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

[Rithy]

Rithrynn observed the battlefield, but with a shade of dismay on her expression.

The element of surprise which they had originally enjoyed was quickly running out, and at this point was virtually gone. All the easy White Hand targets were gone, the remainder having either fled behind the anti-arrow protective shield that their battle mage had raised, or consisting of heavily armored knights with an absurd armor fetish.

"Well, drat... "

Charging the shield of the battle mage in a frontal assault through the open space surrounding it was out of the question, as the White Hand were ready with both spell and muskets if any of her or her sisters attempted to attack.

To make matters worse, they could not afford a stalemate. There was no telling when more White Hand reinforcements might show up!

"We need a smokescreen!"

However, Rithrynn inched to the side when suddenly a spell came in her direction. But to her surprise, it was not a directly harmful one. Instead, it was a glowing sphere of light cast by the other battle mage that flew past her, and in the process, gave her position completely away as the shadow abated all around her!

But the notion that she had just become a target was soon taken over by another problem, when she also noticed one of the White Hand's knights come stomping up further down the walkway and was heading straight for her!

Throwing her bow around her torso, she would immediately stand up and unsheathe her elven saber which she held horizontally up against the approaching knight. But there was a problem...

Facing a heavily armored knight with an overly large shield on the narrow walkway would be everything but wise!

"Ash sarein D'oine!(come at me, ape!)"

Rithrynn cried out against the approaching knight. But rather than wait for him to reach her, she instead turned her saber around to swipe it out in a broad sweep in front of her, cutting the ropes that held the walkway up and suspended from the roof! Parts of the walkway immediately sunk almost a meter, and the knight fell to his knees as he dropped with it, brought down by the weight of his own armor! As he did, Rithrynn had already charged forward, performing a flying kick with the solves of both if her feet right into the center of the knight's shield! The knight reeled back as he took the full brunt of the collision, consisting of a fully sized Night Elf with all her equipment and armor(although the latter might not count for much!) that came flying right at him at high speed! It was enough to knock the knight away, causing him to fall over the railing and crashed like a thunder into a series of crates below!

Rithrynn had used the knight's shield to kick off as well, flying back and away from the falling knight through the air in a graceful backflip!

As she looked up(or down, depending on your perspective) as she floated up-side-down through the air, she could see Liaena & co locked in a fight with a teleporting battlemage beneath her.

"Go go, Li! You can do i... wait, where's the walkway?!"

Rithrynn's graceful acrobatics soon came to a frantic end as the Night Elf realized that she had accidentally kicked herself off the platform as well, and was hovering more than five feet in the air above Liaena and the group! Twisting herself around mid air, Rithrynn attempted to reach for the edges of the walkway to grab ahold of it, but she was already too far away; and began to fall!

"Eluuuuuuuu!"

[Feychild]

“Kitty!”

“Damn it!”

Liam and Liaena cried out and / or cursed in unison as Kathlin crashed into the floor with a cry of pain. Bella peered out from behind the curtain of Liaena’s hair with wide eyes as she retreated behind her neck. “I’m just…going to pretend I’m not here. Kay?”

“Give up”

Casting a quick glance at Blastwits, the man barely had time to blink as Liaena removed the knife-wielding hand to grab him by the shirt and lob him at Sathrielle. The bolt went completely awry towards the ceiling as the mage barely avoided toasting her ‘ally’, and man and mage went down in a tumble of limbs – until Sathrielle disappeared in a blink again.

I’m getting really, really fed up with that trick.

Liaena thought as she dug through Rithrynn’s satchel furiously, hands finally freed with Blastwits now groaning on the floor. Liam had rushed over to help Kathlin stagger to her feet, now looking around frantically for where Sathrielle had gone. “Where did she go!?”

Slightly out of sight of around a pile of crates, Sathrielle watched the scene unfold around her with narrowed eyes. Stepping forward, she raise her hands to cast a spell and….

“ELUUUUNE!”

“What?”

-SPLAT-

This looks like sleeping potion…

Liaena glanced up with a potion in one hand to stare across the room to where Rithrynn had landed extremely heavily on the unfortunate Sathrielle. Studying the groaning mage with mild surprise, the girl lifted a hand to chuck the sleeping potion across the room at the Night Elf. “Nice shot Rithy. Catch”

[Sinerathin]

Sathrielle seemed to have passed completely out cold following the event of being hit by big-falling-Night Elf. And perhaps also because of her decision not to wear a helmet, for whatever decision of vanity it might have been. The battle mage lay motionless under the large Night Elf, and with how her eyes twitched behind their lids suggested that she was already well on her way to dreamland.

