Liaena threw Rithrynn a look that was as cold as the waves outside as the Night Elf leapt to volunteer for the custody of mini-Sharon. Which was clearly only due to her responsibilities as his bodyguard, and not from any….ulterior motives….whatsoever. Uhuh. Under normal circumstances this would typically be her cue to give Rithrynn a good kick, or possibly throwing her out of the window, all normal and entirely reasonable reactions to her endless attempts to flirt with her boyfriend. In this particular instance however, the girl couldn’t help but feel that the Night Elfs clinginess might for once be a good thing, insofar as ensuring Sharon’s safety was concerned. And much as it grated upon her, she would sooner have to extract him with pliers a dozen times; than have him have an unwelcome appointment with the pointy end of a Runeblade. “You’d better” Liaena remarked finally after a long silence. Leaning over to Sharon, there was a pause where she mentally wished away every single Night Elf, Mercenary and Bella in the room behind her, before finally standing on tiptoe to plant a light kiss on his lips. “I guess I’ll see you later then” “….” “Whut?” Bella emitted in surprise as Liaena grabbed her by the wrist to pull her towards the door. “We’re leaving already?” “Well, yes. Unless anyone else had anything else to say, we’re wasting time we don’t have by just standing around here talking” Liaena observed scathingly. Turning as she reached the door, she scanned the occupants of the room searchingly, eyes lingering on Serphia, Rithrynn and Sharon. “We have our teams. You know where you’re going in. Drink the damn antidote. Was there anything else, or do we get moving now?”

Rithrynn's willingness to put her butt between him and danger came hardly as a surprise to the High Elf. What did surprise him however was how lenient Liaena appeared to be towards Rithrynn about it. "Was there anything else, or do we get moving now?” "None." Sharon replied, looking a little distant as the High Elf mentally counted through all the things he had scheduled for the meeting. "If there was one thing I had forgotten by now, I probably won't remember it anyway!" But as Liaena and Bella left the entrance to the living room to walk out into the corridor, Alissah had suddenly began to follow them; quickly slipping out of the living room behind them. In fact, unless one had kept an eye on her the entire time, her movement through the room had been almost entirely unnoticable. "There is one thing." Alissah sounded as she catched up with Bella and Liaena in the corridor. Reaching a hand into her coat, she produced what seemed like a small, bronze tipped glass dart containing a white, slightly shimmering liquid that emanated a faint and yellow light. Holding it in the palm of her leather glove, she held it up Liaena. "I noticed the dart gun of yours, and I believe you can make use of this." She spoke in a quiet tone, her calm demeanor only broken by the intense stare from her eyes. "This dart contains a sample of holy water from a font in the Monestary of Tirisfal, its container blessed by one of the High Clerics of the Scarlet Crusade, and the needle is made out of almost complete pure trusilver metal." Alissah explained, taking a brief pause. "It may be unconventional, but can weaken or outright destroy even the mightiest creations of darkness, be it demon or undead. Consider it a gift from one marked to another." Back in the living room, Sharon had uncorked the antitode from Liaena. He was currently staring down at the top of the bottle, as if a sense of doubt and hesitation had gripped him. All around him were the big, silver eyes of the Night Elves looking down at him with utmost curiosity, to see what disasterous thing could happen to the High Elf. Swallowing hard, Sharon raised the bottle. "You only live once... " He muttered, taking a deep breath before closing his eyes and chugging down a solid sip! Slamming the bottle back down on the table, the first thing he noticed was how salty and acidic his mouth tasted, a vile sensation indeed. But beyond a slight groan from his stomach, he was still alive. "See? Not so bad?" Sharon smiled to the rest of the Night Elves, praying that his confident words would not invite instant karma in the form of a spontaneous explosion on the spot! Handing the opaque antitode over to the nearest Night Elf, Sharon looked back at Rithrynn. "I appreciate the support, Rithrynn." Sharon said, before his blue eyes drifted over to Serphia. "But I think the leaders of the group must stay close together." Although part of him would prefer to stay with Rithrynn, he knew that fast and direct communication with Serphia was essential for the success of the group. "Just... promise me you won't run off ahead into a danger zone like last time."

Serphia's eyes narrowed down on Sharon at his suggestion of accompanying her rather than Rithrynn. It was a strange but also amusing little idea, for her to have her own tiny pocket mage! "You want to come with me?" Serphia asked as she walked around the table with long, confident strides; approaching Sharon to gaze down at the High Elf. Studying Sharon for a moment, she would eventually look towards Rithrynn who was standing next to him. "If Syn'Dial could do it in the past, it should be no problem for me." Serphia smirked, resting one hand on her hip. Rithrynn on the other hand looked thoroughly disappointed, her jaw hanging as she looked back at Sharon. "Are you sure about this?! You can still change your mind!" Rithrynn suggested, smiling weakly at Sharon while holding his arm. "Do not so be dramatic, Rithrynn. I will not break your little Quel'Dorei pet. It's a matter of pride considering that you have kept him intact for so long... " Serphia said as her eyes returned to the disappointed sentinel, the Captain rearing her butt to slump it down on the table which yielded with a pleading creak. "I have no intention of doing a worse job than you!" " ... meh," Rithrynn pouted, not as much worried about Sharon's safety as much as she was annoyed by the fact that she did not get to have him for the mission! But she could not really argue with Serphia. "I'll at least keep an eye on him!" "Do that." Serphia nodded, shifting her gaze back to Sharon. "Get to shrinking then, we leave in two." Serphia instructed, before turning her attention back to her sentinels around in the room. By this moment, none of her girls looked any happy, with a lot of sour faces going around as they had finished tasting the terrible antidote given to them by Liaena. Through the grimaces and twisted facial expressions, Serphia could see the last sentinel handing the antidote back over to Smokey before lining up. "Prepare for departure, we leave in two!"

Stepping out onto the balcony of one of the towers that loomed over the battlements of Honor's Watch was a man wearing some leather ringmail armor and clad in a white, slightly tattered white cloak that bore its fair share of bird poop, and donned a leather cap over his bald head. On each of his shoulders were two large eagles perched, one covered in a brown and white pattern on its feathers called Zullen; the other entirely black called and Zal. The birdmaster's right eye was missing, with no eyepatch to cover the scar. His right eyelids had been sewn directly shut with crude thread. His left eye however gazed out across the somber night harbor with great vigor. "A quiet evening, isn't it, my darlings?" He commented as he looked down towards the docks. The white in his remaining functional eye carried a green hue, and the blood vessels around his sickly yellow iris were protruding outwards enough to almost push his eyelids aside. "It was a nice necklace you found for me yesterday." He muttered as he clutched a silver chain hanging out from his pocket, while his odd eye which had been scanning the dock stopping to focus as he spotted a faint glimmer from the back pocket of one of the dock publicans doing a routine inspection of the ships along the pier. "Maybe tonight's catch will be no smaller." Stroking the wing of the eagle Zal, the birdmaster produced a rotting rat carcass from a pouch hanging from his belt. Throwing it up before him, both Zullen and Zal immediately reacted; shooting their beaks out to greedily snap at the rat which was promptly torn in half as their ravenous beaks clamped down on it simultaneously. The mauled remains of the decaying rodent were gluttonously gulped down by the two birds, who looked far more energized as their sharp gaze shifted between their master and the surrounding skyline in search for more food. "But perhaps it's mealtime first." The birdmaster muttered as he raised his arms, and both of the eagles suddenly took off to swoop down from the tower as they went to hunt for other rodents, vermin, lesser birds and other small prey around Honor's Watch, diving and soaring between the battlements and along the reef.

