducts, placing four large bronze tubes interconnected by linen fuses. Throwing the end of it back up by his tool box and crawling back up. Re-assorting his Gnomish army knife and his tool box before lighting. Catching a glimpse of figures approaching but ignored if for the moment as a struck the fuse and it started ticking.....fast.

"Run the other way." Mitonk shouted.

With his tool box in hand running towards the figures and all of a sudden BBBOOOOOMMM!!!. An explosion big enough it rattled the ground so violently that it almost knocked him from his feet.

As Donald was running for his dear life through the tunnels, he could hear the Night Elves coming closer and closer.

Reaching a slightly larger main tunnel, he immediately turned right just as an lethal arrow whizzed past him through the air, missing him only by a couple of inches. Yet as Donald lay onto a full sprint down the larger tunnel, he suddenly saw a smaller figure up ahead.
He did not have much time to contemplate on the nature of the short creature that he had just seen in the tunnel, before an ear-deafening large explosion filled the tunnels, throwing a shockwave straight through the tunnel, followed by a thick cloud of dust!

Donald stumbled as he was hit by the shockwave, but managed to restore his point of balance just in time to avoid falling as he scrambled along the dirty sewer wall.

"What in the light's name was that!?"

The dust that had filled the tunnel made it hard to see more than a few meters ahead of him. As Donald continued forward, he was suddenly able to see Mitonk through the cloud again as the human passed right by the smaller Gnome.
Staring further up ahead, closer to the center of the explosion, Donald spotted a small hole in the wall that had been opened by the explosion, but was slowly collapsing together with bricks and dirt falling out from around it. In that moment, a light appeared in the assassin's head!

"Thank you, Gnome! But you should probably run!" Donald suddenly exclaimed to Mitonk, giving the Gnome a pat on his shoulder just as he passed him. The assassin continued and ran ahead before he leaped through the small hole in the wall, which seconds later finally collapsed and sealed the exit behind the assassin.

Shani and Leia charged out into the smoke filled corridor in pursuit of Donald, taking the right path as they had seen Donald do previously.

The tunnel was mostly empty, filled only with smoke and loose bricks that had recently been unhearted and thrown about by the explosion. The two Night Elves sprinted for a moment, before they realized that there was no longer any sign of Donald anywhere. The assassin had seemingly vanished into thin air.

"Where did he go!?" Leia asked frantically as she stared down the dust filled corridor ahead.

"Impossible, he can't be that fast!" Shani said, shaking her head in disbelief and confusion.

"Wait, who is... " It was Leia who suddenly became aware of the smaller figure that was standing just a couple of meters away from them. The Gnome Mitonk. In the time it would have taken a Goblin to accept a free gold coin, both of the sentinels had already converged on the small Gnome and surrounded him!
The two large Night Elves towered over Mitonk as they cornered him against the wall, glistering razor sharp swords pointed at his head while they were both glaring down at him with their silvery eyes as if he had been the devil himself!

"Who are you, midget?" Leia asked.

"Are you an assassin?"

"No, Gnomes can't be assassins, they're too short."

"He could be a collaborator. A helper of the damnable apes!"

"Indeed. Why else would he be hiding in this den of corruption!"

"You have chosen the wrong side, shorty!"

"Degenerated trogg!"

The Sentinel, Shani, suddenly reached forward and grabbed Mitonk by his torso, pulling him up and pinning him against the slimy wall while the rather furious Night Elf glared at him. If looks alone could kill, it would have been reasonable to assume that Mitonk would have been heavily on the dead scale by now.

"Silence is a regrettable sin under the circumstances, midget! Speak!"

Upon seeing Sharon, Liaena hastily slid the vial she was holding back into her pocket again. A short pause followed in which she stared at his hand, then at him, then back at his hand. “Oh…right. Sure”

Reaching out to take his offered hand, one swift tug from the High Elf was enough to pull the little human back onto her feet. Liaena immediately pulled her hand out of his to start brushing free the little bones that had got caught in her robes and her hair, and disguise how much she was still trembling. “I’m fine. I’m fine”

“……”

“He didn’t actually ask you that, idiot”

“….buut, we should still leave. Like you said. Right Now” Liaena added quickly. Casting a nervous look at the now cold and dark patterns all over the floor, she grabbed Sharons sleeve to pull him forcibly towards the door. Any objection or resistance from the High Elf simply resulted in the little human digging in her heels and dragging him even more stubbornly. There was a yell of protest from behind them as Lord Graymoon tried to awkwardly clamber down from the balcony on his own. “Hey – wait up! Sharon!”