Captain Blastwit on the other hand had cried out in relief as he had been released from the cowardly grip of Liaena, and was rapidly crawling across the floor to stagger back onto his feet!

"Fi-fi-fiyah! Fire, men! At them, now!" He cried out as he ran in a diagonal line towards his men in the battle mage's sphere, giving them a clear shot at Liaena and her friends who were now caught in the open.

The men immediately reacted, raising their muskets and their available battle mage prepared his spells as they were about to fire!

But before they could fire off their first volley, a bronze and glass made cylindrical container came flying through the air to crack onto the ground between the two opposing groups, exploding in a blinding light that temporarily disoriented anyone who looked at it. The mysterious grenade also seemed to produce a carpet of thick, sulphuric tasting smog that rose between the two groups.

Suddenly appearing from behind Liaena's party was Alissah, the woman seemingly having returned to the world of consciousness though still clinging the wound in her chest with one hand.

But as she approached Liaena and the rest of the group, the woman seemed to ignore any sort of greeting that may have been sent her way. Instead, she immediately gripped Liaena and Liam, and pulled them to the ground.

"Get down!"

She called out as she tossed them both to the ground, just as a lethal volley of spells and musket shots came through the smog and flew over their heads as the White Hand fired off a blind volley into the smog!

Alissah let out an audible groan with the action, any greater movement seeming to revive the pain from her wound, but she bit through it and looked at Liaena and Liam, while also sparing a quick glance at the purple mound that was Rithrynn lying ontop of the unfortunate Sathrielle.

"I can't believe the arch bishop let such a heinous heresy grow in our own city!" Alissah muttered angrily as she stared towards the smog, which was slowly beginning to evaporate.

"Two things;" She turned to the group.
"Have you found a way out?"

*Bang*

Another musket shot whizzed past their heads.

"Second, I want to interrogate one of these damnable heathens once we're done! Do we have a prisoner?"

[Rithy]

The fall; although it had been anything but planned; had not gone anywhere near as bad as it could have. The human, Sathrielle, had made for a delightful collision pillow to dampen her fall, minus a few nagging armor plates here and there.

Rithrynn reared herself to sit up on top of the flattened human, only to immediately drop back down on her as a bullet whizzed dangerously close to her head!

Despite the smokescreen erected by Alissah, the fact that they could not see anything whatsoever didn't seem to discourage the happy trigger fingers of the White Hand mercenaries on the other side. Even if Sathrielle was in their line of fire as well!

"I guess they really don't care for her that much. Could it be her stunning, compassionate and wonderful personality?"

Crawling over towards the discussion between Alissah and the group, Rithrynn would keep her head as low as possible.

"Second, I want to interrogate one of these damnable heathens once we're done! Do we have a prisoner?"

"Do we really need to take a prisoner?" Rithrynn immediately sounded with a rather dismayed tone, the Sentinel seemingly not so thrilled about the prospect of taking another prisoner. Particularly not with the prospect of another interrogation, considering where their last prisoner had ended up!

Though the moment of silence combined with the stares she received from the rest was enough to convince her that it would be pointless to try to argue.

"Why can't we ever capture a hot High Elf for a change?!"

Reaching behind her at the unconscious Sathrielle, Rithrynn would drag the limp battle mage towards the group as they all moved towards the crates to the side, to avoid the possibility that any of the White Hand mercenaries might get a lucky shot through the smog.

"Will she work?" Rithrynn asked as she looked at Alissah and Liaena, her gaze pausing at the latter as she suddenly produced a small vial and handed the sleeping potion she had received earlier for Sathrielle back to Liaena.
" ... didn't even need that one."

[Feychild]

“…Didn’t even need that one”

“I thought she’d be tougher” was Liaena’s response as she studied Sathrielles limp form closely. Whether the woman dabbled in fel magic herself, was aware of Sevarian’s techniques and condoned them, or was blissfully unaware of the whole matter was a mystery to her. Given the mage’s obvious competence relative to the oblivious Blastwit, Liaena was not exactly predisposed to believe the latter. And either way, she certainly didn’t want to leave Sherpa with an additional mage at his disposal. “Fine. We should bring her”

Another round of musket shots whizzed over their heads, one of them passing dangerously close to the girl’s ear as she craned around to point in the general direction of the elevator doors, now lost somewhere inside the smog. “We go – down – there. And get a ship!”