Initially distrustful as Alissah approached, Liaena accepted the little dart from her cautiously to peer at the contents with curiosity. Her other claims about its potency notwithstanding, the soft golden glow it emanated clearly marked it as blessed and she looked up again to give the woman an odd look. “…Thanks.” Alissah had already slipped away as she spoke, the woman making her way back to the room where Sharon and the Night Elves were. Liaena stared after her, before shaking her head to dispel lingering thoughts and turned to head towards the front door again, slipping the dart into a secure pocket inside her cloak as she did so. Bella followed, evidently bubbling over with questions as curiosity had momentarily dispelled apprehension. “Who was that? Can I see it? How are you ‘marked’, Li?” “I don’t know” “Yeah you do. You just don’t wanna admit it” Bella scowled. “I am helping you here, Rune. It would help you and stupid Lennox a lot more if you'd just tell me what’s going on, you know…” Manfully ignoring Bella, Liaena stepped out of the front door onto the porch of the house. Shutting it behind her, the evening was dark and quiet save for her companions persistent whining. “Get over here, Hester. I’ve got chocolate” Liaena waited a few moments as the night remained stubbornly silent, before biting back any number of unprintable things under her breath as she searched her pockets for a bribe. “Do you wantto save Kitty or not?” “…..” With a very ill-tempered clucking noise, Hester the owl fluttered down to perch on the wooden railing of the porch to give Liaena a baleful look. Bella gave the bird an odd look, before turning to Liaena. “….so how’re we getting in Li? You said you were flying, or something?” “Yes” Liaena said flatly as she produced a vial out of her bag. This one was also milky coloured, although the keenly observant in a lit room might notice that this one had a distinct tinge of green. “Take this first though. You didn’t get any of the antidote earlier” “…Ew” Bella scrutinised the vial with deep suspicion as she uncorked it slowly. “This had better do what you say it does, Li. Or I’ll report you to Thea for poisoning a colleague. Again.” “If we survive this, I’ll look out for that” Liaena remarked darkly as Bella passed it back quickly, having taken a cautious sip and balked in horror at the taste. “Ugh, Li, how do you even….” Bella glanced around as suddenly the sides of the porch loomed as high as the heavens – before quailing as a gigantic, white predator landed on the floor right in front of her, talons as large as her head digging into the boards. Hester, now the size of a carriage compared to the tiny girl, gave her a predatory look as she cocked her head to one side. “YOU SUCK, RUNE!” “Whoops. However could that have happened….” Liaena muttered dryly to herself as she took a sip of her own potion, stuffing it back into her satchel quickly as she suddenly shrank to the size of Bella. As far as the transformation went, it was far more pleasant than the impersonation one could ever be, she mused as she stepped towards Hester, who chose to look disdainfully the other way as Liaena struggled up to hide among her feathers. Looking back, she glanced down at Bella who was still hovering nervously a safe distance away. Apparently, if it wasn’t a cat, large predatory fluffy things were no longer objects of affection. “Well, come on then. Unless you want to be standing here when those Night Elves come stomping out…” “….” Glancing back at the massive, currently shut door behind them, this logic clearly struck a chord with Bella as she dashed over to clamber onto the bird, locking her arms around Liaena in a pincer grip. With a ruffle of feathers, Hester spread her wings to flutter up onto the porch railing. “Okay, lets go then. Remember Hester, you need to watch out for spells…and we don’t want them to see us coming. No show-boating, you got that?” With a contemptuous toss of her head that clearly said ‘you don’t need to tell me that’, the bird spread her wings to glide away from the porch, to be immediately lost in the silence and darkness of the night.

Producing a small, green vial from a pouch at his waist; a shrinking serum given to him by Liaena a long time ago, the High Elf took a moment to simply gaze at the vial as he held it between two gloved fingers in front of him. It was a look of almost hesitance, as if some part of his brain was begging him to reconsider the decision. "Ehhh, luck to ye, laddie. And ladies." Fran commented as he looked to Sharon, and then to the Night Elves. "They're expecting me back at the alehouse. I'll be leadin' the mob, after all! I've always been a good agitator! So... luck to tha mission, I'll see ye when it's over!" Having started to feel many degrees less comfortable the moment the familiar face of Liaena had left the locale, Fran was quick to turn around and march towards the exit; slamming the door as he left the resort. On the other side of the table, next to the crowd of Night Elves, Alissah had just finished taking a sip from the antitode. Her lips barely contracted as she swallowed the liquid, her face remaining stoic as she silently passed it over to Smokey. As the dwarf accepted the antitode and took a whiff, he quickly produced a small canteen from his belt. Uncorking it, a powerful alcoholic aroma spilled out into the air around him, hinting at the most-likely home made content of the dwarf's canteen. Pouring what remained of the antitode, which was at least what the almost dozen Night Elves had taken altogether, down into the canteen; Smokey turned the lid back, gave it a good shaking, and downed the entire canteen in one big swig! Alissha, who had remained quiet as usual, gave a face of disgust to Smokey as the dwarf let out a belch so loud it could be heard all the way to the outside and by Bella and Liaena as they flew over the house! "There's no point delaying this!" Sharon thought to himself, realizing that the rest of the room was getting ready to depart. Forcefully ignoring all sense and reason, he swigged down the contents of the small vial, which despite not tasting great; at least tasted far better than the antitode he had endured earlier. Placing one hand on the table as he leaned towards it, Sharon quickly found the whole world growing rapidly around him. With the blink of an eye, he was lying at the edge of the table, not far away from Serphia's massive ass that was perched on it as well. "You have a strange tactical sense." Alissah commented monotonously, her eyes looking down at the now tiny High Elf who was walking around on the table. "Thank the light for that, or tonight's plan would not be possible." Sharon replied as he ventured towards Serphia's hand which the Captain had left on the table for him. Jumping up into her palm, Sharon turned to the rest of her warband. "And please, before you leave; remember to lock the door. The keys are by the pegs at the entrance!"