“We need to find Rithrynn now, okay!?” Liaena said urgently. Pausing just outside the broken doors to the chamber, she turned to unexpectedly clutch at Sharon, grabbing fistfuls of his robes as her chalky pale face looked up at his. “We need to find her, and then get out of here because this is a terrible place and we never should have come here. Don’t you see that!? Everything here is Evil”

-BOOOOOOOOM-

As she spoke, a distance explosion rippled through the sewers. The smaller pipes lining the walls above them clattered dangerously, and drops of foul liquid pattered down all around them.

There seemed to be a few seconds where Liaena was actually pondering the possibility to herself, then she shook her head as she looked up at Sharon. “…That wasn’t me”

It took him a minute to get his bearing back. Making a mental note to use that much the "CC" powder, well then again it was his reputation for a large boom so it worked well.

"Thank me??? Run??"

It was rather confusing. Why? Why would need to run what was going on its not like there was undead in the sewers or anything. Worst he had heard before was some murlocs poking around but that was it. Waving Donald off as he dusted himself off, turning back to admire his work. Sewage flowed freely now. The problem was solved even if it was a tad excessive.

What Mitonk really didn't expect was the two night elves point there blades at him, in truth he had never seen one before this moment. They were tall ones that's for sure and only knowing who the duo were by the color of their skin. The stories were exaggerated vastly from what he'd heard.

Holding himself against the wall staring right back of them. Any sane Gnome would be terrified but Mitonk on the other hand was off his rocker so to speak so he couple of Night Elves didn't bother him too much. He just wasn't keen on the swords as they had gotten closer to him and the spitfire fury of question came barreling at him. Being held up though was the last straw as he started throwing that same glare back at Shani.

"Okay you hulking behemoth purple amazons pick the wax out of your ear and listen. I'm Mitonk Fastblast a Gnome engineer on a job, check my toolbox for the workorder. Second Gnomes are the best assassins because you can't see us half the time pea brain. Third I have no idea what your talking about. Forth calling me short and a TROGG is the worst thing you could've done and lastly if I wanted you'd be dead already. I'm wired with more of that big boom from earlier. Now if you don't mind let me go. My cousins Mipsy and Gimpsy are waiting."

Swatting and hitting at Shani's hand to let him go.

The High Elf listened to the distant explosion, before looking down at Liaena.

She may have been the unfortunate master of explosives, and even though things generally tended to blow up around her; she still didn't posess the power to cause things to spontaneously combust on their own, or conjure explosions out of thin air.

Sharon believed her, but the fact that Liaena did not have anything to do with the explosion didn't do much to reassure the High Elf.

"She was chasing a fleeing assassin. She could be anywhere." Sharon pondered thoughtfully as he looked away, before gazing back at Liaena.
"The sewer complex beneath Stormwind is immense. Our odds of actually finding her are slim if she has taken but a few corners."

As much as Sharon wanted to leave the sewer, he knew that they were currently also standing on the path Rithrynn was the most likely to return to after she and her sisters had finished hunting the assassin.

"Rithrynn will most likely return to this point. If we go looking for her, we risk running in circles."

---

"I'm.... gaahhh *Gasp*! ... glad to heeeaar thaaaat.... !"

Sherpa uttered as he felt the air being squeezed out of his lungs as he was trapped in the steely hug of the Night Elf. Whatever the Night Elf's intentions, the whole situation was a mix between something adorable and something abusive, which his ribs could currently attest to. It was not until his pale face had turned slightly purple that Rithrynn finally let go of him, allowing the High Elf to finally gasp for breath.
Aside from some bent ribs and shortness of breath, Sherpa felt mostly fine. Which was not bad, considering his proximity to the crazed elf.

