"You should have left me to die, I could have bought you more time."

"I have left enough people to die. And it has taught me that there is little joy in being the sole survivor." Sharon replied to Rae'liel, the High Elf giving her a gentle smile. That was of course all interrupted when Serphia managed to attract the attention of some nearby chevaliers with her scolding of the Blood Elf.

"I thought Night Elves were supposed to be good at stealth!"

Sharon became little more than a passenger and spectator for the ensuing flight as Serphia ran across the castle, dodging bullets and halberds. None of those events were as horrifying as what was aobut to occur however, as Serphia was now running straight towards the edge.

"Captain... Captain, you know what you're doing? SERPHIA? By the light, watch ouAAAAAHHH!" Sharon screamed as Serphia jumped off the edge like a suicidal kobold. Sharon had shared the company with suicidal individuals before, but he had up until this moment considered Serphia to be of a more conservative kind when it came to self-preservation, especially considering the long lives of her kin.

Alas, that seemed to not be the case!

"You said you had a spell in case I fell."

"Yes, but I didn't think you'd ever actually jump!" Sharon called back as they began to fall towards the cold waves and reef below. Holding onto Serphia's hood with one hand, the High Elf would wave his staff around as he frantically summoned a physics enchantment. A quiet pulse emanated from his staff, and suddenly, Serphia, Rae'liel and Sharon all felt light as a feather. No longer were they chaotically plummeting towards the the cold sea below, but instead floating with the wind in the direction towards the harbor.

Sharon let out a sigh of relief as he clung to Serphia's hood. The High Elf would turn to look behind them and up towards the battlements of Honor's Watch, a view that was steadily getting smaller and smaller as they drifted further away. He could see half a dozen chevaliers staring down at them as they floated away. Although he could not see their expressions due to their masks, Sharon felt confident that their faces must have been rather mortified beneath them.

Beneath them, they could first see the waves of the ocean in the twilight, then the anchored merchant and military ships, before they could then see the various houses, taverns, warehouses, factories and districts of the harbor, and they were steadily floating down towards the surface. Right now, they seemed to be heading down towards a large, open yard behind one of the many warehouses.

"I can't believe we made that... " Sharon muttered in relief to Serphia and Rae'liel as he thought back on how close they had been to death in Honor's Watch, not fully realizing the danger he had been in until now. However, as he let out a sigh, one rather daft seagull came flying straight towards them, and bumped off the side of Serphia's shoulder with a squawk.

This did little more than tickle the Captain. But it also seemed to have the effect of breaking the feather-fall spell, as they suddenly, still hovering thirty feet over, began to fall rapidly again!

Sharon reacted immediately, his mage training kicking in as he blinked away from Serphia's shoulder, only to reappear down in the yard where he landed on his feet. Having avoided the fall, he let out a sigh.

"That was close... "

*Bonk*

"Stupid bird!" Serphia sneered at the seagull as it plonked off her shoulder and dived in a spiral towards the nearest fishery. It took however a moment for the Night Elven Captain's brain to register that their velocity had changed quite drastically, and that they were no longer floating peacefully towards the ground.

"Whut? ... "

...

"Goddess!" Serphia exclaimed when she realized that she was again falling, and this time, Sharon had teleported away from them!

"I knew I couldn't trust that Quel'Dorei!"

"Hold on!"

Serphia called out to Rae'liel as the Night Elf's grip on the Blood Elf tightened, and Serphia braced herself for the inevitable landing! Down below them, Sharon, who might have been lucky enough to escape the fall; soon would notice a shadow growing around him that was rapidly getting bigger.

The shadow, belonging to no one else but Serphia and Rae'liel as they fell towards the tiny High Elf!

It was with a heavy crash that the large Night Elf Captain, clinging Rae'liel in her arms, would land right on top of the shrunk High Elf as Serphia landed in the yard with her big butt first! Rae'liel followed with her, the Blood Elf landing in the Captain's lap! Serphia let out a loud gasp as she landed, partly because of the air being knocked right out of her, and partly because of the High Elf mage that just went straight up her butt! Her facial expression grew ever more bizarre as Rae'liel landed on her, and the Captain simply took some empty breaths as she tried to inhale some air.

There was no trace of the little High Elf, Sharon, who at that point was firmly entrenched within the confinements of Serphia's rear.

After a couple of seconds of heavy breathing, Serphia finally regained her breath to the point she could look around. The yard was empty except for them, and the Captain's eyes moved over to Rae'liel who was lying in her lap.

"Are you okay?" She asked, the Captain's features looking quite weathered as she was still panting.

“STOP IT! RITHRYNN, GO BACK!” Liaena screamed from Rithrynn’s arms. The little girl squirmed ineffectually in the Night Elves firm grip, twisting her head around to crane back down the corridor. “YOU JUST LEFT THEM! THEY WON’T HAVE A CHANCE!”

*

“Did…ah…did they just leave us here?”

Liam gasped as he jogged down the corridor, Alissah bobbing along in the slip stream as he tugged her along after him with one hand.

“…Yup”

“But…they were….here to rescue you!”

“I…guess this sort of counts? ….Maybe?” Kathlin remarked dubiously. A flicker in the torchlight from the wall right behind the priests head made her eyes widen. “Look out!”

Liam twisted around, warding off a spectre with a conjured fistful of Light as the creature hissed and backed off a pace – but only a pace. “They appear to be closing in. Oh dear”

“They do, don’t they”

“You should probably run” Liam made a valiant attempt at sounding authorative, which failed miserably from the tremor in his voice as he shook the conjured orb at the ghasts. “Back, vile creatures! ….I’ll, ah, hold them off”

“What?”

“Go! Save yourself! I’m saying that I’ll stay behind, and fight them!”

Liam hissed furiously at his companion, the priest having gone bright red in the face as she simply raised her eyebrows back at him. “…That sounds like a terrible idea”

“I—“

“I do appreciate the thought though”

“HSSSSSSSSSSKKKKKK!”