As the now minuscule High Elf had jumped into her palm, Serphia would hold him up while gazing down at her little charge with a look that reflected as much amusement as it did curiosity. "Your life now in my hand - literally." Serphia spoke with a small smirk encroaching on her lips as her face lurked over Sharon. "Your trust is to me a compliment." Night Elves, being bigger than any other race in the room, really did make already shrunken individuals like Sharon feel notably smaller. Serphia on the other hand, who was more than a feet higher than her fellow Night Elves, was literally colossal in comparison to the tiny High Elf in her hand. Removing her butt from the table to stand up straight, Serphia lifted the High Elf up above her chest to perch him close to her neck by her shoulder. "Your warriors are ready to depart, mistress!" Rithrynn saluted as she looked to her Captain, but let a few glances slip to Sharon who was now in her possession. "Good. I have been itching to leave this hut." Serphia nodded to Rithrynn, before turning to the rest of her warriors that gathered around the table. "Sentinels of the Moon and daughters of Elune! Tonight we strike from the shadows at the heart of one of the human's proudest fortifications! The construction of the glorified mound of stone that they call 'Honor's Watch' was ordained by Elune as a test to our superior skill and experience! We are the Keldorei, ancient guardians of Ashenvale, and the deadliest; most proficient warriors in all of Azeroth! Those dull witted apes will not know what hit them! Ash'faladorei rhin 'O dei!" "Ash'faladorei rhin 'O dei!" "Ash'faladorei rhin 'O dei!" "Ash'faladorei rhin 'O dei!" The Sentinels cried out together in return to Serphia's little speech, and soon they all flocked towards the exit. Serphia was the first to leave the living room, marching on ahead with the rest of her sentinels in tow. One of the sisters stopped along the way to release the sleepy nightsabers from one of the side guest rooms in the corridor, and brought them together with them outside. While everyone else walked outside as if the goddess herself was watching them, Rithrynn scurried behind to grab the key by the door and locked it behind them. Serphia mounted the largest and meanest looking of the nightsabers, which was presumably her own personal mount. Vashi jumped on top of the saddle behind her, but as she swiped her arms in from high to grab a hold around Serphia's torso, the Captain immediately raised an arm to halt Vashi's hand. "Remember that we have a third passenger!" Serphia was quick to remind Vashi, who immediately lowered her arms to grip around Serphia's lower waist instead. "Sorry!" "I would hate to lose you before we even reached the castle." Serphia commented with a smirk as she glanced down at Sharon who was standing on her shoulder, before throwing the rest of her warriors an impatient gaze as they mounted up around them on their respective nightsabers. Rithrynn had already jumped onto Nisha. Nisha, although none too happy about being dragged out into the cold outside, did nonetheless seem quite content with the fact that she was the only nightsaber in the pack that did not have to carry two Night Elves+! "I quite enjoy these rides." Serphia suddenly commented with a low voice to Sharon, while gently shuffling her butt around in the saddle as she found a more comfortable position. "Technically, I have four extra passengers. While I may be looking after the two first, the latter two will be looking after my comfort." "I trust Falere and Shani are well at place in their new position?" Vashi asked with an optimistic voice. "I doubt I'd even be able to get them out at this point." Serphia chuckled softly while leaning back, before noticing that the rest of her sentinels were mounted. Moving her hands up to pull her cowl over her helmet, she soon leaned forward in her saddle once again as she grabbed the reins of her nightsaber! "Let's ride out!" What ensued was a tidal wave of feral nightsabers storming through the otherwise quiet streets of Stormwind! It did not take long for them to reach the stairs leading down to the harbor, where they charged down among the buildings and warehouses at lower levels! Keeping close to the walls and following the numerous narrow alleyways, Serphia eventually motioned for the rest of the sentinels to stop once they were just a couple of hundred feet away from the dock, and just beyond it; Honor's Watch. "We will leave the nightsabers behind. Saleen, find a place to keep them." Serphia instructed as she raised one leg over her saber's head to dismount alongside it. Planting her feet in the dirt, she walked a couple of steps away from her mount before glancing down at Sharon. "Since you are going to play the role of the prized adviser sitting right in my ear, do you have any inputs that you wish me to consider?"

“Is this all you’ve got for a plan!? That fort is covered with spells!” Bella hissed from behind Liaena where she was almost hidden in Hesters feathers, clinging tightly to the little girl. Liaena herself had huddled as close to the birds fluffy neck as she could, to hide herself both from observers and the nights winter chill. “What do you see?” “How should I know….I don’t recognise half of these” Chancing a moment to poke her head up into the icy wind, Bella pulled it back down a moment with a shiver. “Barriers….alarms….traps. All sorts. This is suicide, stupid. You don’t expect me to dispel all of those!?” “Like I’d ever expect you to do anything” Liaena muttered. Either oblivious too, or ignoring the bickering taking place on her back, Hester was drifting closer and closer to the ‘property line’ that was the outer curtain wall of Honors Watch. “Shut up, and watch” “Don’t tell me to…” The girls words trailed away as from her perspective, Hester banked sharply before fluttering to perch on the intangible, usually invisible web of spells that were intricately woven around Honors Watch. The bird gave a quiet cluck that sounded distinctly arrogant, before gently easing aside two of the spell-strands with her beak and squeezing through the newly formed gap. The spells trembled slightly at their passing, but no alarms sounded as Liaena turned to give Bella a triumphant smirk over one shoulder. “See? What did I tell you….” “LI, LOOK OUT!” Bella screamed as a shadow bore down on them from above. Liaena barely had time to duck, Hester squawking and banking sharply sideways as an eagle at least three times the size of the little owl swooped down and caught them up in its claws. Absolute chaos followed, the eagle pushing them towards the floor, Hester screaming and struggling, Bella shrieking in terror – before the eagle suddenly went limp and fell off them to plummet towards the rocks, Liaena shaking and holding her dart gun in her hands. “Liiii, what do we do!? There might be more of them!” Bella whimpered into her ear as they fell towards the reef. Hester dripping blood from her neck and one wing, the bird beat her wings wearily once more to push them into a controlled landing on the wet rocks, the walls of Honours Watch Keep looming above. “There probably are” Liaena snapped back, scanning the air above them for any traces of pursuit. There was nothing to be seen, but when dealing with birds of prey, at night, that meant precisely nothing as she rammed another dart into her little gun. “Would you do something useful, and heal Hester!? We have to get back into the air, or we’ll be sitting ducks out here!” * “Their magical defences are very extensive” Liam volunteered nervously, having walked up to stand beside Serphia, and by extension Sharon, on the cold and damp dock. The man turned to also inspect Honors Point, rearing out of the darkness at the far end of the port. “Some of them look appropriate for civilian security….some of them do not. I suppose they had special dispensation.” “…….” Glancing at Serphia, who looked singularly unimpressed by all this Magic Talk Bullshit – his gaze moved on to settle on Sharon, standing on the Night Elfs shoulder. “I might be able to remove some of their spells, but in all likelihood they have alarms set to activate on any damage to their wards. Did you have any plans for this….sir?” * “I never knew Bad Guys talked….quite so Bad-Guyish. I thought that just happened in stories” Sevarian waited expectantly a few seconds for some input from his dazed captive, before losing interest and reverting to harassing his acolytes. “Draw that cleanly, with no smudges. I will be displeased by any further delays” “Y-yes Master!” The dark chamber swung in, swung out and revolved gently before it finally settled again. An undeterminable amount of time passed for Kathlin as she hung limply in her bonds, the cutists painstakingly chalking out the runes again and occasionally bickering quietly among themselves. “Give me the white chalk. No, give it to me. You never get it right” “Those must be trolls” Kathlin thought as she looked across the room to the line of captives along the opposite wall. All of them were resolutely studying their feet and avoiding the gaze of everyone. Their wretched state was obvious, and the defeated slump of their once-tall backs made them truly pitiable creatures. “…I thought they’d be bigger than that” “….” “…I also didn’t think I’d die to humans. With trolls. There’s a moral to be had somewhere in that, I suppose” “Alright, bring the first one forward!” one cultist proclaimed finally, causing the girl to glance up quickly. The man who had spoken stood in the middle of the circle holding an incredibly evil-looking silver dagger, while the other three had moved to kneel at the corners of the pentagram. Sevarian, standing off to one side, produced a pocket watch to glance at it and make a ‘tsk’-ing noise. “No. Don’t.” Kathlin whispered as the Peculiar Chevalier roughly propelled the first troll forward to the centre of the pentagram. This was completely ignored by everyone in the room as the first cultist pushed the troll to its knees, a move that was met with zero resistance from the creature as the others started to chant the words of a ritual in words she didn’t understand. The obvious cliché of the situation was forgotten as the full horror of what was about to happen sunk in for Kathlin, and she started to struggle in all seriousness in her bonds. “Stop it! Leave him alone! Light please, stop them, STOP IT!” “Twisting nether, receive this offering!” -plink- “……” - plink plink plink - The culist blinked as his knife bounced off the troll, trying a couple more times before taking a double take to stare at the troll, who looked every bit as confused as he did. Looking at the creature, he stared at the faintly glimmering shield that had enveloped the creature before spinning around to give the only resident lightwielder an angry and plaintive look. “Oh for…not again!”

