[IC] "Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

[Sinerathin]

The room was dark, with only a torch on the wall to illuminate the room, coupled with a slight green glow from a heavy wooden iron framed door on the side. The walls and floors were made out of old bricks covered in mold and filth, and there was a quiet dripping noise coming from outside the door reminiscent of a sewer.

There were five men in the room. One of them was Lord Greymoon, a gray haired, slightly wider and older fellow than the rest of the men in the room who was sitting in a chair, but untied. He wore some extravagant darker emerald robes with beautiful golden embroidery and green gems, and a thicker black winter coat over them. The damp room was much warmer than the cold outside, and his face carried a reddish tint. Although he looked a little weathered from being dragged there by the rest of the men, the noble refused to look weak in the gathering and sat with his face held high, eyeing the other men distastefully.

In front of him stood a more narrow figure, a High Elf with snow-white hair down to his shoulders. The elf was wearing a thin, black and gold trimmed long silk coat and a red shoulder cloak and a white baldric. From his belt at his waist hung a longer leather scabbard adorned with polished bronze that concealed a sword, with only its silver handle visible.
Behind the elf stood two other men. One was an extremely thin figure wearing a collection of worn, flea-ridden ragged clothing consisting of a worn, brown linen cloak, shirt and trouser; his head hidden behind his hood and hands covered in bandages. He carried a bandoleer across his torso, carrying no small amount of slotted knives and sharp objects, with a curious, small wooden device attached to his left wrist.
The other two was a dark robed man with slick, black hair; Sevarian, and a shorter, bearded and more stunted looking figure; a dwarf. The dwarf, called "Smokey", was wearing a white sweater, with a leather belt full of various vials, explosives, iron grenades, incendiaries and dynamite bundles. Unlike the others, he was mostly leaning against the slimy walls, looking a little uncomfortable as he held his legs together.

"You expect me to cooperate with you?" Lord Greymoon said, sounding insulted as he glared angrily back at the High Elf.
"You have deceived me, lied to me; you have robbed me of my property and killed my men. Do you think I will just forget that?"

The High Elf crossed his arms while he listened to the human noble, before taking a step to the side as he circled around Greymoon.

"No... but I would not have you forget that I could rob you of so much more either." Sherpa said, before throwing a glance at Greymoon.
"You know well enough how our little struggle has gone so far. You are losing on every side. If I had wanted you dead, I could have had it so. At your current course, you are heading straight for oblivion, Lord Greymoon; an inevitable demise. I am offering you an alternative, and yet you are questioning me?"

Sherpa stopped, turning fully to face Lord Greymoon again.

"I know I have caused you loss, but I am ready to recompensate you for that. I am headed for a bright future of profit and wealth. If you choose to stand by me, we can cease this pointless conflict between our two factions. I do not wish you ill, my dear Lord. In fact, I am grateful... "

"Grateful? For me falling for your deception once?" Greymoon interrupted, looking more red than ever.
"You have no faction, no house, foul sir. You are a rogue, a thief and a liar. Whatever honor you had, you sold it when you sided with the Scourge. I am no fool. I would never side with a man who has forsaken his land, his home, his honor and even the very redemption of his soul."

A chilling silence fell over the room after Lord Greymoon had finished talking. Smokey looked around him, seemingly slightly worried by the look of his eyes, but the two other men next to him seemed unmoved by the recent events.
Sherpa didn't say anything for a while. Instead, he threw Lord Greymoon a chilling gaze, but the old man refused to flinch.

"I've long since severed any ties with the false king... " Sherpa said with an apathetic voice, as he took a few steps closer to Lord Greymoon.
"But I have not forgotten the things he taught me."

Suddenly reaching down for his blade, Sherpa unsheathed it and brought the tip swiftly up to Lord Greymoon's chin, stopping only an inch away from his skin. Lord Greymoon gazed down at the blade that was being held up to his face. It was a one edged, elven sword with a razor sharp tip pointing up at his skin. The side of the blade carried a set of runes carved into the surface. It looked like it was made out of steel, but it was hard to tell from the slight blue tint of the metal.
As the blade hovered mere inches away from his skin, Greymoon could feel an unnatural chill licking his face despite the rest of the room being warm. The blade seemed to emit an aura of unease, and Greymoon could feel a slight irritant on his skin as some of the runes on the hilt glowed in a weak, green light.

"I am still a knight of ruin, and if you choose oppose me, human, I will destroy everything you hold dear. For all your experience, you still do not know what true suffering is. A fact that I could change."

"Lord Silverlion." The door of the room was suddenly opened, as the assassin Donald walked into the room, clad in black leather armor, cloak and hood.
"Toby and his hirelings were wiped out. Your brother's allies are searching the Inn as we speak. This place is compromised."

Donald reported, before pausing to gaze at Sherpa who was holding his blade towards Lord Greymoon's throat.

"Sire?"

Sherpa gazed back at Donald's puzzled figure, before retreating his blade from Lord Greymoon's face and returned it to its scabbard much to the relief of the old man.

"Already?" Sherpa asked as he raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. The elf cast a look to the rest of the men in the room, before he turned his attention back to Donald and walked up to him.

"Leave a trail for them to follow to this room."

Donald gazed at Sherpa, as if the assassin wasn't sure if the High Elf was being serious; but there was no sign that Sherpa was joking, and Donald had no desire to ask again. Nodding, the man then turned away and headed out of the room. Sherpa turned to the rest of his men in the room, motioning for them to exit as well. Following after them, Sherpa suddenly paused to look back at Lord Greymoon who was left behind in the room.

"The decision is yours, Lord Greymoon. You will bleed. But how much you will lose will be entirely up to you. Think about our little conversation." Sherpa said, before he left the room and slammed the door shut. A lock was turned as the door was locked behind the group.
As they left the room, Sherpa's group had walked into a longer sewer corridor with a filthy trench running in the middle.The place was mostly lit by the green light from the water reflecting in the walls and roof around them. Sherpa's group headed took the opposite route of Donald, who was following the sewer tunnels back towards the Inn.

After a small walk, Donald finally reached the stairs leading into the Inn's basement. Pushing the makeshift door hidden away in the wall slightly open, the assassin gazed into the basement. There was no sign of Sharon's group down there yet, but he could still hear them stomping around above. Retreating back into the sewer corridor, Donald left the secret entrance slightly open as he headed back towards Greymoon's room, making sure to leave some ever so slight footprints in the slimy floor as he went.

[Feychild]

Wandering around in a dark, dank, abandoned Inn probably crawling with undead, scourge-followers and light-alone-knew-what-else was not Liaena’s personal idea of fun. But then, very few things the human had done in the past few days had been fun, and unless they managed to rapidly track down the crazed evil death knight bent on the death and/or dismemberment of her boyfriend, very few things would be again. To that end she had wound up searching the ground floor of the aforementioned building, as the small, black-haired young woman held up the lantern she was carrying so as to shine better on their surroundings….with, ah, the most sterling choice of companions possible.

“Ana shar belori! By Elune!” The large Night Elf ahead of her complained loudly. Liaena would rather have done without the elf, but the building was unfortunately crawling with them. Sharon’s desire to keep her safe, while sweet, had the unfortunate side effect of being paired up with at least one Night Elf at all times and Serphia had fobbed her off on this one, who looked about as happy about the arrangement as she did.

Turning to look over her shoulder, the elf, which Liaena had mentally christened Lackey001 glared down at her as though she was personally responsible for all of humanities flaws and faults. “It stinks in here”

Liaena sniffed the air. She had not actually noticed before the keen sensed elf had pointed it out, but there was indeed a whiff of something very nasty in the air. “Smells like shit”

“Pfffft” Lackey001 sniffed haughtily, then clearly wished she hadn’t. Flouncing back around, she grumbled something under her breath that clearly contained at least the words: “humans” and “animals” in it.

“Hey. We actually have plumbing, you have – what, a bush?” Liaena muttered loudly enough to be heard by the elf as she trudged after her along the corridor, before stopping short. “We have plumbing. Lack….uh, hey you, have we found the cellar yet?”

“What makes you think there’s a cellar?”