Scissor arms whirring, the ghost made a lunge for the pair, only to bounce off a hastily conjured shield by Kathlin as she tugged on his sleeve to start dragging him down the corridor in a run again, Alissah bobbing along. “Cmon, we do need to catch up with Li. Although that’s very sweet”

“….Sweet” Liam muttered. The priest was still rather red, although clearly relieved that his heroic last stand had been spurned as he started to leg it after her, with many glances at the corridor behind him. “Really?”

“Oh, was that demeaning?”

“….a bit”

“Sorry”

*

“STOP! NOW! STOP!” Liaena yelled, battering at Rithrynn with her arms, legs at any part of the Night Elf she could reach. Short of slamming her into the wall repeatedly – which the elf looked as though she was at least considering as a tempting option – there was little that could be done to stop the little girl struggling, not to mention alerting anyone not completely deaf within the castle and possibly the harbour side as well. “YOU – WILL – NOT – JUST – RUN – OFF! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE WARRIORS!”

With a lot of ineffectual flailing now that the Night Elf was intentionally squeezing her at a very awkward angle, Liaena managed to plant her boot into the Night Elfs upper thigh, tangling her legs with Rithrynns and interrupting the Night Elves stride. As with a stumble, Rithrynn just managed to keep her balance – averting a situation that would doubtless have been very uncomfortable for Liaena as well – Liaena squirmed in her arms to glare up into her face. “I’ll stop it if you go back and GET THEM. You’re lieutenant, aren’t you!? Get two of them—“ here she stabbed a finger at the other Night Elves “--to carry them!”

A low groan could be heard emanating from Alissah as the human female reared her head ever so slightly.

It was a strange sensation that ran through the woman's body, a feeling of completely weightlessness as she if she drifted across invisible currents. Her vision was a slightly blurred, and her surroundings carried a neutral darkness interrupted only by small bouts of light.

"Am I dead?"

The woman wondered to herself, the last image in her mind being that of the accursed Death Knight and his Runeblabe coming straight up towards her face! Moving her arms, she soon felt a painful sting in her chest region as the pain began to return to her body. She soon recognized the cold sensation coming from their dank surroundings as they were in some dungeon of some sort.

“Oh, was that demeaning?”

“….a bit”

“Sorry”

"So I guess I'm not dead then."

The chatter from the two light acolytes at least confirmed that she was still alive. Unless her kind of hell was one filled with annoying teenagers whose ninety nine problems she couldn't care any less about.

An eerie shriek echoed through the corridor they were running through however. The ringing noise from the earlier explosion still hadn't left her ear, but the inhuman, haunting wail was unmistakable. With some effort, Alissah raised her head and looked over her chest to look back into the corridor behind them. From the devouring darkness, she could she the faint shapes of two wraiths closing in, their decrepit faces twisted in sadistic glee as they closed in on their prey.

"Look away." Alissah suddenly said as the female reached for a bandolier hanging by her hips, pulling out a paper cylinder from it. Grabbing it with her hands on each end, she pulled in it, creating a spark and a fire in the middle! A particularly strong, poignant smell filled the air from the incense contained within. Before the fire could spread any further, she tossed the cylinder back into the corridor behind them.

Two seconds passed without anything happening, before all of a sudden, the corridor behind them lit up in an impressive firework show; casting a blinding light in every direction and filling the corridor with holy incense. Tormented and furious shrieks emanated from the wraiths as they immediately backed away from the holy spectacle in front of them, retreating back into the darkness!

Closing her eyes to avoid being blinded by her own device, Alissah would turn to look up at Kathlin as she floated through the air behind them.

"Forgive my failure, you shouldn't have saved me... " she said with a worn voice, though her tone also carried a sense of urgency.
"But as much as you have my gratitude, can you run faster? We will not escape the wraiths at this pace!"

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I hope Captain Serphia and Rae'liel had a better landing."

The shrunk High Elf thought to himself as he straightened himself up after his landing, stretching his neck and back as he looked around the yard in which he had landed. It was the yard he had seen from his flight with Serphia up in the sky, and he was indeed still quite shrunk, judging by the relative gigantism of his surroundings.

He did not see any sign of Rae'liel and Serphia however. The two women had not landed anywhere near to his position, at least as far as he could see, and there were no visible destruction to indicate that they had crashed into one of the surrounding roofs on the buildings in the district.

"I did teleport to the right spot, didn't I?"

Sharon thought to himself, narrowing his eyes as he gazed across his surroundings. But as the High Elf would turn to reach a hand down towards the book hanging by his belt, he would suddenly pause as he noticed an enlarging shadow that was centered around him. And perhaps more noticeably now as he had noticed it, a dual set of screams coming from up above.

Raising an eyebrow, Sharon would turn to look up. And what he saw was big. Purple. And heading straight for him!

"Dear light... !" Sharon uttered, the High Elf barely managing to begin to move as he watched Serphia, or more particularly, her two, big purple buttocks as they descended down upon him! All he managed to do was to take a single step, before the Night Elven Captain, alongside with Rae'liel, fell on him, and he was immediately forced up the rear of the former!

A quiet moment passed as the High Elf merely observed his new surroundings in disbelief. It was an environment that he was not totally unfamiliar with, in part thanks to Rithrynn. However, this time, it was notably more spacious, if such a thing was even possible!

"Not again!" He cried out, as Sharon began to shift and move around in order to try to get Serphia's attention!

Running was becoming more and more difficult at this point, as Liaena's rage meter kept building up and the little girl was becoming a flurry of flailing arms and legs, kicking and punching in every direction.

Finally, Rithrynn would slow down, partly out of turning her attention to the furious human in her grip, and partly because running was becoming extremely taxing with the rabid human!

"What do you mean we left behind... ohh." Rithrynn spoke, turning her head around to look behind them before an 'ohhh' expression appeared on her face. There was no sign of either Alissah, Kathlin nor Liam behind them. The trio seemed to have long since fallen behind on the wild chase. It was perhaps no surprise that the human youngsters couldn't keep up with the long strides nor the superior physical conditioning of the Night Elves.

"I thought humans were faster than that... "

It was an awkward moment indeed, as Rithrynn contemplated on what to do, all the while receiving a very, very dark stare from Liaena.