“You shouldn’t be walking around, you know. Here” Kathlin said a touch reprovingly as she crawled along the ground towards Alissah, to hook one of the woman’s arms around her shoulders as she braced herself ready to jump to her feet. “Cover me, Li?”

“Yes, yes” Liaena muttered as she fished around in Rithrynn’s bag. “Your supplies suck, Rithrynn. When was the last time you replaced these? Your flints are blunt, and this wormwood is stale – ah!”

Apparently finding whatever it was she was looking for, Liaena fished out an additional vial to pour a measure of the contents into the bottle she was already holding. The latter immediately starting to bubble and flash dangerously, the girl chucked it in the direction of Blastwits and the remaining White Hand as Kathlin lunged for the elevator doors now faintly visible through the smog that was rapidly disappating.

A volley of rifle shots followed her, far more erratic and haphazardly than they might otherwise have done as the potion crashed into the floor to immediately fill the area with a cloud of green smoke. Diving through the doors, Alissah found herself floating gently down through the air, in the priestess’ arms, within what appeared to be a very dark, vertical cave. There was a nasty smell in the air that tasted distinctly of burnt coppery metal.

“Sorry about this” Kathlin said quietly into her ear as she held on tightly to the injured woman, both of them still descending slowly through the air. There was a very faint glow from below them, which was presumably the exit. “Just bear with me, okay? We’ll soon be reaching…wherever it is we’re going”

*

“Well, that went as well as could be expected” Liaena muttered from where she had taken shelter behind a crate from the gunfire, again searching through Rithrynn’s satchel for anything that she could potentially transform into ammunition. Glancing around to catch Rithrynn’s eye, she stabbed a finger at her, then at Liam. “What are you lot waiting for? Take him – and get moving!”

[Sinerathin]

"I can't see shit!" One of the musketmen huddling beneath the battle mage's shield complained as he tried to scan for targets through the now green smoke that filled a large part of the storage room.

"This is what you get for hiring the lowest bidder! I've always said the room's got crappy ventilation! You know, my father's in the business, and we could summon him to,-"

"Quiet your gums, men. They are escaping!" Blastwit yelled back at his men, as the Captain had managed to find his way to the battle mage's shield and had sheltered in it with the rest of his men.
"Battlemage Alfrix, cease with the blind fire and deal with the smoke! We need a clear line of sight!"

"Yes, sir!" The second battle mage in the group replied, nodding with his mask as he prepared another spell.

The air seemed to stand completely still around the group of White Hand soldiers for a moment, before suddenly exploding outwards in every direction in a forceful wave of magical, kinetic energies that functioned much like a powerful gust of wind; pushing the smoke away in a circle and out towards the periphery of the storage hall. This left them with a clear view of the crates that Liaena and Rithrynn were hiding behind, as well as a unblocked line of sight to the door.

The spell had come too late for them to see Kathlin and Alissah, however, as the two had already disappeared down the elevator shaft.

"We still have three knights left; have them do something!" Captain Blastwit called out, and was heard by the three remaining White Hand knights that remained in the room. The fourth remained either stunned or stuck in the crates he had fallen into, unable to wriggle himself in his heavy armor from a crate filled with large amounts of hay.

The rest of the three knights would react, however. Two of them would rush back to their original positions by the bronze doors, positioning themselves in a defensive formation in front of the narrow exit between the massive, half-open bronze gates. The last one would stomp down from the walkway and onto the ground floor, before heading towards Rithrynn and Liaena's position behind the crates.

But meanwhile, at the far end of the storage room, a lone figure would appear.

Walking out from one of the main, large hallways leading into the storage room would be Sherpa, wearing his dark blue and golden silk robes and satin, pitch black shoulder cape. Though separated from the main action by a series of large rows made up of crates upon crates, he could nonetheless hear the commotion from the center of the room.

Walking with a casual though hastened stride through the storage hall, with his hand resting on the handle of his sword which hung in its sheath by his hip, he would move towards the center of the storage which was just a little more than a hundred feet away!

*

At the bottom of the elevator shaft, in the small cove inside the very reef beneath Honor's Watch, a small group of four chevaliers had arrived by a small rowboat and headed towards the docks. Only two of them wore their uniforms, the rest of them wearing civilian garbs and only armed with rapiers as they seemed to have just arrived from the harbor Inn.