“This is an inn. A pub, if you will” Liaena pointed out testily to the elf, who scowled back at her. “Of course it’s going to have a cellar”

Opening several doors in quick succession as they made their way down the corridor, after stumbling across several abandoned pantries and store cupboards Liaena pulled open a heavy wooden door which opened onto stone steps and a stronger wave of the unpleasant smell. Holding up her lantern as she inched down the steps closely followed by Lackey001, the light fell onto broken casks and worm eaten old furniture.

Down below the earth, the air should have been completely still…so why was there a very slight breeze on her face? A long crack down the wall was not in fact a crack at all, but a door the same colour and texture as the stone wall, and very slightly open. From it, there was the persistent sound of dripping.

“MISTRESS! I have found their escape route!” The elf cried out immediately, loud enough to be heard by the Night Elves upstairs before giving Liaena a baleful look. “I found it”

Liaena was gazing through the secret exit, glancing away only to roll her eyes at the Night Elf. “Sure. Fine. Whatever.”

[Rithy]

A storm of metal boots thumping against the wooden floor could be heard behind Liaena and the Sentinel, as Serphia and the rest of the party came charging through the corridor the moment the sentinel with Liaena had announced her findings to the rest of the building.
Serphia came up first, with the sentinels right behind them; including Sharon who had been grabbed and pulled along by one of the sentinels to ensure that he wasn't snatched from under their noses while they were gone by some potential, hidden assassin somewhere in the building.

"They fled?" Serphia asked as she looked through the door and down into the darker cellar. She immediately spotted the half open door in the wall as she scanned the room, before looking back at the Sentinel with Liaena.

"Good work, Shani." Serphia told the Night Elf with Liaena, apparently named Shani, who promptly beamed with pride as she straightened her back while receiving the Captain's praise. Rithrynn, whom was standing right behind her Captain, peered down into the cellar at the door suspiciously.

"Why would they leave it open like that? Are they really that stupid?"

"I cannot sense any magic. Maybe they were mostly concerned about getting away from us as fast as possible?" Vashi suddenly suggested as she stood next to Rithrynn, before throwing Serphia a small smile.
"You were really amazing out in the street, Mistress. It would not surprise me that they shat their pants after they saw how you made mincemeat out of their friends?"

Even the Captain's normally cold features couldn't hide a smirk as Vashi mentioned the battle that had taken place outside, as she obviously appreciated the admiration, despite it coming from a magic user.

"Maybe... but we will proceed slowly." Serphia said, before being the first one to walk down the stairs into the cellar.
"Rithrynn raised a fair point. It seems very convenient. Although it is unlikely that it would be a trap, I have not forgotten the goddess teachings about arrogance. We may be chasing humans; whom although inferior and unable to match our advanced intellect; can get lucky if we are not careful."

Rithrynn instinctively moved her arm around Liaena in an attempt to prevent the human girl from saying anything stupid in the Captain's presence as the little girl's face turned red with divine righteousness against Serphia, before leading her down the stairs along with the rest of the group.

"Rithrynn. You are on point." Serphia suddenly said after having gazed down into the murky, slimy hallway that was leading away from the cellar and down into the earth below. Rithrynn quickly threw the secret doorway a hesitant look, as her features on her face grimaced at the idea of entering it.

"Bu,- ... "
"Vashi, you will be right after her."

Rithrynn decided to keep her mouth shut as Vashi positioned herself behind her, and Rithrynn pulled her bow off her shoulder and placed an arrow in it before entering the small entrance. Vashi followed right behind her sister, conjuring a small orb of magical light with her staff that floated above their heads as the two entered the secret passageway.

"Someone was here recently! In fact, there's at least half a dozen different tracks!"

Rithrynn's voice could be heard from further down the stairs, at which point Serphia motioned for the rest of the group to follow suit, with Liaena and Sharon being pulled after the sentinels as they descended down into the sewers below.

[Sinerathin]

As they descended down into the sewers, Sharon tried to peek past the shoulders of the sentinels, but it was difficult to see anything as they were in the middle of the group, and most of the sentinels were one or two heads taller than himself.
At the bottom of the stairs, they arrived at a long tunnel with a shallow trench of filthy, green water traveling in the middle. They themselves were standing on one of the two walking lanes positioned on each side of the sewer trench. The air itself was humid and revolting, as a heavy strench of rot and disease filled the sewer tunnels. There were the occasional bronze or iron piping running in and out of the walls around or above them, and there was a slight, green mist that haunted the tunnels. Their only source of light was the occasional sewer grate above their heads at the very top of the roof.

None of the sentinels seemed to say a word as they followed in Rithrynn's steps, which was possibly for the best. Any word muttered in these tunnels were likely to echo off the architecture and be heard from far away. Even their steps made faint echoes that could be heard through the filthy tunnels.

"I'm going to need a bath once this is over."

Sharon thought to himself as he walked close to Liaena.

"Is anybody out there? Guards? Sharon? Anybody?"

The group had not gone very far until they could suddenly hear the echo of a man further down the tunnels, as Sharon recognized the voice of Lord Greymoon.

"He's still alive!" Sharon suddenly said, before squeezing himself out between the sentinels and rushing out ahead of Rithrynn with his staff held high and ignoring the warning shout from Serphia.
As they reached a point where the tunnel branched out into three different directions further up ahead, Sharon saw the door to a small storage room of some sort to the side.

"Lord Greymoon, can you hear me?!" Sharon called out as he approached the door.

"Sharon? Sharon, is that you?" Lord Greymoon's voice sounded from behind the wooden door, followed by a relieved sigh.
"Thank the light! Your brother, he was here; he locked the door behind him!"

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of there. How much space do you have?"

"Uh, the room is about five and eight meters. Why?"

"Clear the door. I'll get this open!"

"Wait, what? Light, give me a second!"

As Sharon pointed his staff at the door, steps could be heard from the other side as Lord Greymoon scurried away from the door and into the corner of the room. But further down the tunnel, where the tunnel branched out, a bearded head was peeking out from around the corner at Sharon preparing to blow the door away, to the sentinels and Liaena whom stood watching.

"It's them! They followed our tracks!" Smokey whispered as he retreated back behind the corner again to avoid being spotted by the Night Elves, and turned to look back at two other men standing behind him; Donald and the black mage Sevarian.
The Dwarf was holding a large blunderbuss in one hand, and was smoking on a roll of tobbaco; its glowing embers dropping dangerously close to the naked fuses of the explosives strapped to his leather belt.

"Of course, that was the point." Donald stated as he readied his crossbow.
"What's the plan, Mister S?"

Donald turned to Sevarian, whose hands were folded into his robes. The pale sorcerer threw Donald a long look, before speaking.

"Our instructions are to draw them into the cistern and the greater sewer complex. And if oppertunity permits, take out Sharon."

"But 'es right there!"

Smokey said as he pointed around the corner.

"And a whole band of angry Night Elves. Don't forget those." Donald said, while tweaking with a mechanism on his crossbow.
"Remember: we'll have to stay our distance. Those elves are all archers. Mister S, you keep them at bay with your magic to ensure that we do not get overrun before we reach the cistern. I'll take the opener shot at the elf. Smokey, you will,-"

"TAKE THIS, YE LONG EARED BASTARDS!"

By the time Donald's eyes had returned to Smokey, the dwarf had already reached into his belt and pulled out a string with two metal grenades attached, ignited the fuses, and lobbed them down through the tunnel towards Sharon at the group.

[Feychild]

“Sharon, wait…!” Liaena yelped in protest as Sharon unexpectedly rushed out ahead, leaving the safety of the Night Elf group. Squirming her way between two large purple bodies she set off determinedly after him, catching him up as he started yelling through the door to his old friend. “Lord Greymoon, can you hear me!?”

“Sharon? Sharon, is that you?”

“Rithrynn was right. This feels really, really wrong”

Looking back at the Night Elves that had clustered a safe distance from the door and were lurking in the shadows, Liaena caught Rithrynns eye and jerked her head in a barely perceptible ‘get over here’ motion. “Come on. We need backup”

Instead, Rithrynn’s eyes slid over towards her Captain nervously. Serphia for her part seemed entirely happy to sit exactly where she was for the time being, keeping an appropriate distance for any dangerous magic or traps that could be set off. Liaena could have cursed the wretched elf as she opened her mouth angrily. “Would you all just get over here before –“

"TAKE THIS, YE LONG EARED BASTARDS!"