"Dashi(halt)!" Rithrynn called out in Darnassian, and the fleeing group of elves would immediately stop to look to her.
"Where's the humans?"

"Right there?" One of the sentinels would suggest while meekly nodding her head in the direction of Liaena that Rithrynn was currently holding. If she had a hand available, Rithrynn would have been covering her face with her palm at that point, but merely shook her head instead to look at her other sisters.

"We had three other humans - where are they?!"

"So we were not leaving them behind as bait?"

" ... yes!"

"Ohhhh!"

It was hard for her to believe it, but in that moment; part of Rithrynn actually missed the presence of mistress Serphia!

"We need to get them back; that Kat girl was also the reason we came to this castle in the first place! This was a rescue mission, remember!" Rithrynn explained, before pointing at two of the nearest sentinels. Of the four other sentinels, two of them had been wounded, and two of them were supporting the former.

"Aleena, Lithriell, I need you to get those humans back!" Rithrynn instructed, only to receive rather annoyed looks in return.

"But they're just humies, we need to get out of here!" Aleena complained, the Sentinel looking none to happy about going back, and more concerned about getting out with her loot!

"Mistress Serphia wanted them alive. Do you want to explain to her why we lost most of our humans during the escape? Right after she left us with them?!"

Neither Aleena nor Lithriell said anything. None of them seemed to like the idea of having to explain such a failure to their mistress. Instead, the two sentinels exchanged looks, before they both began to run back for Kathlin and Liam!

Finding the priests and apprentices was a rather easy task, as it didn't take long after Aleena and Lithriell had left the group before a giant explosion of light emanated from one of the corridors further ahead, followed by the angry moans of evil spirits!

As they approached Kathlin and Liam, Aleena would be the first to shout out in dismay.

"Once we are out of this place, I'm putting every midget and monkey Rithrynn brings with her under an obligatory marathon test run!" Aleena complained as she stormed up to Kathlin, sheathing her long two handed saber behind her back. Grabbing Kathlin in one arm and holding her over the bobbing head of the Death Knight tied to her waist, while holding her looted Runeblade in her other, Aleena would turn around to run the other way; Alissah bobbing more rapidly after her as Kathlin still had not let go of the woman. Liam was grabbed by Lithriell, who hoisted him up behind her shield and up onto her shoulder before running after Aleena, and giving Liam a clear view of her own back as well as the tunnel behind her where the angry howls from the spirits could still be heard through the darkness!

"On our next mission, remind me to tell the Mistress to shrink all of our human aide. It would make it easier to carry them at least!" Aleena complained to Lithriell as the two sentinels were running with their human luggage back towards the group of Sentinels and Liaena further up ahead.

*

Back at the group, while waiting for Aleena and Lithriell to return, Rithrynn would cast a look around at the other members, her eyes eventually falling on Liaena whom she had placed down on the floor for the moment.

"I never thought I would say this, but I actually miss Serphia... a little bit." She would mutter in a low voice to Liaena to avoid the rest of her sisters overhearing it.

But perhaps a more pressing matter on Rithrynn's mind in that moment was the fact that she genuinely had no idea where the were going. The corridors beneath Honor's Watch were like a giant, underground labyrinth, and she had little clue as to where they should even begin to walk. She only had memory of the way they had come from, to the surface, but that path had long since been sealed off due to the cave in.

"You wouldn't... happen to know... where the nearest exit is?" Rithrynn would ask in a nonchalant, dis-attached manner to Liaena who was standing next to her, trying to underplay the severity of the disastrous situation that they currently found themselves in!

Rae'liel - The Not-so-Honored Guest

A Seagull had intercepted their path of descent.

A god-forsaken piece of scavenging fowl had managed to almost get her and a Night Elf killed! All because some silly Magi had managed to somehow miniaturize himself and make his already unstable magic even more-so! Not even affording herself a chance to screwm as she fell as the pain she had was already severe, the sudden crash that left her broken and battered form sprawled unceremoniously across the Night Elven Captain's lap.

Only managing a pained gasp as she managed to catch her breadth again, the Quel'dorei glared gloweringly at Serphia as she collected herself a minute amount. Weakly she grimaced all the same as she floated somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness.

"L-Let's get out of here. Light damn you. Where the hell did that midget disappear to?"

"L-Let's get out of here."

"I know just the place." Having noticed Rae'liel's weakened state, Serphia had produced a green vial from a small pouch hanging by her chestguard containing a stamina potion that she handed over to the Blood Elf.

"Where the hell did that midget disappear to?"

Serphia's eyes would return back down to the Blood Elf lying in her lap, before the Night Elven Captain would suddenly awkwardly look to the side.

"I... think we landed on him." Serphia would reply as she glanced carefully back at the Blood Elf, whose eyes seemed to open at her explanation. As she sat with the Blood Elf in her lap, she could feel the ever distracting sensation coming from the tiny High Elf now firmly confined within her butt as it wriggled around in defiance!

Realizing that the Blood Elf still was looking at her and seeming to await a further explanation, Serphia would tilt her head ever so slightly to the side.

"By we, I mean I... "

"So that means,-

"He's in my ass." Serphia finally admitted, shuffling her butt ever so slightly around where she sat with the Blood Elf in her lap.
"And quite deep too, thanks to you falling on me."

“I never thought I would say this, but I actually miss Serphia…a bit”

“I don’t.” Liaena said decisively, still glowering down the corridor where the other two sentinels had run off again. The look she was giving their departed backsides strongly implied that should the pair come back without Kathlin and Liam, another cave-in could be imminent. Lack of potions not withstanding.

“You…wouldn’t happen to know….where the nearest exit is?”

Ceasing with the death glare momentarily, Liaena turned around in a slow circle to give the matter some serious thought as she surveyed their surroundings. The grumpy noise the girl produced indicated she had a similarly negative view of the situation. “Hmn. No. Well. Maybe.”

“…….”

“There’s a harbour down here somewhere. That’s probably the closest way out, given how deep we are” Liaena said after a long pause where she chewed thoughtfully on her upper lip. “There was a lift to it, till I blew it up. There are big, brass doors that look….”