Sharon was staring up towards the sky from within Serphia's hood, the High Elf's eyes scanning the dark night sky for any sign of Hester and Liaena above them. But beneath the star filled sky, it was almost completely impossible to notice a small little owl flying through the air. "Since you are going to play the role of the prized adviser sitting right in my ear, do you have any inputs that you wish me to consider?" "Did you have any plans for this….sir?” As the attention of both priest Liam and Captain Serphia turned on the smaller High Elf, Sharon tore his gaze away from the star laced sky to shift between the large, purple face next to him, and the shorter Liam standing next to Serphia. "Most of their wards will be designed to either detect and or prevent magical intrusions and scrying attempts. Physical wards are much more expensive to maintain, such as barriers and distortions in the physical realm, and thus will probably only be located on the inside or at strategic choke-points." " ... probably." Sharon explained, seeing as short of Vashi, he was the group's current foremost expert in the matters of the arcane. "In order to reach the reef, we will need a form of seaborn craft or vessel, preferably something small and inconspicious. Although it's only a short swim to the actual reef itself, the water is ice cold. I have never combined climbing and hypothermia, but I highly doubt it is an ideal combination." Sharon smiled towards Serphia, before his gaze directed itself towards the many surrounding warehouses and loading yards that were all around them. "We should however be able to 'requisition' a simple rowboat or two from the harbor if we are quiet about it. I know there are a few lying around here that we could use to cross the water with." "Is everything alright over here?" Suddenly sounded the voice of a man as two patrolling guardsmen suddenly rounded the nearby corner, one of them raising his lantern towards them while throwing them an inquisitive gaze from between the visors of his helmet. Not wanting to raise any suspicion, the smaller High Elf choose to say nothing from his position in Serphia's hood. Instead, he looked down towards Liam, giving the boy a hard look; as the last thing he wanted was for Serphia to take over the social aspect! "Oh, we are fine, officer!" Liam quickly responded. "We are off to find a haven of debauchery to relax and release our stress with the sins of the night. You would not happen to know the nearest tavern, do you?" The guardsman threw Liam a long look, before motioning towards the northernmost alley. "Just through there, there's the Barbed Cod. I suppose you haven't taken your vows yet." The guardsman smiled, before his gaze moved over to the almost half naked Night Elven warriors, and back to Liam. "Nice catch, kid. You gotta teach me someday." The guardsman commented with a light tone, before turning around and walking away with his colleague. "Have a good evening, citizens!" As the guardsmen disappeared, Sharon leaned towards Serphia's cheek. "And... watch out for the sentries, I was about to say."

"Insolent little wretch; restrain that harpy!" The other cultist shouted angrily, clearly not a fan of having the ritual interrupted. Sevarian slowly turned towards Kathlin who was hanging on the wall, and raised his hand. Suddenly, a dark presence surged over her, dropping her body temperature by what felt like multiple degrees and pulling the breath right out of her lungs! The shield which had protected the troll was dispelled, and Sevarian slowly shook his head at the little girl trapped to the wall. "Like a fly before the storm." He commented with a calm tone, not sharing the same passion as that of his infuriated underlings. "Impressive effort, but it is worth nothing. You have to learn that there are some things that simply cannot be stopped. Some things, are simply meant to be, regardless what you might do to avoid it. And in it all, death is the only certainty." Sevarian turned away from Kathlin, leaving whatever curse he had cast on her in place as he casually walked over to the summoning circle with the cultists surrounding the troll. Stopping next to the creature, he looked down at the troll. "I will give you a purpose far greater than anything your little tribe could ever have offered you. You will touch power beyond anything you could ever imagine. It will course through you. And it will rip you apart." As the the troll raised his head to look up at Sevarian from where he stood on his knees, Sevarian suddenly jabbed his right hand forward; having secretly taken the knife from the cultist! With little warning, he buried the knife into the right side of the troll's throat; holding onto one of its long tusks to keep the creature still as he sliced with grateful motion from one side to the other of the troll's throat with his knife. " ... a sacrifice of blood and bone, to serve as a conduit for our power... " As he retreated his blade, blood gushed forward from the gaping wound in the troll's throat. Standing back, Sevarian let the Troll clutch his throat as the blood flowed down onto the floor beneath him, raining down into the runic symbols that had been etched into the ground around him. As the blood touched with the runic scriptures, they suddenly reacted; glowing ever more intensely in a ghostly blue light as they seemed to absorb the blood from the troll. Meanwhile, the rest of the cultists had gathered in a circle around them. As the blood of the troll quickly left his body, they raised their hands in unison. When the troll was about to collapse, his body suddenly stiffened. Its gaze turned blank, and suddenly the body floated up to its feet. Even as the entirety of its chest had been painted red by the gushing wound in his throat, the body still stood; as if it was being animated by invisible strings! Opening his mouth, he screamed in anguish, his voice sounding more like a distorted echo drawn from his very soul as he had no breath remaining to physically scream with! As the gruesome ritual continued, the runic markings that had been painted on the remainder of the trolls above their own tribal tattoos suddenly began to glow. Within seconds, all of them succumbed to theirs knees, screaming out loud as if the runic symbols on their bodies were burning their very flesh! As they languished in anguish on the ground, they began to be dragged across the floor towards the animated troll in the center of the summoning circle by invisible hands. As the cultists around the ritual circle began to chant in a darker tongue, the suffering trolls were lifted up into the air around the circle. The blue light that had emanated from the runes at the start now illuminated the entire room in a bright blue hue, pulsing with power as the screams of the main sacrifice only increased in magnitude! Watching the ritual, Sevarian turned to look back at Kathlin on the wall. "Some scholars say that ever since mortals pervaded the world, they have ravaged and squandered the great powers within it, making it more and more mundane beneath their feet. But the Scourge taught me differently. Just like mortals use magic, they themselves can be fuel for magic. With the... proper ingredients, simple practitioners can create spells far greater than anything even the highest of circle mages in Dalaran ever could. The power in the world never faded. It simply took another form, and now I am showing you how to extract it."