Taking a moment to regain his breath, he straightened back up before he looked up at Rithrynn.

"It has been so long." Sherpa said, his voice returning to its natural calm. Raising a hand up to Rithrynn's cheek, he gazed up into her eyes.
"But we do not have much time, I fear. I must leave. This is not the best place for us to meet."

" Forth calling me short and a TROGG is the worst thing you could've done"

The faces of the two sentinels remained stone cold throughout the Gnome's bold rant. Mitonk's attemps to wrestle with Shani's arm that was holding him was reminiscent to that of a squirrel attempting to bend an iron lamp post.

" I'm wired with more of that big boom from earlier. Now if... "

...

It was not until Mitonk had said that that Shani's eyes suddenly opened wide. The Night Elf looked at the gnome with an expression of horror, before peering down at his torso to see his vest and shirt filled with tubes, packages and various assortments of other gear. This revelation suddenly sparked a paranoid expression on both of the elves faces.
An eerie silence fell over the Night Elves and the Gnome for a moment as Shani inspected him, before she suddenly pulled him from the wall!

"Leia, ash Fani 'o der Gnom farnor!"

Shani called out in Darnassian as Leia, the other sentinel grabbed Mitonk's arms as Shani slung the little gnome like a doll through the air. Ignoring any protests from the Gnome, the Night Elves shouted to each other in their elven language as they began to tear the Gnome's equipment and clothes off.

Mitonk was stripped down to his shoes and pants. The Gnome's equipment ended up forming a small pile under him at the Night Elves' feet, alongside his toolbox.
Holding the gnome up side down, they began to shake him around to loosen any items that may have been in his pockets.

"Take his evil tools, we will use them as evidence!" Shani ordered Leia, who moved to pick up the Gnome's gearbox, shoving a few of Mitonk's items into it in the process. Shani continued to hold the gnome firmly, before they began walking back the way they had entered.

"We will see how brave you are when answering to the Captain, midget!" Shani laughed triumphantly as she carried the Gnome with her.

*

Rithrynn peered down at Sherpa, moving her own hand around Sherpa's as he moved it up to her face.

"But I have so many questions to ask you!" She said. Although she hated the idea of letting Sherpa go, she also realized that if any of her sisters saw her with the High Elf, hell would open itself in her world.
Or Liaena for that matter. If the human girl saw her and Sherpa together, whatever sanity Liaena had left would most likely shatter like glass.

"Do you think we can meet again then?" She asked, holding Sherpa a little closer.
"I don't want to leave you so soon... "

"Where do you want this ale and beer?" This was an important question for Reginald to ask the owner of the Tap 'n' Trap tavern, Ross. This delivery would be the beginning of a great new contract between his Wilco Trading Company and the Tap 'n' Trap. A few of the muscly men he hired to help transfer the good glanced at each other while they waited for their instructions.

Ross grinned heartily. "Glad you made it early, right this way boys." The ex-hunter led the way to where he stored his kegs and the unloading process began.

Thirty minutes later Reginald's crew had finished unloading the last of the product and he shook hands with Ross. "Good doing business with you, I can see that this is going to be a prosperous venture for the both of us."

"Yep. Glad we have such a good deal going between us. My patrons will love this stuff." Ross then handed Reginald his payment and made his way back into the tavern which was bustling full of hunters and rangers.

Reginald turned to the recently emptied cart. The men he hired to transfer the goods had already left with their pay. He approached his horse and pet her for a little while. "Been a while since we've been home, eh, Nessie?" He grabbed her reins and began to lead her toward the Wilco Trading Company's headquarters. Somewhere in this city, Father died, and that left Reginald with an empty feeling in his heart and his entire enterprise.

"WAaahh! What are you doing!?"

Mitonk knew that they had been allies in the third but the degrading of a Gnome of his tools and holding him with no rights against his will it was an act of lunacy in his mind. The shear volume of tools he had was quite impressive by anybody's stand point but the way they just tossed it around was not good. Some of his things were delicate instruments that he used on a regular basis.

"Your're stripping me!."