Head whipping around, Liaena barely registered the makeshift bola with a lit grenade forming each end, fiery fuses trailing behind them as she threw herself at Sharon. The charged staff was suddenly pointed at the floor to go off like the shot from a cannon as she bodily tackled him around the middle, knocking both of them off balance to go crashing down to the floor. The grenades spun through the air, bounced once, narrowly missed the culvert in the centre of the floor….and went off.

BOOOOOOOOOOM

Having landed on the floor in an untidy heap with Sharon and herself on top, a blast of hot air so strong it felt like a physical force smacked into Liaena, picking them up and throwing them back to smack into the brick wall with percussive force. Shards of brick flew everywhere; Liaena felt multiple sharp stabs of pain as they sliced through areas unprotected by her chainmail and she tightened her iron grip on Sharon, burying her face in his cloak.

Then as quickly as it arrived the chaos stopped. Leaving only the splashes of stray bricks falling into the central stream all around them, and faint cries of surprise that, Liaena surmised, could either belong to the innocent citizens of Stormwind suddenly disturbed by a small localised earthquake, or the Night Elves. Or both.

[Rithy]

Rithrynn immediately spotted the grenades as they were tossed from around the corner further up ahead, landing close to Sharon and Liaena.

"It's gonna blo,-" Rithrynn screamed out loudly as she stumbled back against the ground, crashing into the sentinel behind her. Just as the burning fuse reached the entrance to the first metal ball, Vashi had stepped forward and pointed her staff forward, erecting an arcane shield in front of the group.

*BOOOOM!*

The explosion went off with a bang. Vashi's shield absorbed a lot of the explosion and shrapnel, but some of the shockwave went through and knocked the first ranks of elves, including Vashi, on their asses.
A sour smell of sulfur and spent gunpowder now mixed with the stench of the sewer, doing nothing to make it smell any better. The occasional brick fell down from the wall above their heads alongside a heap of dust that had been loosened from the blast, as there was a small mist of smoke that rose from the area where the grenades had gone off. The stone plate of the walkway that the grenades had gone off on had splintered, and half of it had fallen into the trench to the side, revealing a good amount of squeezed and destroyed insects beneath the tile.

"Get up! We're being attacked!" Serphia called out. She had been standing further behind the group when the explosion went off, and short of being surprised by the large bang was unharmed. She grabbed the first sentinel who was sitting on her butt in front of her and pulled her back up to her feet.

One of the sentinels suddenly kicked against the wall next to them and made a running jump across the filthy sewer trench to reach the walkway on the other side. The sentinel made the jump perfectly, except when she landed; her feet slid on the slimy, moldy floor and she crashed into the ground.
Despite the clumsy fall, she was quick to recover as she staggered back onto her knee with her bow and arrow aimed at the corner from where Smokey had thrown the grenade.

"Give me that shield!" Serphia said to one of the sentinels carrying a spear and a large, elven shield. The Sentinel immediately passed her shield over to her Captain, who equipped it on her arm and faced it towards the further up ahead. The elven shield was tall, enough to cover most of the Captain as she hunched behind it. Covered in a black metal surface, and adorned with white silver linings, patterns and the occasional feather and trinkets in the corner.

With Serphia advancing on the corner, supported by Vashi behind her and covered by an archer on the other side of the trench, Rithrynn finally managed to recover from the initial blast and stagger back onto her feet. It felt as though she had almost been hit by a lightning.
Although Vashi's shield had done a good job at deflecting most of the blast, it had still been close enough to leave Rithrynn feeling slightly phased. Rushing over to the heap of limbs that was Liaena lying on top of Sharon, Rithrynn knelt down next to them.

"Are you guys alright?" Rithrynn said as she grabbed Liaena, shaking her to see if there was any life in her.
"We need to go! Come on, Li!"

[Sinerathin]

"Are you guys alright?"

Sharon could hear the faint voice of Rithrynn as he gazed up at the dark, green walls of the sewer above him. In the corner of his eyes he saw Rithrynn leaned over him.

"Sure sure, I'm fine... I'm fine.. " Sharon answered automatically, his reply sounding distant amidst the ringing in his ears.The High Elf tried to get up at first but then noticed that something was holding him down. Looking downwards, he saw the outlines of Liaena who was lying on top of him. She seemed little better for wear than himself, and Sharon moved a hand over to Liaena's back.

"We can't stay here, Li: are you alright?" Sharon asked as Rithrynn helped Liaena back on her feet. Sharon rolled over on the filthy stone floor, before pushing himself off and back on to his feet.

"Sharon, what was that explosion? Is it a trap?"

Lord Greymoon's voice sounded from the door, and Sharon threw it a confused gaze at first; before realizing that the nobleman was still trapped in the room.

"Ah-ahem... more like an ambush." Sharon muttered, still a little disoriented from the blast. Carefully picking up his staff, he turned back to face the door. It was then he noticed that the door was already damaged following the blast, and blown partly off its hinges. It was therefore easy for the High Elf to conjure up a small kinetic blast that pushed caused the door to collapse outwards, and crash into the floor by Sharon's feet.

"Thank the light for your arrival!" Greymoon said as he walked out of the room, mindful of the slippery floor beneath him as he ventured out on the lane together with Sharon and the group.
"My men; those who didn't flee were killed. I'm afraid I don't have any left to spare."

The Lord explained as he covered his mouth with a handkerchief, before he noticed the battered Liaena.

"She is in a terrible shape, and Sharon... dear light, what's it you have there?" Lord Greymoon suddenly motioned towards Sharon's side. The High Elf then looked down as he lifted his cloak from his side, and suddenly noticed a large metallic splinter sticking into the side of his cuirass. At first his eyes shot up with alarm, but as he poked at it, he suddenly realized that although the piece of shrapnel had gone through the steel layer, it had stopped in the open space between his cuirass and his chainmail.

" ... no no, don't worry. It's okay. No actual puncture." Sharon quickly answered to reassure the lord, now feeling a little better after the explosion.
"I'm fine."

---

"You ruined our surprise!"

Donald sneered at Smokey after throwing the advancing Night Elves a quick look, narrowly dodging an arrow as he peered around the corner and looked back at Smokey.

"Ruined the surprise?" Smokey asked, returning an odd look at Donald.
"That was a great surprise. Didn't ye see the look on ther faces?!"

"Gentlemen." Sevarian, who had been standing in the back, suddenly intruded into the argument.
"We have punched the shark. It is now time to begin our tactical withdrawal."

The black wizard extrapolated with an unnaturally calm voice, considering the situation they were in with arrows flying about and Serphia and Vashi closing in on the other side of the corner. Donald nodded in agreement, before turning to Smokey.

"Smoke, deploy Smokey,- ahem, I mean, Smokey... deploy!"

"I gettid I gettid!" Smokey quickly responded after firing off a shot from his blunderbuss in the direction of the advancing Serphia, with the result that her shield was mostly showered with a cone of scrap metal, broken glass and still burning gunpowder. Retreating back behind the corner, Smokey placed a small clay vase down onto the sewer floor before lighting a fuse attached to the side of it.
Suddenly a cloud of smoke began to belch out from the top of it, covering the tunnels in a thick carpet of smoke that blocked all sight.

The team of assassins quickly turned around and began running down the narrow tunnel in the opposite way of the advancing sentinels, hurrying towards their next firing position at the next corner.

[Feychild]

There was a deafening ringing in Liaena’s ears and her head was spinning crazily, making it difficult to figure out left from right and up from down initially. A pair of large hands – Rithrynns – grabbed her, pulling her up as she managed to find her feet.

Sharon appeared to have come through the explosion in a similar condition to herself, with some shrapnel damage and minor burns. Liaena shook her head to clear it of some of the residual ringing. Attention straying from Sharon, and the newly released Lord Graymoon, she looked down the tunnel which now had thick, black smoke filling a section of the corridor from top to bottom, with Night Elves plus Serphia cautiously advancing upon it.