Serphia's eyes had narrowed to small slits as she glared after the two guardsmen after they had left, before she shifted her gaze back over to Liam. "What was that about?" She inquired, having noticed the hidden communication between the one guardsmen and Liam. Was Liam a spy, a secret agent sent to destroy their plan from within? What manner of sensitive information had he gleamed to the guard?! Was an attack imminent? "Maybe we should focus on getting that boat first? ... just an idea!" Came the careful suggestion from Rithrynn who had crept up on Serphia's side from behind. Fortunately for Liam, it was enough to take the Captain's immediate attention away from him as she turned to look down on Rithrynn instead. "Then look, Syn'Dial... " "No need to look, already found one!" Suddenly came the light tone from one of the Sentinels, Lithrielle, who was hanging over the nearby brick wall to one of the yards, her backside being the immediate visible part of her. Serphia, not wasting any time; immediately marched over to the nearby wooden gate attached to the wall. Unsheathing one of her swords, she brought it down towards the lock. But rather than attempting to slice the metal lock, she instead slashed at the very door itself; carving out a nice chunk of wood that contained both the lock and bits of the door itself. The place reeked with the smell of dead, decomposing fish; but as she looked across the yard, she quickly spotted the rowboats that Lithrielle had been talking about. * Moments later, the warband was scurrying down towards the docks. Serphia, with the tiny Sharon still in her hood, was leading the group. Behind her were two moving rowboats with multiple sets of legs strutting out from beneath them, as the rest of her warriors had been consigned to transportation duty! The exception was Liam, who was balancing two sets of oars as he lagged behind them all! As they approached the open dock, Serphia stopped. Raising her fist, she almost forgot that her warriors couldn't see her gesture from beneath the rowboats, and so quickly added a 'halt' to make them stop. It was enough to stop the first group, but the second group carrying their own rowboat ended up violently bopping into the first group's. "Would you idiots simmer down?" Serphia hissed annoyingly at her warriors behind her. "I can't see anything!" "Shut up!" Serphia sneered, before gazing out across the docks. A small mist had laid itself on the docks, limiting vision. Through the fog, she could barely see the lanterns hanging across the pier. As far as any additional guardsmen, there were none to be seen. "It's clear... follow me!" Scurrying across the wooden docks were a dozen of feet, carrying two heavily built fishing rowboats. "Why couldn't you find any lighter?" Rithrynn quietly complained to Lithrielle beneath their rowboat. "I was on a time pressure! Plus, they were unguarded!" "Still, you could have spent at least a minute more looking!" Running past and below the docks to a small rocky beach, the Sentinels were quick to set their newly acquired vessels to sea! Both of the two groups jumped into their respective rowboats immediately, leaving roughly four elves in each of them. Serphia happened to pick Rithrynn and Vashi's boat, as it rocked dangerously from side to side as the large Captain entered into it. Crouching down at the front of the boat as they began to slowly row towards the reef in the mist, Serphia slightly turned her head to face Sharon. "I hope you are right about the wards. Or else, the White Hand will be the least of your concerns!"

All common sense told her to look away when the ‘Lord High Commander’ walked over to the troll with the cultist blade held behind his back. Instead she watched, utterly impotent as Sevarian opened the trolls neck from ear to ear and the screams of the dead or dying creatures hammered against her ears as they filled the small chamber. “Light, what should I do…? …” Never in her life had terror threatened to overwhelm her in the way it did now. The icy chill of Sevarians spell sunk into her bones, sapping both air and all strength from her body. The electric blue of the cult spells stunk of an evil that washed over her, reinforcing the slowly growing dread that she was going to die inside of this room. No. Liaena and her new friends would come for her. To think anything else of her would just be plain rude. Kathlin swallowed dryly, pushing thoughts of knives opening her up down to mentally sit on them. Thinking back, her mouth moved imperceptibly as she whispered the lines of a simple church prayer to herself, over and over, sparking a weak glow of warmth inside of her that fought back doggedly against the onslaught of Sevarians curse, even as the horrific screams echoed off the walls around them. “Stay alive. I should try stay alive till then.” * “How is she doing!?” “All right…” Bella peered gingerly at the wounds on the birds wing, now scabbed over and looking several days old. Hester snapped her beak warningly and made a pass at her, causing the girl to jump back. “Hey! Ow. Yeah, she’s alright. Her temper’s back, anyway.” “Fine. Fine.” Liaena muttered, looking all about her as she clambered back onto the snowy back, in spite of much grumbling from Hester. “Okay, we have to get out of here. Lets make this –“ Another dark form lunged out of the darkness to crash into the reef beside them. The attack only missed as Hester scuttled to one side to flutter into the air again, and Bella fired a blast of Light that went hopelessly awry as the eagle soared away again. “….” “What was that!?” Liaena stared at Bella, who was now visibly preening where she sat on Hesters back. “You’re never that good…..you stole something, didn’t you?” “Priestess Thea told me to dust the relic cabinet, as punishment for evesdropping” Bella remarked smugly, as Hester wove and banked through the air. “And she gave me the keys. Surprised?” “You MISSED. You just told anyone that cares that there’s a Light user out here!” Liaena spat back as she checked behind them for pursuers. Bella’s smile vanished as the shadow reappeared again, Liaena firing wildly and missing as the eagle continued to harry them towards the ground. “Go to hell, Rune” Hester screeched sharply, spiralling towards the cold waves below to bank sharply and land on a shelf of rock right underneath the walls of the keep. Liaena craned around her snowy neck as the bird strutted along the spur of rock to flutter over and beneath it, the jagged reef giving way to form an alcove that appeared man-made. “Where are we?” “….Sharon mentioned a harbour” Liaena whispered back, although the sound of water lapping against the rocks was probably enough to drown out most noise. The air around them was a silky pitch black, without even the light of the stars to guide by. “I guess this takes us under the keep?” “What!?” Bella whispered tremulously. All recent feuding forgotten, Liaena could feel her clinging tightly again. “But that wasn’t the plan! What happened to make a distraction, and then go find the Night Elves!?” “Yeah. Hester, stop this. They need backup, up there!” Liaena hissed at the bird, who magnificently ignored her as she drifted down the sunken passage. “Useless! Come on! Work with me here!” Hester clucked quietly, which probably meant: ‘screw you’ as the passage suddenly opened onto light and a enclosed harbour, with several small tug boats plus one larger in the White Hands colours drawn up at the dock. The light came from a single lantern burning softly at the far end, as the bird landed on the warf to scurry behind one of the smaller boats and lurk in its shadow. “Do you think there’s anyone here?” “Oh, probably not. Why would they ever want to guard their weak point right into the centre of their super-secure fort?” “….shut up”