He was being treated like a doll the story of his life, he was gonna teach these Night Elves a lesson when he had gotten back he things. But now he felt naked without all of tools and other items that were on his personal being. At least they were kind enough to leave his goggles on he supposed. Several more items fell from Mitonk when he was turned upside down. Glaring at the Shani and Leia as the proceeded to care him as if he were dead weight.

"You will pay for what you left behind purple amazons."

Mitonk was quite agitated that he was taken as a perpetrator to some sort of crime. It was really quite maddening anymore cause it seemed like Gnomes were getting a bad rap for doing nothing to deserve such a crime. His only hope at the moment was convincing this captain of theirs that he wasn't a threat as Shani and Leia perceived him to be but that was a fading dream in all actual reality.

"It's not bravery its called be bold in the face of those that have no manners I have you know. No wonder you're still stuck with bows. Primitive amazons. Join the modern age already you old bags. You'd be amazed at some of the stuff you're missing out on you big purple apes."

Mitonk's mouth had gotten him into a few scraps and even though threatening Night Elves wasn't the greatest thing to be doing. It was in his nature to bring out the worst nine times out of ten.

"Come on where is the captain of your's amazons I don't have all day here."

Still insulting them as ever but he really wanted to get out of this mess. Show them the work order and leave. Oh and make them pay for his losses which would be quite enjoyable.

Shani and Leia followed their own tracks through the sewers as they returned to the summoning hall. Throughout the entire trip the Gnome's incessant rambling continued, his voice echoing in the tunnels they passed, yet the Night Elves seemed to ignore him completely.

They eventually reached the final platform and the stairs leading up to the hall.
Walking up the steps, the Night Elves met Liaena and Sharon standing in the doorway.

"Out of the way! This midget is working with the assassins!"

Shani said, for once not referring to Liaena when she said midget. The two Night Elves pushed their way past the High Elf and human as they entered the room, holding Mitonk up like a prize cattle on display.

"We've captured one of the plotters! We caught him as he helped the assassin to escape!" Shani called out loud triumphantly, gently shaking Mitonk around in the air to garner attention to the gnome while ignoring his pleas and protests. But mostly angry protests.

Serphia turned around to gaze at the group, spotting Shani and Leia with the gnome and toolbox.

Although Night Elves were already quite large by nature, Serphia towered at least a head above her minions in regards to height, and a heavy yet powerful build. With snow white hair and brightly burning silver eyes, she walked over to Shani who was holding Mitonk. As small as Mitonk may have been next to Shani and Leia, the Captain was much more like a giant in comparison to the small gnome.

"I told you to get me an assassin. Not this degenerated trogg creature." Serphia said as she motioned towards Mitonk.
"What happened?"

"This gnome is working for the assassins, he made the assassin disappear in thin air when we chased him! And we almost had him, too!" Shani explained, unceremoniously shaking Mitonk around in the air to get the point across that everyone should be looking at him as he was to blame.

"Rithrynn will most likely return to this point. If we go looking for her, we risk running in circles"

“Buuuuutttt….”

Liaena hesitated as she tried desperately to find a hole in Sharon’s logic. This was difficult, as it was hard to argue with the fact that Rithrynn could be absolutely anywhere in the sewer system at this point in time, depending on where Donald had led her. This of course, did not change the fact that that room was the last place that Liaena wanted to stand around and wait for anyone, anywhere. “....I still think we should go and look for her”

Clinging on to Sharons robes, Liaena gave the High Elf her most stubborn looks. The girl still appeared very twitchy, and one step away from setting off on her fools errand despite all arguments to the contrary. “She should have been back by now. Something must have happened….like an ambush, or Sherpa could have found her. We need to –“

"Out of the way! This midget is working with the assassins!"

And before Liaena could finish her sentence, two Night Elves strode past, one carrying a flailing, cursing, naked gnome and the other a huge canvas bag with some wires trailing out of it and behind them along the floor. It was a sufficiently odd sight for the girl to stop and stare at them as they walked by, hardly sparing her or Sharon a glance, as Shani walked into the study and thrust Miltonk into the air for inspection. "We've captured one of the plotters! We caught him as he helped the assassin to escape!"

“….Where’s Rithrynn?”

“…….”

“This gnome was working for the assassins, he made him disappear into thin air as we chased him!”