“You probably shouldn’t do that” Liaena remarked to nobody in particular in the middle of Lord Graymoon and Sharon’s conversation. The girl gave them a blank look, having paid no attention whatsoever to the dialogue taking place between them, before looking back at the smoke to illustrate her point. “It’s probably toxic. I would make it toxic”

Releasing her grip on Rithrynn to take all of her weight firmly onto her own feet, she disengaged from the group to stride down the corridor to where Serphia, Vashi and the other sentinels were. Giving the wall of billowing smoke a thoughtful look, Liaena chewed over the problem for several seconds before reaching into her bag and coming out with two vials, one of which she poured into the other.

The effect could be felt instantaneously as steam puffed up to fill the air and the temperature around Liaena fell by twenty degrees in moments. Not wasting any time, the girl crammed the whole thing into a hollow metal ball with a small hole in the side and shoved it at the nearest Night Elf, whose reaction was similar to one would if they had just been handed a lit hand grenade. “Throw that down the tunnel”

WHOOSH

Turns out, Night Elves could really throw.

Flying through the smoke right down the tunnel, the ball hit a wall, careened off it, bounced twice and rolled several metres before coming to rest in the middle of the trench of sewage. Vial inside the ball smashing into a thousand pieces, liquid spilled out freezing the sewage solid as it touched it, ice and frost creeping up the sides of the trench to coat the walls and making around a square five metres of tunnel look like it was undergoing a nuclear winter.

With the sudden and massive drop in temperature in the tunnel, surrounding air rushed in to fill the large area of low pressure that had been formed. Further up the tunnel, Liaena could see the smoke start to recede from where it had been, a breeze rippling past her. Far more of the tunnel could now be seen as smoky tendrils floated away. The wall of smoke was still clearly there and visible, but further down the sewer and slowly moving back as she glanced at Serphia dourly. “There you go”

[Rithy]

Serphia threw the tunnel up ahead a look as the smoke escaped away from it, followed by a cold breeze cooling the damp tunnel around them. Looking like a priest who had just witnessed demonology, she gazed back at Liaena, before looking back at the tunnel.

“The tunnel. It’s clear!”

Shouted the Sentinel on the other side of the trench as she advanced forward to get a view around the corner, barely in time to see Donald’s cape disappear behind the next corner.

“No sight!”

“Pursuit?” The sentinel who had thrown Liaena’s concoction asked as she gazed up at Serphia. The Captain took a moment to think, observing the condition that Sharon and Liaena were in, while also throwing a suspicious look at Lord Greymoon, eying him as a potential suspect.

“I’m not letting the prey get away.” Serphia answered, turning to her warriors.
“Give them no chance to breathe! CHARGE!”

Serphia called out as she readied her shield again, and suddenly charged down through the alleyway, with Vashi and her sentinels close behind her.

“Oh Elune, now she's got that look again. Run, or we'll be left behind! GO!!” Rithrynn suddenly called out to Sharon, Liaena and Greymoon, as she suddenly pushed them all forward with the help of another sentinel, Shani as Serphia and most of the other sentinels just took off.

But Rithrynn soon realized that there was little chance for her to catch up with her Captain and fellow sentinels when she was sticking close to Sharon and Liaena, both of whom were not hunters nor in any good shape. They would surely never be able to catch up with Serphia unless she slowed down!
It also filled Rithrynn with unease as she was after all one of the fastest runners in the warband. Serphia would no doubt have wanted her with her on any hunt!

“Shani, stay with them; I’m going to help the Captain!” Rithrynn called out to Shani as she motioned for her to stay with the slower non Night Elf company, before rushing ahead after Serphia despite an infuriated look on Shani's face who didn't take the idea of being demoted to the unofficial 'monkey handler' any well.

“What? Do not leave me with these, … “Shani cried out in protest, but Rithrynn had already drawn her bow and darted off far ahead of them in the sewer.
“Argh… these Shei feis! *Sigh*”

Serphia wasn’t giving Donald and the other assassins any chance to rest. The Captain was in full sprint with her long legs in the chase with the shield raised, a silver hue around her as Vashi had summoned a barrier to help her.
Her fellow Night Elves were running at full speed, two of whom now ran on the opposite side of the trench, easily jumping over any obstacles. Her eyes scanned across the tunnel that passed by in high speed, scanning for any traces of potential traps left in the assassins’ wake.

Surely the assassins were doomed, for who could match the Night Elves when it came to sheer speed? They were made for the hunt!

[Sinerathin]

"Rithrynn, wait!" Sharon called out to Rithrynn as she raced down the tunnel after her Captain like a rocket hamster fueled on an illegal amount of caffeine. But there was little chance of ever getting her to listen, as Rithrynn had already disappeared around the next corner twenty yards ahead with the speed of a bullet, leaving Liaena and Sharon alone with a rather disgruntled looking Shani, who seemed none to pleased to be left behind by her sisters.

"Dear light, they're like wild dogs who had just seen a cat... oh woe!"

"Mister Sharon; forgive me if this may be a bad time to ask this... " Lord Greymoon started with a careful voice, as he peered over the shoulders of Sharon and Liaena at the tunnel into which Serphia and the vast majority of the sentinels had just disappeared into in their chase after the assassins.
"But... did your bodyguard just leave us?"

Sharon didn't answer at first. Instead, he just grimaced as he leaned against Shani who was standing right behind them.

"Well, technically, they're not really my bodyguard. Officially... "

The High Elf started, trying to come up with a decent explanation, but suddenly shook his head.

"They... argh, yes. My bodyguard just abandoned us, I'm afraid."

Sharon gave Liaena an apologetic look, before casting a glance up at Shani, whose eyes glared back at the High Elf like diamonds taken from the deepest, darkest flaming pits of the Nether.

"Well, except you of course. Thanks."

He quickly turned away from Shani again before the Sentinel could come up with an excuse to hate him even more, returning his attention to Liaena once more. Sharon looked over his battered lover. She had taken the worst of the grenade, with bruises and scratches. An obvious need for severe dis-infection considering their current whereabouts even if there were mostly just scrapes.

"Can you run? We ought to follow them. The sewer is huge. Even if they get the assassins, they might get lost down here."

---

"Move you dogs, they're coming in fast!" Donald cried out as the three men ran as fast as they could through the sewer. Any idea to take breaks at each corner and take potshots at the Night Elves had been completely discarded in favor of running as fast as they could, with the Night Elves closing in behind them and fast.

"Ye don't say! There real mad now!" Smokey laughed while dropping bombs as they went in hope of slowing the Night Elves down.

"We're here. Split up!" Sevarian, who was running ahead; suddenly called out as the three assassins crossed a last corner and arrived at a plateau across a larger open space. They were in an underground brick cistern, with a small lake filled with pillars and small walkways. There was also one stair leading up to a hallway above them, and another entrance leading into a darker path to their right.

The three assassins immediately dispersed, heading each their own seperate direction. Donald raced down into the darker path to the side, while Sevarian sprinted up the stairs to the level above.
Lastly, Smokey ran as fast as his short legs could carry him out across the thin sidewalk leading him through the cistern. Short of the numerous supportive pylons around him, the area above the water was completely exposed as he tried to make his way through the murky water on a collection of worn brick walkways and makeshift bridges consisting of wooden boards.
The water, although it may once have been used for drinking; was muddy and grimy, filled with all manners of filth and decay that had been washed into this dead end of the sewer.

"Bloody 'ell, why do I always end up with the worst deal? Cursed death trap, this is!" Smokey mumbled to himself as he did his best not to fall off the slippery ledges, with the occasional bubbles coming up from the water below him.

[Feychild]

“RITHRYNN! COME BACK! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE PROTECTING—“ Liaena screamed desperately after the Night Elf as she lunged forward to disappear around a corner and out of sight, paying no heed whatsoever to her words or Sharons. “….Sharon”

“…”

“Great. Just great.” Liaena seethed. She shot a furious glare at Shani, who matched her one for one with a horrible glower right back. “It’s good to know you people don’t play into Sherpa’s hand at all. I marvel at your strategic brilliance”

“Li!”