"We need to close the watergate. All exits are to be sealed." One of the chevaliers called out to a pair of nearby dockworkers standing on the pier. The two dockhands were quick to acknowledge the request, as the two lads set off and began to run towards a small tower at the edge of the pier built into the cavern walls of the cove that controlled the large metal grate that was built around the entrance to the cove.

"There's no need, the elevator's gone. There's no way they can get out that way." A chevalier standing at the pier shouted back at the arriving group in their boat as they docked with the pier.

"Security protocols. All entrances and exits are to remain closed during an emergency." The chevalier from the rowboat replied, as he and his group stepped onto land, leading the entire force in the cove to now consists of five chevaliers total, seven workers and one grumpy dwarf with a heavy blunderbuss by the elevator doors.
"We even got reports that one of the intruders escaped by jumping off the highest wall. We cannot take any chances!"

[Rithy]

“What are you lot waiting for? Take him – and get moving!”

"I´m already carrying one human, what do you expect me to do? Carry all of Stormwind all of a sudden?" Rithrynn inquired in a slightly annoyed tone at Liaena´s request, the Night Elf already balancing the limp body of Sathrielle under her arm while looking at Liam as if he was just another piece of luggage that she had been ordered to carry.
"Pffh, fine... just give me that for a moment."

Reaching past Liaena to grab her satchel from the human girl, Rithrynn would scrounge through the disorderly mess that Liaena had made of its contents, to fish up a green vial from the bottom which consisted of a thick, green liquid. Turning to the dead-weight that was Sathrielle, Rithrynn would force some of the shrinking potion into the girl´s mouth. Not long after, the cumbersome full sized Sathrielle with her uniform and armor would suddenly be reduced to a smaller but much more managable size, as Rithrynn was able to fit the human within her palm. Screwing the cork back on and dropping it into the satchel, Rithrynn would hand the satchel back to Liaena.

But as she did so, she could suddenly hear the heavy footsteps of a heavily armored knight heading towards their hideout behind the crates.

Peeking around the corner, the first thing Rithrynn saw was the oversized shield of the impending White Hand knight as he marched prepared towards the crate shielding them.

"We got company... "

"Hiyaaaahh!"

Suddenly, out from the darkness from another set of shelves behind the knight appeared the fleeting figure of Aleena, wielding her large saber and coming straight at him!

The knight had no time to react before the sentinel launched herself into him from behind, ramming the tip of her sword through the lower left portion of his back and piercing his armor, sending her lightning sharp saber right into his torso!

The knight cried out in pain before swinging around, sending his mace in a frenzied, sweeping motion towards Aleena. But Aleena had already pulled her saber out of his back by then, and dodged down towards the ground as the mace came flying, leaving it only to barely touch her hair which was still suspended in the air as it passed over her head.

As the swing came to a conclusion, Aleena was already back in the game with her saber at the ready - and brought it down in a vertical strike against the knight´s exposed mace wielding hand.

Another cry of pain sounded from the knight as she carved straight through the protection around his hand and severed his thumb, causing blood to gush from his hand as he dropped the mace. The sentinel would immediately strike again, this time sending her sword down in a strike behind the man´s knee, carving straight through the lesser chainmail and into his skin; causing the main to drop to his knees as blood now flowed out from behind his knee and onto his polished armor.

The knight tried to rear his shield up in front of him to protect himself from any further strikes, but Aleena would move the lower portion of the handle of her saber past and behind the man´s shield, using it as a lever to force his shield aside and also throw him a little forward. The knight would reach towards his belt, towards his dagger, but Aleena, with a frenzied glee, had already raised her sword for another strike; before swinging her saber around with great fury, sending her blade right into the back of the knight´s helmet with such merciless force that it completely threw the man face down into the floor, collapsing like an armored lump as the blade hit the back of his helmet so hard that it created an audible clang that could be heard across the entire storage hall! Aleena´s saber had cut into the back of the man´s helmet and warped it inwards, creating a long, deep canyon in the back of his helmet that went in a straight line where the Night Elf´s saber had hit. Any more force, and the blade might very well have cut all the way to the man´s skull, but at present it had only knocked any and all sense out of him instead, leaving him out cold on the floor.

"Nice work." Rithrynn commented with an ever so slight grin, ignoring any looks she might receive from Liaena who had a very different view about Aleena´s liberal use of violence.

"Oh, I just love men in armor." Aleena would answer as she sought cover behind the same crate that Liaena and Rithrynn were already hiding behind before any of the White Hand gunners could aim at her.
"They think they are invincible. I love to prove them wrong."