Nobody was paying her the slightest bit of attention. Shani was remonstrating with her Captain as she tried to play up the importance of her captive. This was proving difficult given that after all, Miltonk was a gnome, and naked, and Serphia’s face was looking steadily more unimpressed by the second as Liaena stomped back into the study behind all of them: “HEY!”

With an extremely loud yell, Liaena managed to attract all of the Night Elves’ attention for a moment as she glared dangerously at them. The fact that each and every one of them were at least half her height again and armed to the teeth, as usual, didn’t seem to matter. “Where’s. Rithrynn?”

Sherpa pondered over Rithrynn's suggestion for a while.

"That... might actually be possible." Sherpa said, throwing Rithrynn a smile.

Reaching into one of his pockets, the High Elf retrieved a crumpled note. On the paper was written the letters "32rd Eternal Sun street, Cathedral District.". Handing the note over to Rithrynn, the High Elf moved an arm around her back.

"Come in the hours before midnight. I should be there to greet you." Sherpa explained as he motioned towards the note.

"There, we will have as much time together as you want. I promise you. But for now, I need to leave this place. I think we both understand why."

Sherpa said, giving Rithrynn a handsome smile. When the Night Elf wasn't coming close to accidentally killing him with stray arrows, she was actually quite cute.

“Where’s. Rithrynn?”

"She was with us, she... " Shani continued automatically, until she realized that her memory bank suddenly held no points of reference to Rithrynn for more than half the chase after the assassin. The Night Elf suffered a mental pause for a moment, staring at Liaena, before returning her attention to Serphia whose face was growing darker and darker by the second.

"Ehh, Leia. You were supposed to watch after Rithrynn! ... where did she go?"

"Me? You never said tha,-"

"You were in the middle, dummy!"

"We were chasing a speeding assassin! What did you expect me to do?!"

"Well, surely you should've realized that she wasn't following?!"

"VANEI!" Serphia suddenly screamed out in Darnassian, immediately silencing the two sentinels as the Captain gave both Leia and Shani a furious look.
"You left Rithrynn behind?!"

"No... " Shani trembled, slowly holding Mitonk up infront of her as if she was going to use the gnome as a shield against the towering captain.
" ... but yes... "

*

Rithrynn's face suddenly beamed up with joy after hearing the possibility of a reunion.

"That's so great!" She exclaimed, suddenly hugging Sherpa once again. Fortunately for Sherpa, this hug was much quicker than the first one, and only temporarily disfigured the High Elf's spine as she squeezed him tight.

Staring down at Sherpa for a moment, Rithrynn smiled, before her eyes grew slightly disappointed.

"I guess I'll have to leave you then... for now... "

...

After a moment of silence, Rithrynn, unable to bear the tension anymore, suddenly lifted Sherpa up into the air to kiss him without a warning. After putting him back down, she stepped back.

"I promise I'll be there!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME DON'T CALL ME MIDGET! It's insulting me enough being dragged around like a doll by stone age heathens."

It was getting old him being called an assassin or one that helped them. But did the elves listen no, they were almost as stubborn as the damn dwarfs. Seeing a Human among the collaboration of purple giants was promising though his situation went from bad to worse as he was thrust in a whole damnable mess of these pointy ear giants.

"As I said before. I WAS WORKING ON THE SEWERS INTAKE/OUTAKE. ITS DOCUMENTED."

Mitonk's flailing increased as he heard being called trogg again. It was beyond getting old and it need to stop quicker than a lite fuse. Glaring back at the captain letting her snap some discipline into his captors. It was actually quite amusing considering the circumstance. Chuckling some as he remained dangling as a prized boar.

"Listen up you purple mess let me go. And I have you know you didn't search me good enough. I could have some spring-loaded doodad or gadget that could spring out of my rear end with bomb. So they didn't do a good job of that. I will be re-compensated for my losses its only fair after you threaten me countless times. Being called a trogg is calling you a satyr so shut your mouths about that its getting old and fast. Lastly...LET ME DOWN I'M GETTING DIZZY!."

Hoping his little rant would get him down so he could at least stand on his own to feet. Or get him enough attention to make a statement which seemed to be arguing which brew is better with a dwarf.