“Because this totally isn’t exactly what he wants – alright, alright. Fine, Sharon” Liaena swallowed down the rest of her rant as her boyfriend gave her a pleading look. Turning to Sharon, she graciously refrained from pointing out all the many and varied ways she had warned against employing the Night Elves. From the apologetic expression on his face, he clearly knew anyway. Although assuming they actually survived this incident, Liaena fully intended to bring it up later when discussing the long term employment of Serphia. “I can run. Let’s go”

*

It took several minutes of desperate running through the sewer, with Shani pointedly jogging exaggeratedly effortlessly beside them before the tunnel opened out a massive cistern. Three exits, multiple scorch marks on the walls, no Night Elves.

Halting in the entrance to the cistern, Liaena took the opportunity to catch her breath as she bent over and put her hands on her knees. The multitude of scrapes and cuts, some superficial, some deeper that she had taken in the explosion were throbbing, and she was pretty sure she was getting a stitch. At the very least she was doing much better than poor Lord Graymoon, who was by this point a deep rich magenta in the face and by far the slowest member of the party.

“They…they came through here…at least” Liaena remarked as she eventually caught her breath. Looking over to the most unruffled member of their party, she caught the eye of the grumpy Shani. “I assume you can track them?”

[Rithy]

"Mistress! They split up!" A sentinel called out as they rounded the corner. Serphia stopped, her boots skipping a couple of inches across the slimy floor before coming to a halt. The Captain looked at all three entrances with an infuriated look.

"Rithrynn, get the dwarf. Dilai and Vhensi, take that route!" Serphia pointed in the direction that Donald had taken, before turning back towards the stairs leading up.
"Me and Vashi will kill their sorcerer!"

"Yes Mistress!"
"They won't escape!"

With that, the Sentinels split up and ran each their separate ways. Serphia rushed up the stairs with Vashi right behind her. Two of the other sentinels charged into the doorway that Donald had taken, hot in pursuit. Meanwhile Rithrynn jumped out to the nearest walkway in the cistern, rapidly following the narrow walkway. It was easy to see where Smokey had gone, as the dwarf had left quite a disturbance on the dusty, molded ground, making Rithrynn's hunt all the more easier for her.

It didn't take long until Rithrynn finally spotted the short stature of Smokey trudging clumsily along the narrow sidewalk of the cistern, about thirty meters away.

Without a shout of warning or any intention to give the dwarf a chance to stop on his own, Rithrynn immediately raised her bow with an arrow in it and took aim at the oblivious dwarf. Crouching down, she took a moment to control her breath, before quickly letting go of the arrow, allowing the serrated arrow to speed through the cistern as it headed straight for Smokey!

"And first blood goes to... "

*

"What?" Shani's jaw dropped for a moment while she glared back at Liaena, as if she had just asked made the most retarded question of the millenia. Scrambling through a couple of words, Shani stepped forward.

"This is... of course I know how to find my own warband! ... I'm not stupid!" Shani answered quite brazenly back at the human. It was almost hard to tell what was worse, getting stuck guarding the ungrateful, short round buffoon of a human, or attending Naliyah for a party.
The Sentinel turned to gaze around them, at the various different corridors and entrances.

"They split up. Two went up the stairs. Two went in there... " Shani motioned towards the darker pathway.
"And one went across there, along with a fat, short one."

Shani said as she at last pointed out at the greater cistern, which was truly a maze of pillars and water as far as the eye could see.

"But with how slow you are, they could be miles ahead... " The Sentinel concluded, throwing the rest of the group a rather disappointed stare. The idea of being stuck with the group was starting to bite on her nerves as the Night Elf folded her arms, attempt to channel any ounce of tolerance and patience that she truly didn't have in order to last in the presence of the insufferable human. She could partly accept the existence of the High Elf, whom despite his flawed race had offered room and shelter. The human on the other hand was loud and obnoxious, and the Night Elf found herself slowly fantasizing about ways to possibly remove the stunted human without making too much of a fuss.

"Since you are too slow to catch them, we should wait here. They will eventually return to this point. Sei fenar Li'o bale, Capi o'noor mefai, allahn'ai svol.(and if she has any mercy on me, my captain will return soon)." Shani said with an apathetic look on her face, secretly holding a prayer to herself that the wait would not be too long.

[Sinerathin]

*Tchack*

"Aaaargh!" Smokey cried out as Rithrynn's arrow hit him square in the lower left of his back, as the dwarf fumbled forward, both in pain and surprise. The rotten wood beneath his foot suddenly broke, causing the dwarf to stumble flat on his belly and roll halfway out into the knee deep, muddy water below him.

"I curse ye you long eared lout! I'll, aiii!"

But Smokey's train of swear words was abruptly cut short again, this time not by Rithrynn. The dwarf suddenly seemed to be struggling with one of his feet below the water. Shaking and tearing himself around while holding onto the wooden board, the oval head shape and two large, glossy eyes of a murloc suddenly emerged from the foul water. Its jaw was locked around Smokey's left foot, which the dwarf kicked around in an attempt to get the beast off.

"This is just the best, this is just the best!" Smokey cursed his luck as he found his oversized filet knife, raised it into the air, and brought it down right on the top of the Murloc's skull. The knife cut through some of the bone, enough to reach the brain and the Murloc suddenly became motionless and immediately let go of the dwarf's leg. But Smokey had barely managed to turn back to the board by the time another murloc suddenly jumped out of the water, clamping its jaws around his left arm with the result that the dwarf let out a cry of pain yet again.
The dwarf shaked his arm, and the oversized fish man around as much as he could; until suddenly a tentacle shot up from the water below him and grabbed the murloc by the foot, and snatched it right back into the water, leaving large, red gashes all across the dwarf's arms.

Quickly scrambling back onto the board, Smokey turned around and swung his filet knife just in time as another tentacle shot up from the water; chopping it in half.

Staggering back away from the murky waters, he promtly aimed his gun at Rithrynn who was standing far away.

"Ohh I'm gonna get'cha for,- ahhh, what'tha 'ell?!"

But when Smokey pressed the trigger, a short fizz came from the soaked blunderbuss. The dwarf looked confused down at it for a moment, shaking it around; before the back barrel suddenly exploded, showering Smokey's right face with metal fragments, glass and all sorts of other nasty trash he had loaded his rifle with.
The dwarf was thrown back into the brick wall behind him where he smashed his head, and collapsed into a heap on the floor.

---

Donald ran through the narrow tunnel. It was nothing more than a pathway, barely large enough to support two people in it, and full of turns and loops. But as he ran, he suddenly heard a metallic click further up the tunnel, like the sound of someone turning a lock.
As he rounded the next corner, he arrived to find the tunnel blocked by a metal fence and door. The assassin rushed up to it and pulled out a key and tried to insert it into a lock. Donald fumbled frantically with the old key and lock, desperately attempting to make it fit in, but the more he tried to insert the key into the lock; the more he realized that it didn't match.

"No-nono... Silver, you fool. What have you done! You changed the lock!" Donald exclaimed as he tried to ram the key violently into the locker, but failed and simply lost the key as it fell to the floor.
Raising his hands to his hood, he turned to gaze up at the metal bars keeping him from going any further, and the sounds he heard coming from behind from the closing sentinels.

"Oh-nononononoononoo... you didn't, you didn't just do that, you... " Donald muttered, before suddenly kicking the metal bars in rage, but they didn't budge.
"FUUUUCK! FUCK YOU SILVER! YOU SCREWED ME OVER! Open this door NOW! Fuck!"

The assassin cried out in rage at the bars, grabbing them and shaking them violently to no avail.
Turning his back against the bars, Donald peered at the corridor he had come from with a pale face.

"Fuck my life... "

---

"It seems we have no choice then... " Sharon mumbled as he stared back at Shani. What she had said was right. They were probably not going to be able to catch up with Serphia or any of her warriors unless they allowed them to. There was no telling how far they had gone. Sharon agreed that they would probably have to return to this crossroad at some point.

"Look, once we get back, we'll talk about this." The High Elf said, turning slowly towards Liaena. But just as he did, he suddenly heard distant screaming from the nearby tunnels around them. The High Elf paused, holding up his hand in a 'did you just hear that' posture to Liaena.