Here followed a moment where Liaena tried to sketch the shapes of the brass etchings in the air in front of her, without much success. “….just really big, brass doors with engravings on them. If we find a set of those, we can get down to the dock. And you know…steal a ship.”

“If we’re not back by morning, Thea’ll send someone to help…Right?” Bella piped up from her shoulder. Liaena shook her head slightly, causing a squawk as the girl ducked. “Eh, Doubt it…anyway, that’s beside the point. If the King is visiting this morning, we have to get back before then”

“I got some good photos” Bella said smugly as she raised up the piece of gnomish tech in one hand. “Cultists. Cultists getting beaten. That knight…thing. Oh, and that elf. He was kinda cute”

“….”

“I swear Syn’dial, next time your pets run off, you can get them back!”

Liaena was spared from having to respond to that final comment from Bella, with Aleena and Lithriell’s return. The two elfs grumbling loudly, Kathlin and Liam were unceremoniously dropped on the ground to scramble to their feet. “Hi, Li”

“Hi” Liaena said distractedly as she turned back to Rithrynn. “Okay, so find the lift shaft. That’s the plan”

“Does the plan allow for being chased by spectres?”

“…find the lift shaft, quickly. That’s the plan” Liaena revised her previous statement slightly as she turned to Rithrynn, making a brief ‘shooing’ motion with her hands. “Cmon, let’s go”

"Find the lift that you blew up? Oki, gottit!" Rithrynn replied with a sense of snarky enthusiasm to Liaena as she began to move, weathering another dark stare from the human. Rithrynn began to march past the group and into the first corridor on the left, when Aleena stepped up behind her.

"Do you even know where we are?" She protested, the sentinel not appearing none to happy with the plan.

"Nope." Rithrynn replied bluntly as she marched on, the rest of the party, including humans and Night Elves following behind her.
"But I intend to find out! Sitting around is not going to help!"

Rithrynn reasoned, as she continued to march down the corridor at a hurried pace, which while it required fast walking from her sisters spurned the humans and Liaena to almost begin running to keep up with them. Deeper inside the reef past the tenuousness and enroaching darkness of the corridors, Rithrynn could hear the distant echoes from the haunting wails produced by the angry spirits that were following them. No doubt they hadn't given up the chase, but Rithrynn had no intention of stopping and setting up a welcoming party with a human banquet for them either!

"Why do we even have to worry about ghosts? I thought we specifically brought the midgets for ghost-busting purposes." Lithriell complained in a hushed voice as they walked through the dark maze of corridors, motioning towards Liaena and her comrades.

"They're just not... " Rithrynn answered, though bit her lip halfway through her explanation.
"One of them used to be a good priestess, but got desecrated and lost her powers. The rest are, uhm, I think expendable apprentices, I think the church sent them with us hoping that we'd get them killed."

"If we really needed divine magic, we should just have brought Moon Priestess Vallithiel."

"First, Vallithiel is in Kalimdor, so unless you want to swim across the great sea, be my guest." Rithrynn replied, nudging Lithriell's shoulder as they walked.
"Second, if she found out we were infiltrating a human fort right in the middle of Stormwind, she would kill us. And mistress Serphia! You do realize we are committing an act of war, don't you?"

" ... "

"I have always wanted to start my own war." Lithriell smiled, but before she could say a word more, Rithrynn had suddenly lashed her arm out against her to push her head down behind a crate! The party had just stepped out from the narrow confines of the corridor into what seemed like a large and open storage area, the same storage area that Liaena, Bella and Hester had arrived through earlier after sabotaging the elevator. Motioning for the rest of the group to stay low behind her, Rithrynn peered out across the storage area, spotting a few shapes of workers and soldiers in the room. However, even her elven vision did not allow her to see through the many crates that lay in the room, piled up into big towers and rows upon rows of shelves that blocked much of her vision. But through it all, she did manage to spot a pair of large, brass doors that were halfway open.

"I think I found the elevator!" Rithrynn whispered to the rest of the group, as she motioned with her head over the crates they were hiding behind.

"Good job, good job, you found a non-functional elevator." Aleena commented with a rather unimpressed expression as she glared at Rithrynn.
"You might as well toss yourself off the wall. What are we to do with a destroyed elevator?"

Aleena asked, while the sentinel made no attempt to hide the contemptuous and accusing glare that she occasionally threw Liaena while talking.

"How about we kill all the apes in the room, toss them down the elevator shaft, and use the corpse pile to soften our fall?" Lithriell would suddenly suggest with an enthusiastic smile, raising her spear and shield eagerly!

Rae'liel - A Gluteus Maximus Problem

Having been handed a potion, the newly stripped Paladin glared distrustfully for a moment at the Night Elven Captain. Balancing the vial in her hands, the burning sensation about her waist from the agonizing wounds that had been dealt only added further to the desperation of the situation.

"I swear, Night-Elf. If this is some kind of trickster poison..."

Popping the cork off, the Sin'dorei brought the vial to her lips and downed the entire liquid swiftly. Upon finishing, she sputtered briefly at the bitter taste. Wiping her lips with an arm as her usual elegance had long faded in the presence of numerous wounds and now incredibly painful burns, she could feel the pain fading.

"..."

Not even offering a word of thanks, Serphia quickly changed the conversation to one of worriment about where Sharon had disappeared to. He was certainly missing, though where he had gone off to was a greater concern. Once she discerned where the poor shrunken Magi was, the Blood Elf actually hurriedly sprung to her feet. Even though she herself wasn't necessarily in the most appropriate garb for the moment, as most of it had been CUT OFF BY THE NIGHT ELF.

"It isn't my fault! It's clearly yours for not having the coordination to land on your feet! I thought that Night Elves were supposed to have some feline grace! It doesn't matter, get him out of there before he suffocates and let'e s escape!"

"get him out of there before he suffocates and let'e s escape!"

"He'll be fine," The Night Elven Captain would reply as she leaned forward before rising up to stand on her feet, towering yet again over the Blood Elf in front of her as she rested a hand against her hips.
"Trust me, I've done this before."

Serphia said before she was about to take a step past Rae'liel, when she suddenly realized the long stare she was receiving from the Blood Elf. Pausing, she turned to look back down at her.

