As they ran up towards the surface of the castle, Sharon's thoughts were still trapped in the reef itself as he thought of Liaena and the rest whom they had left behind. [i]"She's a small target, and as resilient as a dwarf. I'm sure she'll be fine."[/i] Sharon thought to himself, as he tried to remember if Liaena had bothered to wear the chainmail that he had bought for her. It was ironic to think of how the stripperific Night Elves were sometimes even more armored than Liaena. Unfortunately however, Liaena was not anywhere near as agile as the former, but perhaps just as stubborn. "It almost looks like the Fourth Great War just started right here." "What?" It took Serphia's remark for Sharon to wake up and look around him. The castle did indeed look quite weathered, as if a massive explosion had just occurred! It was a cloud-free twilight above Honor's Watch. The night had passed, and dawn was approaching. Although still some hours until morning, the added lighting made the damages to the settlement quite visible! [i]"By the light, what happened here?"[/i] "You... don't know, by any chance, what happened here, Rae'liel?" Sharon inquired as he looked down from Serphia's shoulder and down to the Blood Elf in the Captain's arms. "I'm pretty sure this area was a little more pristine when last I saw it." ------------------------------------------------------------- The entire tunnel reverberated by the tremendous explosion produced by the complete sacrifice of Liaena's bag-of-crazies. Another carpet of dust bulged out in every direction through the tunnels and corridors, this time with a host of colored tints from the released chemicals contained within Liaena's bag. On the other side of the caved in rubble, everything was silent short of the distant clattering of small rocks and sand that fell from the ceiling. But as the dust began to settle, a faint, green light could be seen through the blinding dust, followed by the shape of a male High Elf. Sherpa stood with his blade held in a forward position, surrounded by a green, unholy shield channeled through his Runeblade. The elf had been pushed multiple feet back through the corridor, but his protective shield had blocked most of the damage. As he discontinued the spell and allowed the shield to dissipate, an audible chink could be heard as a crack appeared on his blade next to one of the runes, causing a weak, purple mist to drift out from the blade. Sherpa took a deep breath as he looked at the rubble that was now before him, completely blocking his path. Had he reacted a split second later, it would have surprised him if there had been anything left of him. The corridor around was otherwise pitch dark, the only source of light being the faint light illuminated by the purple runes on his Runeblade. [i]"A valiant effort, little girl."[/i] He lowered his Runeblade, taking his left hand off the handle of the blade. Staring ahead at the rubble, he took a moment to inspect it. It was clear that he would not be able to get through it. "But I am not alone." Sherpa muttered, holding his Runeblade horizontally in front of him as he muttered in an intelligible guttural language. Faint and spectral figures began to appear on the edge of the blade, as two gruesome wraiths were spawned by the Runeblade. As the spectral abominations left the blade, another rune on Sherpa's Runeblade was extinguished, its purple glow vanishing with the ghosts. "The prize is on the other side of this obstruction." Sherpa spoke in an eerily calm voice to the two cloaked spirits that now floated in front of him, one of them holding a spectral scythe, the other one a pair of dual scalpels. "I will not restrain you any longer. Kill them. Torment them. Tear their souls apart. Do whatever you want, but do not let them leave this keep alive." The specters simply gazed back at him through their ghostly hoods, their hollow and empty eyes studying the Death Knight before them. As a cold wind blew through the tunnel however, the first one turned around towards the cave-in, and soon the second one followed. The incorporeal beings melded into the rock, the mundane physical space of the world meaning little to them. All they saw was the current of souls, alive and dead, passing through the world and to the next. Their world was bleak, short of the trace of the living, and their appetizing prospect for pain. ----------------------------------------------------------------- On the other side of the cave in, the first specter emerged; little more than faint glimmer of a humanoid shape escaping from the rocks in the darkened corridor. Sensing the proximity of its prey, it reached out with one of its skeletal hands carrying a scalpel; its arm seeming to stretch far beyond that of the rest of its body as it zoomed in against its nearest prey!