But while Sharon was standing in the middle of Shani and Liaena, trying to hear what was going on, a shade moved in the a darkness behind Shani. Emerging straight out of a solid brick wall was the spectral reflection of the face of a young, long haired woman. Most of her body was barely visible in the low light environment of the sewer aside from a weak, blue glow.
As the banshee emerged completely from the wall, a cold breeze began to fill the room. The spirit didn't make any noise beyond a quiet hustling noise as it floated gently across the muddy floor beneath, approaching Shani from behind. Moving a ghostly hand up over the Night Elf's shoulder, the Night Elf began to become aware that something was off, but before Shani could turn around, a sharp shriek suddenly filled the tunnel as the banshee flew straight inside of the Night Elf, causing her to stumble a couple of feet forward with head facing down towards the ground.

But as 'Shani' slowly raised her head again, her annoyed expression had completely been wiped off her face. Instead, her silvery eyes were whiter than ever, and her face was completely devoid of any emotion. The sentinel slowly turned her head, gazing over Sharon's shoulder at Liaena.
As the Night Elf gazed at Liaena, a wicked smile began to form around 'Shani's' mouth, as a look of recognition appeared in her now bleak eyes. Slowly moving one hand down to her waist, 'Shani' began to clasp around the hilt of the dagger at her hip where she stood behind Sharon.

Sharon, on the other hand, seemed more interested in Liaena; having ignored Shani for the greater part. Throwing the human girl a curious stare, Sharon edged a question in her way.

"Liaena, are you alright? You look as though you've seen a ghost."

[Feychild]

"Liaena, are you alright? You look as though you've seen a ghost"

“…”

“Li?”

Liaena did not reply. Instead, in one quick, fluid motion she pulled the small dart-gun she had reclaimed from Faleres ‘spoils of war’ back at the mansion out a pocket and emptied a full charge of the ammo into their guards neck. Shani staggered back, looking disorientated for a second and gave Liaena a chance to produce her rifle out of hammerspace and shoot her with that as well. The gel forced Shani back to slam into the dirty sewer wall and stick fast to it as Liaena scrabbled frantically in her bag for another round to the dart gun, find one, jam it into the chamber and shoot her in the neck yet again while Sharon and Lord Graymoon were still trying to find their voice from complete shock.

“LIAENA! What – why did you –“

“By the Light!” emitted Lord Graymoon, looking horrified and terrified all at once.

“She’s possessed! Look at her!” was all that Liaena managed to get out. Backing away from Shani as though it was contagious, Terror was rising up her throat and making her feel light headed as she turned to Sharon, gesturing dramatically towards the downed Shani. “There was that thing…didn’t you see that ghost, it flew right at her, and it’s done something to her. Sherpa did it to her. Didn’t you hear that scream? Didn’t you…”

But Liaena’s words died in her throat with the rustling noise behind her. Looking down at the Night Elf, she stared unbelievingly down her as in spite of the drugs, enough of which should have been enough to knock out a horse for ten hours straight, ‘Shani’ opened her eyes and smiled back. It was not at all a nice smile. But her eyes….those were completely blank.

“We need to go” Liaena muttered. Stepping back yet again to distance herself from Shani, she didn’t take her eyes off it despite the fact it was allegedly stuck to the side of the tunnel by goo balls. It was allegedly drugged to oblivion as well, and it didn’t appear to care about that either. She shot a desperate glance at Sharon. “Teleport us out of the sewer. You can do that, can’t you? Can’t you!?”

[Sinerathin]

Sevarian was running for all he could. The black magi reached a small chamber, filled with pools of water to either side, illuminated by multiple sets of brazen torches across the wall, and with a single exit and door around five feet up the wall ahead of them.
A shadowy figure emerged in the small doorway up ahead, kneeling down as he reached ahead, extending his arm to Sevarian.

"Catch my hand, master! I'm here!"

The shadowy acolyte called out to Sevarian whom immedatiate clutched the hand of the shadowy initiate, allowing himself to be raised up to the exit point by the mysterious helper. Serphia and Vashi soon entered the room after them, at which Sevarian whom had successfully scaled the ledge previously turned around and raised his hand to greet them.

"Welcome, and congratulations, dear ancient masters of Kalimdor. I see you have at last reached my dear parlor!" Sevarian said with a proud voice as he graciously bowed to Serphia and Vashi as both the Night Elves entered the room after him.
"It makes me soo happy to know that you'll be staying with us. For a moment, I thought you had no intention of joining us here, in our... illustrious lair, haha."

The waters around them suddenly became disturbed. Emerging from the pools on both sides, skeletal bones and fins suddenly emerged from the muddled waters on both sides. Scrambling at the feet of Serphia and Vashi like critters, they passed the tall elves to erect themselves at the entrance behind them; beginning to form a skeletal barrier of bones and femurs behind the two Night Elves, effectively blocking their path of escape.

But even worse lay yet infront of them.

Emerging from a water chasm up ahead in the narrow room was something else. A creation made out of bone. With the head of a goat, yet the shoulder width of a gorrilla consisting of a collection of cattle, it emerged. A large, skeletal creation arose from the pool ahead of the two elves. Its eyes glowing with a deep green light, it illumated its skeletal head with a cursed, green hue, shadowing the hysterical rage behind it all. The entire creature walked around like a four limbed monkey, with two heavy skeletal forearms and small hind legs, complimented with the skull of a goat. It seemed more like the result of a Necromancer toying around with the bows left behind by a slaughterhouse rather than a cemetary.

All around them, even more creatures of necromantic design began to arose from the filthy waters. Skeletal minions, consisting of cow and chicken bones, with razor sharp claws ascended from the dark depths, and with peering eyes the observed Serphi and Vashi, as though if they had been just served their feast.

"Come minions! Gorge yourself in the glorious slaughter, renew your vigor in the blood of the intruders!" Sounded Sevarians voice across the room, before the evil Sorcerer flicked his wrist, and suddenly the braziers on the walls were extinguished set for set, until the whole room was blackened, except for the green eyes of the undead minions, and the silverly eyes of the Night Elves.

"Let the feast begin, my darling children! Let the feast begin! Fresh meat is served, gorge yourselves in this feast of agony!" The sorcerer's mad voice sounded across the room as the clattering of bones against brick could be heard all around Serphia and Vashi as they were trapped in the total darkness of the room. A bellowing, gutteral roar was sounded from the great creature ahead, hidden in the shadows; before it was followed by heavy steps against the ground, presumably from said skeletal monstrosity.

---

“Teleport us out of the sewer. You can do that, can’t you? Can’t you!?”

Sharon threw Liaena an utterly confused look, as the High Elf struggled to get a clear view of the situation. Liaena had just stitched one of the Night Elves to the wall, and was now screaming at him with all urgency to get them out of the sewer?

"By the light, what is going on?!"

"Yes, I heard the noise. I don't think she's alright." Lord Greymoon added, throwing a look at Shani whom despite the numerous darts inearthed in her body, gazed at them with an almost joyful glee.

"But what about Rithrynn, Serphia?"

"DO IT! NOOOOW!"

Liaena's frenzied response made Sharon shamble with his staff as he attempted to remember the incantations for the spell. But as the High Elf struggled to bring out the incantation, another figure began to rise from the water in the cistern. Emerging from the filthy pool, a filthy, drenched robed man rose from the water. He was covered in wool and linen from top to toe, wearing a ragged linen cloak and coil.

"Nice work, Janice. Good to see you saved some for me." The person spoke with a gutteral voice, drenched in filth and mud as he stepped up from the cistern and reached into his cloak. Sharon turned around just in time to see the stranger retract two metallic silver stars from his cloak, before launching them at the High Elf. Sharon immediately interrupted his own incantation to summon a warden to send one of the throwing stars astray. The other one, however, missed the elf's barrier, and embedded itself into Sharon's cuirass, causing the elf to stumble back, but did not penetrate deep enough to cause serious wound.

The figure leaped from the edge of the water onto the shore, sprinting towards the group with utmost haste.

Greymoon drew a silver dagger from his belt in his defense, but the rogue was too far away for the old gentleman to interfere. The sickly man leaped at Sharon, but the High Elf managed to draw his own sword to parry the blade of the mysterious assailant, creating a small space between the two.