"I hope you are right about the wards. Or else, the White Hand will be the least of your concerns!" "If you were going to question my trustworthiness, don't you think now would be a little bit too late to do it?" Sharon asked back at Serphia as they slowly made their way across the narrow canal towards the lower rocks of the reef. "Perhaps you should be more focused on the climb ahead. Fortunately, if something should go wrong, I can probably conjure up a slow-fall spell if necessary." Sharon said in a nonchalant tone while looking at his metal glove, choosing to not meet the gaze of Serphia. Part of him was having doubts about the wisdom of maintaining a snarky attitude in the face of Serphia. Her face, which he was literally right beside. If he managed to piss her off more than usual, he knew that he was only one bite away from being eaten! But he put his trust in Rithrynn to intervene if things went too far. Right now, he would rather prefer to focus on the mission, and not appeasing the Captain. Alissah, who was sitting between the rest of the Night Elves in the boat behind Serphia and Sharon, did not say a word. The silent woman instead choose to give rowboat that they were sitting in a concerned look, as she noticed that it was dipping dangerously far down into the water compared to the boat next to them. Whether this was due to Serphia's big butt or the quality of the boat in question, she could not tell. Turning her head to the Sentinel Lithrielle who was right next to her and rowing, she cast the Night Elf a narrow expression from beneath her hat. "Did you check the boat for holes?" ------------------------------- The cove in the reef that they had entered revealed itself to be housing a complete and functional wharf, with wooden cranes and loading docks built into the very stone walls of the cove itself. A small set of wooden and stone buildings were located at the innermost section of the cove, one of them looking like a stone warehouse built into the reef itself. In the middle of the small town inside of the reef were a set of large bronze doors, surrounded with various mechanical cogs, tubes and vents attached to the rocky walls around it. Alongside the multitude of smaller boats that were located within the cove were two larger ships, a tall frigate which looked to be one of the battleships of the White Hand which sported numerous scars across its front plated hull, and a shorter but broader merchant and transportation ship which were closest to Liaena and Bella. The noise of moving cargo and the voices of the personnel around the merchant ship could be heard, as they were using one of the cranes to unload a series of wooden crates from the ship and onto the dock. It sounded like there were no less than half a dozen men in the cove with them. Voices echoed beneath the jagged rock roof as some of the crates were loaded onto small carts which were pushed by two of the dock workers alongside the pier and towards the bronze doors at the innermost part of the cove. As they approached it with their cargo, their attention seemed to drift to a dwarf sitting next to the doors. The dwarf nodded in response to the two dockworkers, before pulling a lever which caused the bronze doors to open; revealing a metallic platform surrounded by rocky walls. The two workers entered through the doors, and they were closed behind them by the dwarf with the lever. A deep groan could be heard from within the walls of the reef itself as the tubes around the heavy bronze door began to spew forth steam, as what sounded like an elevator carried the workers and their cargo up through the spine of the reef below the castle. What remained in the cove were four other workers, wearing simple linen and canvas outfits, alongside two armored chevaliers which could be seen casually patrolling alongside the ships. As well as the lone dwarf by the dwarf, who rocked back and forth in his chair with a large blunderbuss resting in his lap.

Serphia's eyes seethed with ire as she glared down at the little High Elf in her hood. "What exactly is it that you are getting at, High Elf?" Serphia asked with a contemptuous tone, clearly already beginning to regret accepting Sharon's request for him to accompany her. Perhaps it would have been better to leave him with Rithrynn, or even better; in Rithrynn's butt! "Huh?" Lithrielle shook her head at Alissah's sudden inquiry, tilting her head slightly as she looked back at the human. "I don't know what you mean. The boat's perfectly fine! Just because it was on land when we took it doesn't mean that there was anything wrong with it. I'm sure it's just your... yikes! We're taking in water!" "Ssssshhh, quiet down?" "What?" "Water!?" "We're sinking?!" Although Lithrielle, and perhaps Alissah, had been the first to notice it, it soon became apparent to the rest of the sentinels in the boat that there was indeed beginning to form a pool of ice cold water around their feet in the bottom of the boat. And that they were indeed about to sink! "Sssshhhheeeei... we need to remove the excess weight!" Lithrielle quickly reasoned, suddenly grabbing for the human, Alissah. Rithrynn barely had time to intervene before Lithrielle had the chance to attempt to throw Alissah off the boat by grabbing both of them! "No! Just row faster! We can make it!" Rithrynn argued, pointing towards the rocks by the reef that were only a few dozen feet away! "What is going on back there?" Serphia's voice sounded all of a sudden, the Captain having turned around to look back to see what the commotion was all about. For a moment, her gaze rested on Lithrielle, then on the pool of water forming below them in the boat, and then back up at the almost petrified Lithrielle. "Ehm... " "I thought you said this boat was in perfect condition!" "I... " "We need to get to land!" Rithrynn intervened yet again, waving her arms in front of her Captain to get her attention! Serphia, having little desire to swim, suddenly threw herself further back in the boat, pushing Rithrynn and Alissah to either side while simultaneously sitting on top of the frozen Lithrielle who had failed to move. Grabbing both of the oars while planting her feet in the wooden frame of the boat, Serphia began to row ferociously! As a result, the speed of the rowboat was immediately multiplied by no less than three, as they raced past the other rowboat towards the shores of the reef! With no attempt to break, the rowboat crashed onto the rocks; launching itself a couple of feet up into the air before landing onto the reef itself! The amount of seawater that had gathered at the bottom of the boat was quickly drained now as they were on land, and the sentinels, slightly stunned after the abrupt landing; departed the rowboat on either side. "Are you guys okay?" Sounded the voice of the other landing craft as the second group of sentinels alongside Smokey reached the shore of the reef shortly behind them. "We're fine!" Rithrynn was quick to answer, happily jumping off the rowboat while giving Lithrielle who was currently sporting Serphia on her lap an angry look. "I... sorry, mistress!" Lithrielle gasped as Serphia rose up from having used her as a seat. "You are lucky we've barely just begun our mission!" Serphia commented, before reaching an arm out to pull Lithrielle up and promptly threw her off the boat and onto land with a crash! Stepping onto the rocks of the reef herself, departing the rowboat in a much more graceful manner; Serphia rested her hands on her hips as she raised her head to look up at the menacing reef that loomed above them like a colossus. The climb ahead consisted of nothing less than a hundred feet straight-up climb on a jagged, darkened stone wall before they would reach the lowermost part of the scaffolding of the castle's battlements. "At least it's dry... " She commented at how the lack of waves had left the reef walls relatively dry. But upon not receiving any immediate response from Sharon, she turned her head to look into the side of her hood, realizing that she couldn't see the High Elf anymore! " ... High Elf?!"

“Great” Bella hissed from behind Liaena’s left ear, where she was also surveying the dock. “That stupid bird of yours led us into a dead end! How are we supposed to get past that?” Liaena was staring at the bronze doors in a manner that suggested she wished to bore a hole in them. While it was now hidden, the only exit out of the cove besides the deep inlet they had flown through, clearly lay behind it. “I need them to bring that back down. Now” “What?” “Hester. Cmon. Take us over to that ship, would you?” Liaena hunkered down to whisper into the owl’s ear, who tilted her head back at her in a quizzical motion. “Stay close to the water line – and don’t get us spotted” “Li…what’re you—oof!” Bella’s query was lost in a gasp and clinging onto Liaena as the bird took flight again, sweeping across the still water in the shadow of the ships towards the merchant ship. Fluttering to pause near a porthole, Liaena was juggling two large sticks of dynamite in one hand and a tinderbox in the other as she struck a light, lit the ends and tossed them into the belly of the ship before Hester swooped away again. Bella blanched. “What’re you doing!?” “Bringing the lift back” Liaena spat as she hurled another of Smokey’s ‘toys’ at another porthole as they passed it. Obliviously coiling rope on the main deck, the sailor glanced briefly in their direction at the faint ‘thud’. “Besides, I promised a distraction” “You’re insane” “….Well, yeah. DUH.” Liaena looked back at Bella sardonically with a lit stick of dynamite in each hand as Hester peeled away from the doomed ship to flap towards the roof of the dim cavern. Passing over the dock, she let them drop just before Hester hit the wall of the cave to scuttle into the shadow of a crevice not far from the bronze doors. “Don’t mess with my friends then”