"What I'm saying is, there will be time to get him out later. He can wait, we can not! Right now, we need to get out of here ourselves. Half the harbor must have seen us when we jumped from that fort!" Serphia explained while pointing over the wall behind her, where voices could be heard from the other side. Before the Blood Elf would have a chance to mount another complaint, Serphia had grabbed Rae'liel's arm and pulled the Blood Elf with her as if she had been a mother dragging her child to the healer!

"Ohhh, and a 'thank you', the next time I rescue you would be very appreciated!"

Kicking the doors to the yard open, she dashed with Rae'liel behind her out into the shady alleyway of the harbor, heading towards the point where she and her warriors had left their nightsabers.

However, as she was about to pass a crossroad where the alleyway split into four directions, she suddenly heard the clattering of plate mail as three men were coming towards them from the corner to their right. Immediately stopping, Serphia would hide behind the corner against the building as they approached.

The first man to cross the corner was wearing a Stormwind guard uniform, in his platemail with a long blue tabard running down his torso. However, the moment he as much as saw Serphia as he passed the building corner, the Night Elf had shot the back of her mailed fist right into the man's visor.
It was a loud "BONK", followed by an "Urghh" from the man as he fell backwards and into the ground. The second guard turned around, just in time to see Serphia as she kicked him in the base of his chestplate with the back of her boot, and he flew two feet back and crashed into the wall, losing his shield!

The third guardsman had gotten all the way around the corner when he turned around, and saw Rae'liel. When he did, he unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the Blood Elf.

"Stop! Stop, in the name of king! This is.... uhh, where are your clothes, milady?" The man suddenly asked, blushing through the visor of his helmet as he looked at Rae's rather exposed figure with confusion.

"Fan out! I want a perimeter around the elevator!" Sounded the booming voice of a White Hand Captain with a very large mustache that he stroked as he and at least two dozen White Hand soldiers just entered the room on the other side of the storage area opposite of the Night Elves and their human companions.
"This is the only way they could have gone if they continued further down. If they seek to get to the docks, they will have to get through this place!"

The White Hand mercenaries that had just entered the room consisted of a diverse mix of fighters, from battlemages, chevaliers and heavily armored knights carrying large tower shields.

Aside from them, the four chevaliers already in the room, alongside six workers, rallied around the Captain as he walked towards the center of the room before the elevator entrance.

"Sir, the elevator is destroyed. Even if they get here, they won't be able to use it!" One of the storage workers said as the Captain walked up to the group.

"Maybe, but we will take no chances. We have just received reports that one of the Night Elves even jumped off the southeastern castle wall. These elves are crazy, we must be ready for anything!" The Captain explained, before looking to the storage workers.
"All non-combat personell, grab a sword and a lantern each and assist the search. We are under attack by bloodthirsty savages who will not hesitate to kill you. Pacifism will not be tolerated, neither by the enemy or myself!"

The Captain instructed, motioning for the nearby Chevalier to start equipping the storage workers with lanterns and shortswords. In the meantime, the Captain turned around and walked away from the group while staring up with a thoughtful expression at the row of crates currently concealing the Night Elves and priests, unaware of their presence for the moment.

In the rest of the storage area, the knights had formed a four man team that stood watch in front of the elevator, creating a small shield wall. Some of the firearm wielding chevaliers and battlemages had taken to higher ground, beginning to patrol the wooden walkway hanging from the roof in the storage hall. All the wile the lightly armed storage workers had began to move around between the shelves and crates, assisting in the search.

"Captain, that investor elf, Silverlion will be coming to make an inspection soon." One of the chevaliers reported to the White Hand Captain.

"Why the Grandmaster lets him walk around I do not know, still, make sure no one is slacking. I want to impress him when he arrives. If we can capture the intruders before that, even better." The Captain answered, still stroking his mustache while picking up a cigar from a pouch on his waist.
"And would you please tell one of the battlemages that I need a light down here, thank you."

“This could be a problem”

Liaena thought as she peered under Rithrynn’s arm to survey the scene before them. At least twenty, probably more trained fighters, plus whatever they could salvage from the extremely nervous looking storeworkers. Skilled though the Night Elves were, it had the potential to get extremely messy.

“….”

Coming out of her reverie, Liaena realised that a couple of Night Elves, Rithrynn in particular, were giving her an expectant look. “What? I don’t know what you expect me to do!”

The girl hissed, before holding up her hands to display their emptiness to the world. “See? It’s back with Sherpa, if you want to try scrape the stuff off the floor”

“I think I could get a clear shot on their leader” Lithriell mused as she angled her bow to aim between two large boxes. “So stupid…why do they even wear those boxes on their heads?”

“They’re not cultists” Kathlin observed quietly in the rear of the group. Liam squeezed her hand, before taking a half step forward.

“She’s right….they might have no idea what’s really going on here. You can’t just kill them!”

“I could!” Lithriell retorted immediately, looking affronted that any mere human would dare doubt her competence. “I’ll show you. Just watch me”

“……”

“Okay. Okay. Fine” Liaena muttered as she turned back to the rest of their group. Grabbing a hand to tug Kathlin forward, the smaller girl licked a finger to scrub away some notably dirty marks on her face, and smoothed her hair to hide the large welt left by the battle-mages staff.

“What…? Stop that!”

Liam squirmed as he received similar beautification treatment from the little girl, as Liaena turned quickly to Rithrynn. “Hold for now, okay? If the distraction fails, or if Sherpa shows up – open fire”

“Huh?”

“Glad to know we’re on the same page. Come on Kitty” Liaena muttered as she turned to stride out into the middle of the room, Kathlin immediately on her heels. After a momentarily lag where he glanced imploringly at Rithrynn as if requesting alternative orders, Liam trailed after them both.

“What the-!? Hey you! Stop!”

One of the storeworkers cried out as he was first to notice Liaena, flanked by Kathlin and Liam, strode into the room.