Serphia let out a long sigh at Shani's answer. Holding a hand up to cover her face with her palm, she subconsciously cursed the stupidity of her warband. To think that after a thousand years, her warriors were still able to impress her with their idiocy was truly as remarkable and impressive as it was cause to anger and disappointment.

After a few moments of meditation, where the Captain tried to gather enough mental strength to face her warriors again, she turned back to Shani.

"You will take us to the last place you saw Rithrynn. There should be some tracks to suggest where she went." Serphia explained.
"If you do a good job and we find her safe and sound, maybe I will forget this... "

The Captain threw Shani a cold stare, before picking up on the angry rant from the Gnome. In her trepidation, the Sentinel's grip on the Gnome had subconsciously increased in strength, and it certainly didn't look as if Mitonk was taking it well.

"You are still alive. That makes you more lucky than the rest we have met today." Serphia said with a bored voice, before raising an eyebrow at the gnome's statement about supposedly hiding explosives in his rear. The Captain threw Mitonk an odd gaze after that.

"Really?"

...

Motioning to Leia, Serphia pointed casually at the Gnome.

"Search him then. Make sure to do it properly this time."

"Yes, Mistress!" Leia saluted, as the Sentinel dropped the Mitonk's gearbox and walked over to Shani who was holding the little Gnome. As she approached the two, Leia checked the glove on her right hand to make sure that it sat tightly on her hand, before throwing Mitonk a glare.
"If you're hiding anything else, it would be in your best interest to tell us now... "

...

" ... Shani, could you angle him a bit?"

Liaena had been following the entire exchange between Serphia and Shani with steadily rising levels of agitation. The relief that had crossed her face when Serphia gave the order to move out had been enormous – only to vanish a moment later to be replaced with dismay when the entire party of Night Elves got completely sidetracked by the gnome. Shani and Leila were gathered around Mitonk, the former busily turning him upside down as he yelled and flailed, everyone else in the room giving them an extremely wide berth.

“What are you DOING?”

Shooting around the two Night Elves, Liaena got in between them and Serphia as they looked down at her grumpily. The small, dirty, dark-haired girl glared up at them in return as she flung out an arm towards Mitonk. “Never mind the wretched gnome! You’re wasting time, and we need to go!”

“Ilitha Nur athar….why do midgets never shut up?”
“Tilt him more to the left, Shani”

“………………………”

Grinding her teeth so tightly together it was a wonder her jaw didn’t break, Liaena forced down every vile insult she wanted to scream at each and every Night Elf in the room as she turned around, with exaggerated patience, to Serphia.

Holding back her emotions tightly, she made every effort to sound as accommodating and reasonable as possible as she gave Serphia a pleading look. “Look. If he’s in league with the assassins, you’re letting him distract you and waste your time with silly threats and insults while Rithrynn – one of your sentinels – could be in dire peril right this second. You’re playing right into their hands if you listen to him, can’t you see that?”

While Liaena was arguing with Serphia, Sharon had decided to walk over to the gearbox now abandoned by Leia. Kneeling down besides it, the High Elf located the opening mechanisms and with a 'click', the lid sprang open, revealing the various content inside.
Rooting through through the contents inside of Mitonk's inventory, Sharon found a lot of basic tools, plans, lesser gadgets and a few explosives. Locating a piece of parchment resting on the inner sides of the box, the High elf retrieved it to give it a closer inspect. It appeared to be the documentation that the Gnome had spoken of earlier, detailing his job, payment and various arrangements around his contract. It certainly looked authentic.

Although the objects of the box could in no way offer any guarantee that the gnome was in fact not an assassin, it did point in the way of innocence.

“But this is no time for a trial. We got to find Rithrynn!”

“His documents are in orde,-“ Sharon started, but was struck speechless when he turned around and saw the Night Elves about to perform an invasive cavity search on the small creature.

“Just great… “

“AHEM, I may be no expert within the social sciences, but I strongly believe that the Gnome’s… “

Sharon quickly gazed at the documents, and back up again.

“ … that “Mitonk” meant that as a joke!”