As the two first tiny dynamites from Liaena fell down into the belly of the ship and plonked down onto the crates that had been stacked in the ship's storage, it gained the attention of one of the two loaders. Before he could open his mouth, the fuse reached its end, and Smokey's dynamites exploded in the cargo hold with a loud bang! Although the two dynamites were severely diminished in both size and volume from their original shape, Smokey's life philosophy of 'more is better' was readily apparent as they generated a bright flash and an ear deafening boom in the cargo hold like a pair of firecrackers from hell; swooping up a cloud of dusk from the boxes and crates! "AAAAAAAAHHH!" "Bloody hell! Who the hell is throwing firecrackers!?" Sounded the both frightened and infuriated voices of the loading workers from the ship's belly. Up on deck, one of the sailors looked down with a smug smile. "Did one of ye weenies shit your pants? I hope I don't have to call the cleanup crew to,-" *BANG* Suddenly, the third dynamite that Liaena had tossed exploded not far from the sailor's feet; causing him to almost literally levitate a couple of feet off the ground as his face turned white as marble, and he fell over. A moment of silence ensued, before laughter erupted from the two loading workers in the ship's hold as they laughed at the sailor's misfortune. "What is going on here?!" Sounded the angry voice of one of the patrolling chevaliers who had come to inspect the commotion, and was walking up the docking ramp to the ship. Looking across the workers from behind his steel mask, his fury was obvious nonetheless. "Are you eight?! Kids?! We are not paying you to play around. You are two hours behind schedule already! If I hear ONE more firecracker, I'm going to keelhaul the lot of you!" The ill-tempered chevalier was quick to get order among the ship's crew, who somberly returned to their activities of unloading the ship. As they stacked up a new set of crates on another wooden trolley, two of the loaders took it upon themselves to push it towards the bronze gate of the steam elevator. "Bring it down, we have more cargo!" One of the men called out. The dwarf with the blunderbuss, who was sitting next to the gate; got up on his feet to walk over to a large horn sticking out from the wall and shouted something unintelligible into it. Moments later, the heavy clanking and trembling of heavy machinery could be heard as the elevator was heading back down towards the harbor. As the bronze doors opened, the two loaders from previously came walking out of the elevator with their wooden trolley, before the second duo of workers loaded their own packed trolley onto the elevator. -------------------------------------- "Was that a genuine tone of concern that I just sensed in your voice?" Came the comment from Sharon, as the High Elf clambered back onto Serhpia's shoulder. Brushing some dust off his robes, he looked up at the face of the Captain to throw her a smile. Unlike Rithrynn, it was quite obvious that Serphia had little experience with carrying anyone of her shoulder. If anything, it struck him that he was at best a second concern to the Captain. "Considering where she normally keeps her passengers, I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised." "And here I thought you would mark the day I suddenly disappeared and vanished without a trace with drink and celebration." Sharon said jokingly, before looking ahead. "Thanks. I feel much more safer knowing that my prediction was not entirely true."

“Don’t push your luck.” Serphia said as she glared back down at the High Elf, any neutral features on her face having turned into a dark, serious expression. Eventually however, she choose to ignore the High Elf, however hard it might be considering the fact that he was quite literally sitting right next to her ear! “Let’s scale this reef today, girls! Get your asses in gear!” Serphia shouted to the rest of her sentinels as they began to crowd around the nearest wall. Armed with hooks and ropes, they began to ascend the rocky walls in three waves, with Serphia climbing alongside Rithrynn and Vashi in the first wave. Although one might have assumed that gravity would be holding the most sway over the Captain, Serphia was by far the fastest climber of the group. Moving almost like an animal up the cliffside, her hands flawlessly moved into small rock crevices or outcrops in the wall as she pushed herself up. Next to her, Rithrynn was struggling to keep up with her Captain’s acrobatic and ferocious climb, while Vashi was already beginning to trail behind. “Tardiness will not be tolerated!” Serphia sneered, suddenly pausing to reach down and grab Vashi before throwing her up ahead of her. Vashi flailed around with her arms as she hovered in the air for a second before she managed to get a new grip, and continued to climb; not daring to object to her Captain as they were hanging almost hundreds of feet above ground! “Y-yes, Mistress!” The climb only took some minutes before Serphia was the first one to reach the bottom of the scaffolding of the southernmost tower of the castle. With a great leap, she grabbed for the bottom of the wooden railing, before pulling herself up onto the wooden platform and immediately unsheathing her dagger. Eyes scanned her new surroundings, and quickly fell upon a lone Gnomish worker who was carrying around a bucket of paint. The Gnome, upon seeing the large and armed Night Elf suddenly leap up onto the scaffolding, immediately froze on the spot! Taking a few steps back, he opened his mouth. “H-h-hel… guar,-“ *THUMP!* But the Gnome was suddenly interrupted as Rithrynn had climbed up on the scaffolding behind him, before making a quick run to kick the Gnome in the back! The result was a ferocious kick where she punted the Gnome straight past Serphia and Sharon and completely off the safety railings of the wooden scaffolding! The Gnome’s terrified scream could be heard in the distance as he began to descend, before falling into the water far below with an audible splash. Serphia, with her dagger still in hand; gazed down from the scaffolding. It was impossible to see where the Gnome had fallen as the mist lay as a thick carpet across the harbor, but when she turned to look back at Rithrynn, a small smile had appeared on her lips. “Nice one, Syn’Dial. I will give you two points for the target, and three extra points for style.” Serphia said with a slightly bemused tone, and Rithrynn made a quick bow as the Captain walked past her. “Thank you, mistress!” Behind them, the rest of the sentinels would eventually reach the scaffolding and clamber onto. Vashi, who had managed to fall even further behind, eventually arrived with the third wave, despite having originally joined with the first. She was noticeably more shaken in her body compared to the rest of her sisters who seemed rather affected by the climb beyond some heavier breathing, and walked in slightly unbalanced posture. “Elune!” Vashi gasped when she got a glimpse down towards the seemingly bottomless drop into the fog from the scaffolding, to the point that Rithrynn had to quickly intervene and grab her as she began to lean dangerously to either side!