“The name would be ‘Ma’am’, not ‘you’! Mind your tongue, young man!” Liaena snapped back in a passable impression of Priestess Thea without breaking stride. The first to notice them had only drawn additional attention, and there were several guards with drawn swords headed in their direction, as she added in a far more hushed tone. “Special effects, Kitty, please”

“Not to rain on your parade, but this did not work for me” Kathlin mumbled back as she waved a hand, and a soft, very distinctive glow of Light emanated from her hands to surround the three as Liaena stalked into the centre of the group of White Hand…now very much the centre of attention. The girl spared the former a glance.

“Yes, but I’m better”

“You’re both idiots” Liam muttered under his breath.

“Eh-hem. So…..Captain. I understand that is your rank?” Liaena enquired loudly as that officer turned to face them with a clear ‘wtf’ expression on his face, the trio now having at least five swords pointed at them. The girl looked around the room, to survey the shield wall and the guards. “Good to see you have maintained some order, at least. That does you credit as a private company”

“Who the hell are you?”

“Priestess Rune. Priestess Lennox. Priest Gray” Liaena pointed at each of her companions in turn, before turning sharply back to the Captain. “It has come to the Church’s attention that you have experienced an attack on your premises tonight. Consider us an envoy here for your assistance. What do you have to report?”

"Yup. That's it. They're dead."

Aleena was quick to conclude to the rest of her sisters the moment Liaena and the other apprentices had left the cover behind the crates and walked straight up to the White Hand mercenaries.

"It might just be stupid enough to work, maybe?" Lithriell suggested, to which Aleena merely snickered under her breath in return.

"But even if they get through, what about us? No way we'd manage to disguise or lie our way past those mercs." Sounded the concerned voice of a third sentinel in the back.

Meanwhile, Rithrynn had been following the events taking place in the room down below closely. Liaena and the group seemed to have successfully walked all the way up to the White Hand mercenaries without getting killed. At worst, they now had a couple swords, muskets and spells pointed at them.

This, however, presented an opportunity...

"If their plan fails, it is us who will have to take care of plan B." Rithrynn finally commented as she turned to look back to her sisters behind the box.
"While Liaena and her friends draw their attention, I say we spread out and begin incapacitating their sentries. If a fight should break out, at least we'll have the advantage!"

Rithrynn explained to the rest of her sisters. A glint of enthusiasm flashed across the silvery eyes that currently gazed upon her, as the promise of action seemed to excite her sisters!

"Oh, and do try to keep the killing to a minimum. Or Liaena will not shut up about it - EVER!" Rithrynn instructed, while pointing up at her sisters as to warn them that terrible things would happen if anyone disobeyed her, possibly including shrinking and a free date with Naliyah! They all nodded, though whether that was due to fear of Rithrynn or simply impatience in getting to the action remained unknown.

And with that, six of the sentinels began to spread out into the storage area, leaving behind two of their wounded sisters to guard the still levitating body of Alissah.

Rithrynn walked silently in the shadows between the shelves. The lighting of the storage area was also rather poor, leaving it an excellent environment for stealth. As she slowly began to scale up the back of a large pile of crates, she noticed one of the storage workers below who had been looking at Liaena and the Captain suddenly get pulled back into a crevice between the crates as Aleena had snuck up behind him!

In the meantime, Rithrynn had scaled the crates in order to reach the wooden walkway above.

Sneaking up to the platform from its darkest corner, she crept up behind the nearby battlemage who currently was watching the conversation between the Captain and Liaena down below. Standing up behind him, Rithrynn would carefully move one hand over to the side of his head, and pulling his helmet off him. The battlemage immediately reacted, but just in time for Rithrynn to give him a hard smack to the side of the head; knocking him out cold on the spot. Reaching down to catch the battlemage so that he didn't crash into the ground and alert the others, Rithrynn carefully lowered his unconscious body to the platform without making a sound.

Across the other end of the storage, she could make out the faint, shadowy figure of Lithriell as the sentinel incapacitated the musket wielding chevalier on her side.

Smiling at her sister through the shadow while giving her a subtle nod with her hood, Rithrynn would then reach for her bow as she looked down towards the middle of the storage where Liaena was still confronting the Captain. She could not see her other four sisters, but could only assume that they were working their way through the White Hand's numbers beyond her sight. The fact that she neither saw or heard anything herself was a good sign.

There was still the problem of the heavy knights standing at the elevator doorway however. They were too exposed in the open whilst standing in the light to sneak up on.

"I guess we'll have to improvise."

The Captain furrowed his brows as he looked down on the group of priests and apprentices that had just walked up to him. Holding his cigar out to the side and up to an approaching battle mage, he waited for the battle mage to conjure up a small fire to light it, before moving the cigar back to his mouth and inhaled.

"You are from the Church, are you?" The man inquired as he looked down at them. Although a flair of suspicion was visible on his face, there was no sign of hostility. It did not seem like he considered the underaged teenagers in front of him as much of a threat.
"First, let me introduce myself; my name is Captain John Blastwits, of the White Hand, maritime protection and security company, and at your service Priestess Rune. We are indeed under attack, but the situation is under our control. We have repelled the invaders topside and have secured every entrance and exit to the castle."

He explained while letting out a large puff of smoke. Looking at the shield around Liaena and the group, and how the smoke from the cigar evaporated around it, he would turn his attention back to Liaena.

"If the church wants to help, I will not turn down your help. We have a lot of wounded men up in the infirmary below the keep. Any healing hands that you could provide would be most welcome."

"Gray, what are you doing here?" Suddenly sounded one of the chevaliers in the background, seemingly recognizing Liam as he walked in the bck of the group. Though the chevalier's face was hidden behind his mask.

"Do you know this man?" Captain Blastwits inquired, turning to look at the chevalier. But as he did, another battlemage had stepped into the scene, a female with pale skin and with black hair running down behind her in the shape of a ponytail. The black haired battle mage, Sathrielle, walked up beside Blastwits.

"We do not have any official guests this evening, nor have I received words that we are to receive any. Security protocols dictate that all guests to corporate grounds be wearing special insignias, and to be accompanied by an official of the company at all times." The woman spoke in a calm voice as her gray eyes trailed over to Liaena and her peers. Sathrielle placed the bottom of her ebony staff on the floor as she leaned it against her right shoulder.
"And I see neither a guide with them, nor any insignias on their bodies. It might be rash of me to say, but I do believe that they are trying to deceive you, Captain."