Sharon said as he stepped forward, trying to defuse the level of craziness that the situation had just reached.
The High Elf was torn between what he speculated to be the motives of Serphia. Did she genuinely believe the Gnome’s ridiculous claim, or did she just order the search to spite the little creature?

Although he had never considered Serphia to the be intellectual champion of their time, he knew the Captain possessed a raw cunning that shouldn’t be underestimated.

---

“I promise I’ll be there!”

“And I will be waiting… “ Sherpa said as he smiled, stepping back from the Night Elf while holding up his hand, giving her a small wave.

However, the near total silence of the hallway was suddenly interrupted by a set of footsteps as a man came running through the tunnels towards them.
The unnatural darkness of the place veiled his figure until he was but a few meters away, at which point the man made a complete stop when he saw them.

“You!” Donald exclaimed as he saw Sherpa standing in the middle of the hallway, looking back at him. However, the assassin’s face looked completely confused when he looked a little further to the side and saw the Night Elf, Rithrynn standing mere meters away from Sherpa. And, she was not attacking?

“What the fu,-“

“I had been looking for you.” Sherpa said as he spotted Donald. The assassin immediately jumped back and pulled out a small throwing dagger from his leather coat, his attention returning to Sherpa!

But with a flick of his wrist, Sherpa pulled the dagger out from the assassin’s hand from afar, sending it shooting astray through the room.

“A fair try, but your last… “

Donald barely had time to react before he felt a cold chill around him, and suddenly a pair of ice cold hands grabbing him by his ankles. He couldn’t see anything, yet his legs were pulled away from below him, just as another pair of hands grabbed his body, and the assassin was slammed down into the wet stone floor of the hallway. As he fell, he smashed the back of his head against the floor.

Yet the assassin’s woe did not end there, as he was suddenly dragged through the air and smashed into one of the heavy stone pillars of the hallway, before being flung up into the roof with a crunch.

At this point, whatever invisible force that had taken ahold of the assassin seemed to let go; allowing the abused man to fall four meters down, welcomed by the unforgiving stone hard embrace of the floor yet again.

It was perhaps a blessing that his head had been the first thing to be hit, as it might have spared the vast amount of the experience.
Donald remained silent for a while, before slowly writhing around in pain, looking utterly confused and disoriented as he lay on the floor, unable to understand what had just happened.

Turning back to Rithrynn, Sherpa motioned towards Donald.

“My gift, to you: The assassin you have been hunting.” Sherpa said, giving Rithrynn a smile.
“You should return. Your sisters will most likely be wondering where you went. At least you will now have something to impress them with.”

Giving Rithrynn one last smile, the High Elf finally turned around and walked away, leaving Rithrynn alone with the assassin.

“Until we meet again.”

"That... was actually pretty cool!"

Rithrynn gazed at Donald who currently looked as if he had gone through a trash compactor and lived. Which in all honesty hadn't been so far from the actual experience. Although she didn't like the idea of being surrounded by invisible, dead spirits who'd happily smash and sling people to their deaths, it felt a little reassuring to know that at least Sherpa was in control over them.

"Thanks." Rithrynn said, but when she turned to look at Sherpa; she realized that the elf had already disappeared in the shadows that surrounded them.

"Huh... "

As much as she may have liked Sherpa, she couldn't deny that he also had some creepy sides.

Turning back to Donald, Rithrynn walked over to the assassin and began to search his equipment and clothes for any weapons and tools. The first thing she removed was any knives and pointy objects. Afterwards, she searched the man for any potions, bombs or alien objects that possibly could serve some abstract purpose in the assassin's illicit arts.
Having spent so much time with the crazed alchemist; Liaena, Rithrynn had gained at the very least a basic understanding of what weird and crazy stuff to look for.

She doubted the assassin was in any shape or form to walk. It barely seemed as if he was able to talk, and so Rithrynn slung the beaten man over her shoulder while ignoring any painful protests or moans as she followed in her tracks back to the study.

*

"You’re playing right into their hands if you listen to him, can’t you see that?”

“ … that “Mitonk” meant that as a joke!”