In the meantime, 'Shani' gazed at Liaena. A sickening, wicked smile endowing her lips despite the numerous drugs that currently coursed through the Night Elf's veins. Leaning her head back as if to laugh, she opened her mouth.
Within the blink of an eye, the shadowy figure of the banshee appeared once more out of Shani; immediately emerging a few steps ahead, right infront of Liaena. Shooting her hand right up to Liaena's throat, the banshee clutched her long fingers around the human's neck, rising her a few feet above the ground.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii.... darling. What a pleasure it is to meet again, hahahaha!" The banshee let out a manical laughter as it eyed Liaena, face to face. Her ethereal fingers were like icecubes, emitting a steely cold that turned the patch of skin the ghost touched pale.
"How about you and I go for a ride?"

And with that, the banshee, Janice, suddenly floated out across the cister; with Liaena clutched in hand as they levitated across the muddy, dark waters of the sewer. The banshee eyed the little girl like her long lost prize, giving her a wicked smile the further and further they went from Sharon and Greymoon.

"I love the moment, when the innocent watches the defenseless get slain. Hah-hahahaa!" The banshee laughed hysterically as they passed over the waters.
"It almost reminds me of myself, mhmheh... heheheh!"

[Rithy]

"Sinai, a'Dol be en.(Mistress, I think it's a trap)" Vashi whispered with a slightly nervous voice as she stood behind Serphia in the darkness.

"Velar o ben Andavari nefarh?(Aren't you the master of the obvious?)" Serphia replied with a sarcastic tone as she leaned slightly back towards Vashi. All around them was the clattering of bones and the splashing of water heard, hidden away in the shadows. Although Night Elves had a superior night sight in comparison to most other inferior humanoid species, it was still not possible even for them to peer through pitch darkness.

" ... Sane vai o ne Ithar? (Are we going to die)?" Vashi whispered, to which Serphia only snarled.

"Not before I've torn the head off that degenerated monkey!" Serphia screamed out in common for Sevarian to hear, as the Captain suddenly raised her shield.
"Purge them all!"

One of the skeletal creations that were closest to the group attempted to run at them, but Serphia caught the sound of the clattering bones and shot her shield out to bash the undead freak, causing it to shatter into a pile of bones. Vashi quickly threw a spell at Serphia's blade, causing it to ignite with blue flames that illuminated the room. Slashing, bashing and dashing around the room; Serphia went around like a wrecking ball against the necromancer's skeletal minions.

As the large skeletal monstrosity further up ahead decided to charge, Serphia charged ahead to meet it. But as it raised its arm to swing at her, the Captain suddenly stepped to the side; allowing the abomination to pass by her.

Vashi took oppertunity to summon an arcane cannonball that she fired straight into the beast's ribcage, causing it to stumble backwards. Serphia raised her sword as she stood just behind the stunned beast, to slash down at one of its small hind legs and completely shattering it in a fiery display of fire and flying bone splinters, causing the skeletal creation to lose balance and fall onto the floor.
An explosion was heard as Vashi summoned a shockwave around her, knocking many of the lesser skeletons around like toys. The wave caused Serphia to stumble, but the Night Elven captain quickly recovered her balance, and used the rotation to spin around and slam her shield down onto a skeletal minion that had been knocked over, shattering its femur and splitting it in half on the floor.

From one perspective, the fight between Serphia and Vashi against the skeletal horde was not that far off from what would have happened if you gave a naughty girl a burning chainsaw, before unleashing her against a defenseless porcelain store.

*

While Donald was locked out of the barred tunnel, one of the sentinels that was chasing him suddenly rounded the corner and immediately stopped when she saw the assassin.

"Surrender!" She called out as she walked forwards, pointing at him threateningly with her sword ready in her other hand
"Or I'll... "

But she was promptly interrupted, as the other Sentinel who was a little further behind just came charging around the same corner right behind her. Coming at full speed, the sentinel barely had time to realize that her fellow sister was standing still right in front of her in the narrow corridor; while she herself was coming at sprinting speed.

*Crash*

" ... I'lGAAAHH!"

The first Sentinel gasped as her sister crashed into her back, and they both came tumbling right at Donald who looked as confused as he was concerned.

*CRASH*

The unfortunate assassin found himself smashed in between the iron bars and two full sized Night Elves as they came crashing into him like a big, purple wave. The first sentinel found her head passing over the assassin, causing her helmet to bang against the metal bar with a loud metallic 'boink'!

"You idiot!" The first sentinel sneered as she pushed her sister away while grabbing Donald's arm.
"I'm sorry!" The other replied, grabbing Donald's other arm.

"You stopped!"

"Of course I did, he was right there! It was not like he was going to run through the bars!" The first sentinel argued angrily, before motioning towards the direction they had come.
"Let's take him back to the mistress! She's probably already waiting!"

Each grabbing either of Donald's arms, they began to drag the rather disheveled assassin back the way they had come towards the crossroad.

[Feychild]

The situation had devolved from just-about-holding-it-together to completely out of control in the space of just a few seconds. Liaena gasped for breath as she grappled with the hands around her neck. Janice was deceptively strong for her wasted form, and freezing cold.

The revenants attitude towards her was one of familiarity, almost as if they had met before. For the sake of her sanity, Liaena tried not to read too much into that. There were more pressing concerns at hand, as she struggled for her freedom. She had enough firepower to wipe out the tunnel if she felt so inclined, but that wouldn’t do much against a creature that apparently had the ability to turn incorporeal at will and float in and out of other peoples bodies. And even if she managed to get Janice to drop her – here Liaena twisted her head around briefly to look down at the dark, murky water – would she really be any better off?

Janice was taking care to angle herself so as to allow Liaena a panoramic view of the edge of the cistern, where Sharon was engaged in a fight to the death with – something – that had just crawled out of the murky waters.

Removing one of her hands from where it gripped Janice’s arm, Liaena wormed her hand into her pocket to drag out the Gimpsi-patented rifle. The weapon rapidly growing to full size in her hand, Liaena clamped the butt against her ribs with her elbow and aiming the muzzle with her free hand, the sights swinging around erratically with her limited range of movement as she shot a wild volley in the general direction of Sharons assailant. More by luck than by judgement, one gumball snagged the creatures cloak, plastering it stuck tight to the floor and jerking him back sharply by the ties around his neck.

Shrinking the gun and stuffing it back into her pocket again, Liaena returned to hanging on to Janice’s arms as she found the breath for one shriek, as loud as she could make it: “RITHRYNN!”

“…”

“RITHRYNN!!” Liaena screamed again, after a few seconds in which she gasped for breath and found the air to fill her lungs through her frozen throat. There was no immediate response from the elf, which increased the fear that she and the night elves had been led far enough by the assassins to not be able to hear her. There was however, under the circumstances, very little point in stealth any more. “WE NEED HELP! COME – BACK !”

[Sinerathin]

"Cursed rat!" Sounded the raspy voice of the mysterious assassin as his cloak was plastered to the wall behind him with goo, pulling him back by the thread around his neck with a pull that would have damaged most people's throats, but the assassin's breath barely seemed affected. Its bandaged hand bringing a dagger swiftly up to its hood, it cut the cloak off in one quick motion.

But Sharon had not wasted any time when the creature had been trapped.
The High Elf conjured a long shard of razor sharp ice that he shot towards the assassin, whom barely had time to dodge to the side. Yet before the mysterious assailant could fully regain his balance, Sharon had already attacked once again with his sword. The diseased stranger quickly brought up his sword, only to be parried by Sharon's staff. Failing an attempt to block Sharon's sword with his dagger, the High Elf brought the sword up in a cutting potion at the bottom of the assassin's wrist, cutting through the bandages and cutting into the flesh, yet not much blood came out except for a thick, green grease that clang to Sharon's sword.

Angling the sword downwards, he followed up the slice with a thrust against the assassin - plunging his sword down into his chest and in between the man's ribs in a tilted motion.

The assassin took one step back, lowering his head to look at the sword; before looking back up again.

At this close range, Sharon could see through some of the shadows of the man's hood. His mouth was partly covered in dirty bandages, and his face was pale and rotten. The skin was slick like a dead fish, and his eye sockets were empty gaps filled with nothing else but blackness.