“Hello…” Liam uttered monosyllabically, looking none too happy to be suddenly thrust into the spotlight courtesy of the unknown chevalier, who turned to his officer in response to Blastwits words. “Oh, Aye. We used to be classmates back in the day. Didn’t know he could survive outside of a library, hah”

“Hah. Hah.” The priest responded, looking as though he had just sucked a lemon. “…I didn’t know you worked here”

“Ah well. They were looking for men with a talent for strength and swordmanship, and I fitted the bill damn well” The chevalier responded cheerfully. From the way his armour shone, he evidently spent a inordinate amount of time buffing it or hadn’t been in the job very long. He also obviously had not met a Night Elf yet that night. “I’m amazed they put you on emergency response though. Always thought you’d faint at the sight of blood”

“….”

“It seems a lot of security protocols have been neglected tonight. Maybe you ought to consider updating them to account for Night Elves” Liaena remarked as she gave the scowling battle mage a brief sidelong glance. To Blastwit, she gave a dazzling smile. “No offence, Captain. One of your men escorted us part way, but had some urgent business I gather. It’s been a difficult night”

“Luke? Hey, Luke? Quit your skiving and get back here!”

One of the storage workers yelling towards the rear of the room drew Blastwits attention as he gave the man a scowl. “WHAT? What’s that!?”

“Is there a problem?” Liaena enquired quietly as she stepped forward. The man who had shouted gave a pile of empty boxes a baffled stare, before he turned to look at Liaena and Blastwit. “Luke…he just vanished. He must have wandered off”

“I’m not so sure” Sathrielle muttered coldly as she took a step forward, mana gathering around her. Blastwit shot her a glance, before taking a huge breath for a roar, Liaena temporarily forgotten. “ALRIGHT! EVERYONE GET A PARTNER AND STICK TOGETHER! STAY IN THE LIGHT! CHECK ALL THE – egh!”

Sathrielle whipped around as the captains voice tailed off in a startled squeak, to see Liaena, looking entirely innocent and adorable with a hand that was now inside Blastwits cod-piece. In the hand was a silver dagger that was resting gently against the mans crotch, not quite forcefully enough to draw blood.

“Li!”
Kathlin cried out in a deeply disapproving tone as she shifted to move beside the smaller girl, maintaining the shield to protect them both as she watched Sathrielle closely. Liaena ignored her, to focus on Blastwit as she gently poked the tip of the blade through the mans clothing to draw a drop of blood. “Would you prefer to be a hero, or a man, John? Tell your men to stand down, and they’ll live”

"W-wait, wait! Halt! Cease-cease!" Sounded the worried voice of the Captain as he held an arm out to tell his men to stay put as some of them reached for their weapons and leveled their guns.

His calm demeanor had long since been abated and replaced by a concerned expression as the man's eyes flickered between Liaena's arm, his nether regions, and his surrounding men who had just stepped closer. His cigar had dropped to the floor where it lay on the ground between Liaena and Blastwits.

"There is no reason to do this, girl. There is no way out from here, the elevator does not work. I assure you, this scheme of yours will never end w,- aaahhh, okay, okay!" The pitch of the man's voice became higher as Liaena pressed the dagger more menacingly towards his family jewelry.
"Stand down, men. And we will find a resolution to this."

The Captain instructed his men, sweat now trickling down along his forehead and down to his heavy brows.

The black haired battle mage, Sathrielle, who was still standing next to them did apparently not share the same concern as the Captain. Unlike the worried expression of the Captain, she was currently giving both him and Liaena a rather calm glare whilst brandishing her staff; even as the rest of the White Hand mercenaries in the room were stepping away or lowering their weapons.

"Sergeant Commissar Blackheart, please, do as the girl says." The Captain said to Sathrielle in a pleading voice, but received little sympathy from the eyes of the battle mage.

"Cowardice is not in your contract, Captain Blastwits. Though your life and limbs are your own to protect, you will not be allowed to compromise the integrity of the force for the sole sake of their protection." It was a wicked gleam that flashed across Sathrielle's eyes as she suddenly raised her ebony staff and pointed it at the barrier created by Kathlin!

"No! Don't!"

Sounded the pleading words from Captain Blastwits in the background, but Sathrielle seemed deaf to the man's plight.

"Men of the White Hand, apprehend these intruders! Disobedience will be punished by death!" Sathrielle suddenly screamed out with a fanatic zeal! Kathlin soon found the barrier becoming immeasurably more cumbersome to maintain as Sathrielle cast a dispel spell with ruthlessly proficiency against the group, the walls of light around them starting to dim as the experienced battlemage's magic worked its way through the apprentice's barrier!

"Men of the White Hand, apprehend these intruders!"

"So much for diplomacy!"

Rithrynn thought to herself as she watched Sathrielle as the battlemage attempted to dispel the barrier around Liaena's group, whilst the rest of the White Hand mercenaries seemed to be yet unsure whether to assist her or stand back.

What was certain however was that things would turn bad pretty soon if she did not intervene!

Scanning around the storage area, she could begin to see the rest of her sisters as they too had taken up position around in the room, out of sight from the White Hand. By now, the six Sentinels had reduce the amount of mercenaries by ten, alongside some missing storage workers. Their current number, while still formidable, was nonetheless a lot more manageable than it had previously been!

Nodding to Lithriell, as well as another one of her sisters across the room, Rithrynn began to aim with her bow. Sathrielle was being blocked by Kathlin's shield from her current angle, but the room was noentheless ripe with other targets!

As one of the chevaliers raised his musket to aim it at Liaena's group as the barrier around them weakened, a feathered arrow would suddenly fly out of the shadow and hit him right through the knee. The man would cry out in pain, drop his weapon and grabbing his foot as he succumbed to the ground. The storage worker who had been standing next to him let out a terrified scream at the sight, before turning to run away in panic, leaving the battle before it had even started!

Two more arrows flew out from the darkness, one hitting a battle mage in the arm, causing him to drop his staff; the other flying into the leg of another chevalier who slumped down into the ground!