Serphia gazed at Sharon and Liaena. The Captain threw Mitonk a quick glance, before lowering her hand to the hilt of one of her swords to rest upon it as she looked back at the two.

"You are probably right."

Turning around, the Captain walked towards Shani and Leia. Raising her hand, she motioned for Shani and Leia to stop the search - much to the relief of the Gnome. Suddenly unsheathing her sword, she raised it up into the air before holding it down over Mitonk's neck.

"Prisoners will only slow us down."

...

"Hey guys! I'm back!" Rithrynn's voice suddenly sounded from the door, as the Sentinel emerged in the entrance to the study, carrying the beat up body of Donald over her right shoulder. She looked out across the room, and met a sea of surprised faces.
"What? ... and who's the midget?"

Rithrynn motioned towards the half naked Mitonk who was being held by both Shani and Leia under Serphia's sword. Serphia gazed at Rithrynn with big eyes, before finally removing her sword from Mitonk's neck.

"Drop the gnome." She said absent mindedly to Leia and Shani, as she stepped towards Rithrynn. Behind her, Shani and Leia threw each other a quick look, before they both decided to grant the Gnome's wish, dropping Mitonk and letting the gnome fall two times his own height down onto the stone floor below them.

*Thud!*

"Consider yourself lucky, little one." Shani whispered to Mitonk, throwing the gnome an evil grin as she folded her arms and looked down at him.

"YOU should consider yourself lucky!"

Serphia immediately turned around to shout down Shani, who immediately shrunk in stature next to Leia in an attempt to evade the Captain's wrath. But the Captain's interest in Shani evaporated as quickly as it had manifested, as she walked over to Rithrynn. Standing face to face with Rithrynn, she looked down at her sentinel. Her eyes shifting between Rithrynn, over to the assassin, and back again.

There was a moment of silence where the Captain said nothing. As if she was uncertain what she was seeing was an optical illusion or Rithrynn actually having brought back the escaped prisoner.

"Syn'Dial... "

"Yes, mistress!"

Serphia peered at Donald for a moment, inspecting his battered face and miserable expression, before looking back at Rithrynn again, a slight smile on her face.

" ... good job."

"Thanks, mistress!"

Rithrynn saluted as the Sentinel beamed with pride as she received her Captain's praise. Serphia turned around, now looking at Liaena as she motioned for the little human to come over to her and Rithrynn.

"Human. I want you to check the human's condition to see if he'll make it. And if you can, turn him into a more portable condition."

"Human. I want you to check the human's condition to see if he'll make it. And if you can, turn him into a more portable condition."

“…………”

Liaena also was staring at Rithrynn with as much shock at Serphia had, her amazement clearly reflected in her huge eyes. After a brief moment in which the Captains order fell on deaf ears, the little human finally switched her attention over to her. “Uhhhhhhhh…sure.”

Scooting over to Rithrynn, Donald landed unceremoniously in a heap in front of her as the Night Elf dropped him from her own considerable height. This elicited another pained groan from the unfortunate man, and no resistance at all as Liaena started to poke and prod as his ribs and limbs, listening closely for the informative yelps of pain.

Kneeling down over Donald and facing away from the rest of the party, Liaena took the opportunity to quietly palm the potion she had put in her pocket back into her hand, uncork it and drink a measure before putting it away again. After around a minute more where she examined the large swollen patches covering his face and forehead, she turned around to look at Serphia and Rithrynn. “He’ll make it….it’s nothing but blunt trauma, mostly. I count two, possibly more cracked ribs and a concussion, but no broken bones. Looks like someone slammed him into a wall a few times”

While facing Serphia, Liaena’s eyes clearly rested on Rithrynn when she mentioned the ‘someone’. Turning back around, she pulled a small vial out of her satchel, before uncorking it, tilting it up and pouring a small measure into the mans mouth. In the next few seconds, Donald started to rapidly shrink until he was no larger the size of a night elfs finger on the floor.

Gingerly leaning over and picking Donald up gently, Liaena was about to go for her bag before she remembered that her special jam-jar now had a large hole cut into the side, courtesy of Esmeralda. Pausing for a second, she gave a half shrug as she held her hand up to Serphia with the mini Donald in the palm of it. “Here”