"Nice try, elf. Now it's my turn." The undead grinned, before dropping his dagger and grabbing Sharon's sword with his bare hands, holding it in place. Using the split second of confusion for Sharon to his advantage, the assassin lifted his sword to strike at Sharon's hand holding the sword, slicing a clean cut across the back of his hand. Sharon lost the sword and stumbled back with a cry of pain. The assassin now moved his other hand to grab Sharon's sword and pull it out of his torso, now wielding both his own jagged sword and Sharon's Thalassian swiftblade.

"Now the fun sta,-"

*Tchack!*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

But the undead suddenly cried out in a horrific howl of pain as Lord Greymoon, who had been standing back during the fight, came from behind and buried his silver dagger into the back of the rogue. A loud hiss followed as the blade delved into the undead's being, before Greymoon twisted it around and pulled it out. The creature dropped both of his swords before stumbling forward, falling into the ground where he rolled around before attempting to run again while clasping his hands around his chest as if he was severely ill. Fumbling away from the two men, the undead ran to the edge of the cistern before throwing himself into the filthy waters, vanishing completely from sight.

" ... thank you." Sharon gasped, his pulse pounding, before throwing Lord Greymoon a quizzical look.
"How did you?"

"Sanctified Truesilver Metal, Mister Sharon." Greymoon explained with a half smug, half proud smile on his worn face as he held up the silver dagger next to it.
"Of what you told me of your brother, I figured that if we were going to chase a man who supposedly could command the dead it would be a good idea to come prepared for any eventuality. It's just good business practice."

"We need to help Liaena, can it work?!"

"Yes," Lord Greymoon answered as the two men stepped towards the edge of the cistern to gaze out across the dark sea and maze of pillars and pathways. They could see the faint shimmer of Janice floating in the air out across the water, roughly forty feet away from them while holding Liaena.
Lord Greymoon flipped the truesilver dagger in his hand, holding it by the blade as he raised it up behind his shoulder in a throwing motion; before flinging it out across the cistern towards Janice and Liaena floating above.

But rather than hitting the banshee, or Liaena for that sake, the dagger instead flew past the pair two meters away and continued further down into the cistern, where it collided it a solid wall and fell down onto one of the pathways.

" ... drat... "

"You missed!" Sharon exclaimed.
"With our only weapon!"

"Hey, if I was twenty years younger; I would have made it. For a man of my age, it was a pretty good throw!"

"She's going to die!"

"Uhm... " Greymoon paused, suddenly beginning to pad the pockets of his cape and lordly garments, before shaking his head as he turned back to Sharon.
"I guess we just have to improvise then."

"How?!"

While the two men argued and tried to come up with a plan, Janice laughed out loud in a shrilling voice before moving one of her pointy fingers up to Liaena's eye.

"What do you say, sweetheart. Will giving them a chance increase the drama? Or should I just kill you here and now? Or would that just be anti climatic?" She asked with an almost motherly voice while her finger was dangerously close to piercing Liaena's right eye.

[Rithy]

Rithrynn was making her way back towards the crossroad, passing over the precariously laid boardwalks and narrow walkways that spanned the cistern. As the adrenaline of the hunt was fading from her, her senses became more focused on more trivial matters, such as the terrible stench that filled the air, enough to make her stomach turn if she took a too large breath.
She had not checked up on Smokey. The dwarf was probably dead, or dying, judging by how his crude rifle had exploded in his face and sent him into a wall. And even if he wasn’t, surely the disgusting murlocs and whatever else lay in the cistern would finish him off?
But the real reason for not checking the dwarf personally was because the Night Elf had little desire to cross the perilous waters just for the sake of one dwarf. Who even knew if the tentacle monster would return?

A dwarf wasn’t worth it.

But as she drew closer to the crossroad, Rithrynn suddenly picked up noise coming further up ahead; the sound of screaming, shouts and battle.

“Rithrynn!”

It was the voice of Liaena, crying out for her!

“Li? What? What has she done now?!” Rithrynn cursed to herself the incompetence of the midget. She couldn’t leave the human for five minutes without Liaena getting herself into a situation of life threatening proportions or the vile human hatching some crazy scheme!

“I need to get her a leash once we are out of this place!”

Rithrynn went into a sprint towards the source of the screams.
But when she finally arrived to the point she could see the crossroad on the other end of the cistern, she was met with a sight she had not expected.

“A ghost?!” Rithrynn paused as she stared up into the air. Liaena and Janice were facing away from her, seemingly focused on Sharon and Greymoon who stood at the edge of the cistern. Rithrynn immediately drew her bow to aim at the banshee floating in the air.
The ghost was oblivious and well within range for Rithrynn to land a safe shot.

But… would an arrow really kill a ghost? What if it went through it instead and she just ended up shooting Liaena?

“She would be soooo pissed… “
While Rithrynn was trying to think of a solution to it all, a silvery object suddenly flew through the air and crashed into the wall a couple of feet next to her. A truesilver dagger.

Throwing the dagger a perplexed look, Rithrynn moved over to pick it up. Across the cistern, she could hear Sharon verbally frag Greymoon for losing ‘their only weapon’. Rithrynn’s eyes went across the cistern towards Sharon and Greymoon, none of whom had seemed to notice her yet, and up to the banshee who was on the verge of poking Liaena’s brain out of her skull, and back to the dagger.
Could this blade really harm the banshee? Was that why Sharon called it their only weapon? Putting two and two together, the Night Elf silently placed her bow around her torso, and began to walk quietly towards the platform nearest the ghost floating around with Liaena.

When she was almost below the pair, she raised the dagger and threw it straight at the banshee. The banshee had little time to realize what was about to happen when the dagger suddenly flew straight through her back, causing her ethereal torso to explode into a silvery, ghostly mist with a shriek as the dagger passed through – and right into Liaena’s right buttock.
This caused the banshee to immediately drop the human, causing her to fall down into the filthy cistern water below with a revolting splash.

“Li, I’m here!” Rithrynn called out as she dived towards the edge of the cistern, grabbing Liaena the moment her head bobbed back up to the surface to pull the human girl up from the filthy waters and drag her halfway back onto the platform.
With Liaena lying like a drowned beaver across the floor, Rithrynn took a moment gaze at her hand with a ‘yuck’ at how filthy it was after reaching into the water for the girl, before turning back to Liaena who was covered from top to toe with the awful water and its foul contents.

“That was a close call. Are you alright? Good thing I came when I did, eh?” Rithrynn said, throwing the human a broad smile.

[Feychild]

If she had to choose between a fingernail in the brain and a dagger in her butt, it was true that on reflection, Liaena would choose the dagger. This fact mostly failed in making her feel any warmth towards the elf responsible for providing that glorious alternative as she rolled onto her side – a process that elicited a considerable amount of Ache and Pain – to look up at Rithrynn with a groan. “…five minutes ago would have been good, too”

“Why are you even here, again?”

“Oh yeah. I asked for you. That was stupid, wasn't it?”

“…thanks” Liaena finally added belatedly and after a long pause. The girl sounded distinctly dubious in her offer of gratitude. Climbing gingerly onto her hands and knees, she reached around with one arm to the dagger embedded in her butt, which responded to her attentions by beginning to stab with pain even more ferociously. “Ow.”

“I really wish I didn’t have to do this…”

Wrapping a hand around the handle, Liaena gritted her teeth against the flare of agony as she shifted it from side to side to work it loose. Luckily – or unluckily – the blade was extremely sharp, and one swift yank was enough to pull it loose with a large gout of blood. Dropping the dagger, Liaena was quite happy to sink back down to the floor and pull her sodden satchel towards her awkwardly. Luckily, she had at least had the foresight to wrap up the bandages against water, along with other things that were supposedly sterilised. Not that under the circumstances sterilised bandages made any amount of difference, Liaena reflected as she picked apart a packet.

Sharon and Lord Graymoon appeared to have dealt with their adversary as efficiently as Rithrynn had dealt with hers, and were at that point in the process of making their way gingerly across the bridge across the cistern to join them. Holding a wad of cotton against her wound to try and staunch the blood, of which there was considerable, Liaena looked up at Rithrynn quizzically from her place on the floor.

“Where’s Serphia and the other elves? …Don’t tell me you split up with them, too”