"Dammit Li, I'm going to need you to do something here, otherwise you'll soon see headshots and decapitations!"

Rithrynn reached down to her belt, to pick up a feathered satchel made out of moonbeast leather, containing her own relative meager collection of potions. Compared to Liaena's small but also posthumous pocket laboratory, it was nothing. In fact, she did not even remember the last time she restocked it, let alone what potions she actually had in it. However, the Night Elf felt certain that the crazed alchemist within Liaena would be able to find some use for it!

"Liaena, catch!" Sounded Rithrynn's voice as the Night Elf suddenly tossed her own potion satchel down to Liaena, before retreating back behind the railing as a musket shot tore through the wooden railing and sent splinters flying in every direction!

“Li, catch!”

“What!? Kind of busy right now!” Liaena snapped right back as she twisted around slightly to glare in the general direction of Rithrynn’s voice. Blastwit yelped as the dagger pricked through the cloth of his underwear. Liam lunged forward to grab the satchel just before it crashed to the floor with all it’s delicate contents, flipping the lid open to survey the contents.

“Ah. Of course”

The boy mumbled as he reached a hand in slowly to paw through the contents – before freezing as he glanced up, to realise that Sathrielle’s gimlet glare had fixated upon him. “Ehhh….there’s a good explanation for this, Ma’am – Awgh!”

Liam hit the floor just as a deeply unfriendly purple blast rippled over his head, before raising a hand to summon a shield around him. Standing in front of Liaena, Kathlin’s legs were threatening to buckle under the sustained attack from the battle mage – before the shield flickered and the strength from it suddenly increased.

“Worst. Plan. Ever.” Bella said snidely from her shoulder as she held a hand out to reinforce the shield. Under the circumstances, Liaena refrained heroically from responding as she twisted around to look at Liam instead.

“Integrity, she says. What’ve you got there!?”

“Uhm…some sort of transmogrify, I believe” Liam gasped as he pulled a small vial out of the satchel. Spinning around, he lobbed it through the air to land with a crash at Sathrielles feet – with a POOF, the mage was for some reason dyed bright pink from head to toe, and looking completely unharmed and very angry.

“…..”

“Maybe not.” The boy gulped as the mage bore down on him. Liam just about managed to deflect the ball of ice with the end of his staff, as he yanked another potion of Rithrynn’s satchel completely at random. “Er – hyahh!”

-SPLAT-

Sathrielle stared in bemusement at her feet, which now seemed to entirely glued to the floor. Liaena rolled her eyes as she started to make her way over to Liam carefully, dragging a terrified Blastwits with her. “You suck. Give that here.”

As the ranks of the White Hand were rapidly thinned as both chevaliers and workers were either felled or disappeared in the attack by their invisible foe, one of the Battle Mages rushed towards the center of the storage room, some dozen or more feet away from Liaena and Sathrielle.

"Rally to me!" The Battle Mage called out as he held his staff up in front of him, before slamming the bottom of it into the stone floor below him. As the bottom of the metal staff contacted with the ground, a blue light was emitted from the point of impact; expanding into a shield around the mage that was large enough to host a small group.

An arrow had already been released by one of the sentinels - aimed at the mage - but as the arrow flew towards him, it hit the surrounding shield and broke upon impact; the pieces falling to the floor.

Five of the remaining White Hand chevaliers, including another battle mage, came rushing from either side to seek protection under the shield recently erected by their fellow battle mage. There were no signs of any workers in the storage room anymore, all having either fled or been incapacitated by the Night Elves.

"What about her?" Asked one of the chevaliers as he primed his musket behind the shield, looking through his mask in the direction of Sathrielle.

"Forget about her, she can handle herself! We got bigger problems right now!" Answered another one of the Chevaliers under the shield, wielding a sword and a pistol.
"Light, light; we need to illuminate our attackers!"

The other battle mage who had entered the protective sphere was quick to respond to his request, and began to summon a series of magical orbs of light that he tossed around in the storage room; illuminating large swathes of ground as the orbs cast a bright light all around them as they traveled, and leaving little darkness for the Night Elves to hide in!

Behind them, two of the four knights had begun to move, having seen some of the Night Elves on the walkway up above. The two split up, each of them taking their own separate staircase to the walkway as they stomped along, feeling confident that their heavy armor and shield would render them almost invulnerable to the Night Elves and their arrows.

In the meantime, Kathlin's shield was steadily growing weaker.

Though mildly distracted by the antics of the bold boy, Liam, Sathrielle could sense the weakness. Conjuring yet another spell in her other hand, she suddenly unleashed an arcane wind upon Kathlin's barrier, which immediately crumbled and dissipated!

"I tire of playing with children!" She uttered as she attempted to move, only to realize that she was still stuck in the goo gluing her to the floor. But instead of yielding, she suddenly straightened herself up; before the whole mage vanished in a magical blink!

Though gone, Sathrielle would reappear in less than a blink of an eye later; appearing right in front of Kathlin! Without warning, she would ram the tip of the crystal sphere of her staff right into Kathlin's lower abdomen! The punch was enough to beat the air straight out of the girl's lungs as Kathlin fell forward with her torso! Grasping the shaft of her staff with both hands, Sathrielle would hold it out to the side as to bring it about in a swing, but just as the Battle Mage had started the swing; she would disappear again!

This time, Sathrielle immediately reappeared behind Kathlin, the swing of her staff now fully underway!

Her staff would be directed at the side of Kathlin's knee, and hit with a painful force that would completely swipe the girl's feet out from under her, and send her crumbling, breathless, to the ground!

"Give up!" Sathrielle stated as she turned towards Liaena, Liam and Blastwit; holding up her left arm next to her, her hand glowing with arcane energy as she prepared yet another spell. Though it was uncertain whether or not a surrender could even be made in time for her to not cast it!

The unfortunate Captain, Blastwit, seemed highly apprehensive about this; instinctively trying to pull back away from Liaena and Liam whom now sat right in the ruthless battle mage's crosshairs, but was stopped by Liaena's dagger which was dangerously close to his family jewels, whereas any sudden move from either of them could have severe ramifications!