“They’re going to see us if we go into that” Bella hissed into Liaena’s ear as Hester crept along the rocks, closer and closer to the elevator doors. Liaena ignored her, instead choosing to focus on the dwarf manning the controls as she primed another firecracker in her hand. Tossing it almost gently, the tiny thing bounced once before clattering along the smooth rock floor to roll under his chair. -BANG- “WHAT WAS THAT!?” The Chevelier’s voice bellowed across the harbour as the miniature explosion lifted the dwarf, chair and all, off of the ground to send him crashing into the wall of a building and slumping to the ground. The two men in the elevator looked at each other, before making a big show of staring at the ceiling and/or their feet as the furious sound of stomping metal boots became louder and louder. “I WARNED YOU—“ For the one who was looking at the ceiling, his mouth suddenly opened wide with surprise as a small white owl swooped under the top of the doorway and started to flutter around the ceiling of the elevator. This interest only lasted a few moments however, as what looked like a tiny stone, or bird poop fell from the creature, to shatter on the elevator floor. -PSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH- A plume of white smog, or smoke blossomed up from the shattered vial to rapidly start to fill up the small elevator as the two men looked down in surprise. Then they started to hurriedly back out of the elevator, regardless of angry superior, just as the gas rose to shoulder level and one of them started hacking and coughing uncontrollably. “WHAT IS GOING---” The Chevalier arrived on the scene, only for his jaw to drop at the scene, with the elevator now completely full of the white smoke that was rapidly leaking out into the rest of the harbour. “…on?” “Can’t you hurry up!?” Bella hissed furiously, apparently entirely unaffected by the gas as Hester hooted extremely irritably, trying to brace herself against the ceiling and wall of the elevator as she indulged in a form of flight that was extremely unnatural for owls. “You can’t hurry Genius” Liaena said matter of factly as she fondled a large blob of putty that had originally belonged to Smokey. It now had multiple firecrackers, and something that strongly resembled plastic explosives sticking out of it, as she shoved it into the ceiling of the elevator to stick fast and duck down into Hesters feathers. “Okay, duck!” The bird dived, as a loud BANG filled the confined space. There was a yell from outside the smog, presumably a guard. “Oh look” Bella remarked, looking up at the roof of the elevator, where a dark hole could now be seen through the mist. “Your gas is escaping” “Yeah, it’s a pity. I need to make it heavier” Liaena observed dubiously as she petted the bird absently, glancing out of the door where the rough outlines of humans could increasingly be seen again as Hester fluttered into the air towards the new ‘hatch’. “Get us out of here, girl” * One of the last Sentinels to make it over the edge of the battlements looked extremely irritated and was carrying Liam, who was chalk white and looked visibly more wretched each time he dared to glance down to see how high up they were. “Light….” Taking one final glance over the scaffold, the boy gulped, then straightened his back along with his robes as he was plonked unceremoniously on his feet by his Night Elf, who then muttered something in Darnassian to her comrade with an audible snigger. “Ehm. Right then.” Liam glanced quickly up and down the scaffold as though he expected enemy guards to come crawling out of the woodwork, before shooting Sharon a quick look where he stood on Serphia’s shoulder. “Is everything alright? I heard a scream”

“Is everything alright? I heard a scream” Sharon, standing on Serphia's shoulder, a position which elevated him above everyone else in the group short of Serphia herself; gazed down at Liam with his arms folded. "No. The situation is quite under control I would say... " He muttered with a quiet voice, as his eyes drifted over to Rithrynn, who currently looked quite proud of her recent accomplishment. " ... however, we are going to need to talk about your idea of subduing civilians once this mission is over." Sharon said, shrugging his shoulders when he became the center of Serphia's eyes as the Captain obviously did not have anywhere near the same problem with Rithrynn turning the gnome into a sport event. "Just details that could get us into trouble later." A pointy leather hat emerged above the floor of the scaffolding beneath their feet as Alissah grabbed onto the edge of the wooden platform to pull herself onto it. The woman was carrying a long rope that was tied around her waist, and ran down all the way to the bottom of the reef below. But as she had put one knee onto the platform and reached out to grab the guard railing, a distant 'plonk' could be sounded from the mist below as the rope around her suddenly tightened and almost pulled her off the platform. "Dammit, dwarf!" Alissah hissed as she held on for dear life, almost about to produce a knife to cut the rope before the rope slackened; allowing the human to climb up onto the scaffolding with the rest of the team. As she stood up on the platform, she quickly removed the rope around her waist to wrap it around the nearest wooden support beam. Finishing her knotting, she would pull in the rope three times, before stepping back as it tightened. A distant whirring and creaking noise could be heard from below the platform as up and out of the mist; Smokey emerged. The dwarf was dangling back and forth on the rope, which was attached to the small wooden device that he had attached to his belt, and was currently rotating the levers on each side of the contraption to pull him up the rope with minimal effort. The dwarf in question had a rather relaxed pose as he ascended the side of the reef, literally lying vertical in the air with his big backpack hanging loosely below him as he rose through the air. One particular feature of the dwarf that was different from when they had last seen him on the ground however, was the fact that most of his upper body was now painted white! Including sections of his pants and backpack as well. The dwarf, despite his leisurely position, did not seem particular happy. Almost reaching the platform, the dwarf suddenly paused as a stick of dynamite fell out from his backpack and into the mist below! "Drat!" He cursed, before looking back towards the platform. "Eh, I got plenty where that 'un came from." Continuing to cycle the levers of his contraption to pull himself up to the scaffolding, the dwarf would place one leg onto the edge of the platform before stepping up onto it with his other. As he finally stood with a somewhat solid ground beneath his feet, he would gaze out across the rest of the group; his face and beard all painted white with fresh paint! "Who tha hell threw that bucket'o bloody paint?!" ------------------ The elevator shaft that Bella, Liaena and Hester had entered would turn out to be a long, dark and tenebrous tunnel that stretched far up through the very spine of the reef in an almost two hundred feet free drop! It was pitch black outside the elevator's oil lighted environment, and the air was noticeably heavier. Cables hung from the top of the darkened shaft, attached to the elevator wagon below them. Various tubes and pipelines were built into the stone walls of the shaft, occasionally spewing out hot steam that filled large parts of the elevator shaft as the heavy gears on each side of the elevator below them began to suddenly rotate. Whoever operated the elevator had obviously not gotten the news about the incident at the bottom, as the elevator below Bella and Liaena began to climb up through the elevator shaft and the heavy machinery around them broke into life. Further up ahead, there were three heavy bronze doors in the shaft where the elevator would dock at one of them. There were little indications as to where each door lead, short of some small, grime covered inscriptions on the exterior of the doors labeled the lowest 'storage', the second 'administration', and third 'barracks'.

"You have to admit that it was kind of cool!" Rithrynn argued in her defense to the little High Elf positioned on her Captain's shoulders, extending her arms towards him in a gesture. "Who tha hell threw that bucket'o bloody paint?!" Silence immediately fell upon the crowd when the dwarf loudly announced his question. Rithrynn's head, which had been initially focused on Sharon, snapped around to look at the dwarf who looked like some poor attempt to appear as a ghost, being completely white almost from head to toe! Although he had succeeded in gaining the attention of every Night Elf on the platform, no one said a word. The most noteworthy amount of feedback the dwarf ever succeeded in gaining was a faint snicker coming from somewhere in the back of ranks of the Night Elves, his appearance clearly having inspired a level of restrained bemusement by the elves! Rithrynn and Serphia exchanged looks, before both of them suddenly gave Sharon a hard 'don't tell' look! "This is a stealth mission! Keep your voice down, dwarf!" Finally came some words from Serphia's mouth as the Captain looked down at Smokey, clearly determined to derail the entire conversation. Or, depending on your perspective, put it back on its original track! "We have a castle to infiltrate! Let us not wait around until the monkeys inside manage to discover us! Come!" And with that, the Night Elves, lead by Serphia, and closely followed by every other non-Night Elf in the party, began to make their way up through the precarious wooden scaffolding that was the only thing keeping them from entering a free fall from the walls of the castle and down the steep reef side! Fortunately, both of the Night Elves and perhaps for anyone else, there were no other workers visible on this side of the castle short of the Gnome Rithrynn had turned airborne. Arriving at an upper section of the scaffolding where a wooden ramp lead up onto the outer battlements of the castle, Serphia motioned for the rest of the group to halt behind her as they stood hidden between the wooden structure and canvas of the scaffolding. "We are about to enter the fort." Serphia said as she crouched down, her face turning to look down at the little elf on her shoulder. "Where do you think that little human damsel of yours is?"