Rithrynn smiled, though her attention soon returned back to the situation at hand. They still had to get out after all.

"Those monkeys in the bubble-shield, we still need to deal with,-"

"WATCH OUT!"

Yet Rithrynn was interrupted by the startled voice coming from over the crates they used as cover. Peering over it to check it out, she could see Lithriell and another one of her sisters running behind a small train of heavy loading carts that they just sent off towards the congregation of White Hand chevaliers at great speed!

Most of the chevaliers immediately scattered by throwing themselves out of the way of the thundering carts as they came towards them!

All except the battle mage who had been maintaining the shield, who was caught by the moving train of carts with a painful and emitted a painful´URKH!´ upon the collision, before traveling past the bronze gates of the elevator and disappearing down a storage alley with the carts!

"Yes... that works." Rithrynn commented as a flurry of arrows again started appearing from random directions as her sisters in hiding had reemerged to pepper the scattered White Hand soldiers with yet another salvo of arrows. Behind her, the two wounded sentinels who had been originally guarding Alissah had decided to join up, alongside a third.

"Time to make a break for it, let´s go! ... oh, and hold this." Rithrynn instructed the rest of her sisters, Liam and Kathlin, before handing the miniaturised Sathriell over to the latter. Grabbing Liam under her arm, and Kathlin under her other, Rithrynn would then rush out from cover alongside three of her sisters right behind her.

The two knights guarding the door braced themselves for the incoming charge, but were surprised as Aleena came charging at them from the sideline with a frenzied shriek, slashing one across the back with her saber before ramming her shoulder into the shield of the second; pushing him away!

Rithrynn was the first to reach the elevator door with Liam and Kathlin under her arms, and Sathrielle in Kathlin´s, before throwing herself down the elevator shaft.

"Levitation spell, now! Please!" Rithrynn cried out to the two humans she was carrying, praying that she had not just committed a grave error by throwing herself down the elevator shaft!

Above them, the three other sentinels followed suit, although grabbed onto the remaining cable hanging in the elevator shaft which the used to slide rather fast and chaotically down after them!

[Feychild]

“Yes! Of course!” Liam gasped out, although clearly being slightly crushed by Rithrynn’s powerful grip. A moment later a sense of weightlessness enveloped the elf, as their downward plunge ended abruptly to start drifting gently down the vertical shaft.

“ELUUUUNE – gotcha!”

One of the Night Elves in a rapid downward plunge, grabbed onto the far slower moving Rithrynn’s foot. The ensuing jerk could easily have dislocated the elfs ankle if not for the protection of her stiff leather boots, and caused the group to start descending at a much more rapid rate, the sentinel swinging from Rithrynn like a pendulum.

“This – is not – the intended use – for this – spell ” Liam muttered shakily, beads of sweat visible on his forhead as he sustained the spell. Liaena shot him a glance, before stretching down to grab the sentinel hanging off Rithrynn, as that elf began floating also.

“He’s saying you’re too fat, Rithrynn”

“I’m not!” Liam protested nervously, glancing at Rithrynn as if she was about to gut him on the spot for the implied insult. As he looked around, the tattered end of the severed elevator cable caught his eye as they drifted past it “…oh dear”

“Look out below, monkies!”

“Haaaaai-yah, Rithrynn!”

With wild war cries, the two sentinels that had been slithering with lithe dexterity down the cable reached the end of it to launch themselves at the floating mess of bodies drifting down the shaft. Liam yelped in pain, as a set of steel-clad boobs rammed themselves into his face, and Liaena bit out a curse as one of the elves ended up sitting on her head. The group were now once again moving far more rapidly under the increased weight “Move your ass!”

*

“Oh, that’ll be the others coming” Kathlin observed quietly, more to herself than Alissah as she peered up the shaft they were descending. The battle cries of the Night Elves was unmistakable, along with the occasional yell she attributed to Liaena. The noises were also becoming rapidly…louder.

Glancing down, the end of the shaft was not so far away now, and becoming closer slowly but surely. Another look up again decided the matter for her as she tightened her grip on Alissah. “Bit of a bump coming up, mmkay?”

“What?”

Cancelling the levitation spell, Kathlin fell no more than about three metres as she landed with quite a hard bump on the stone floor at the bottom. The dwarf, who had been peering up the dark shaft with some bemusement at the shrieks from above, did a double take to point his blunderbuss at the pair as the girl rapidly backed away into the corner of the shaft. “Ey! Stand still, or –“

-CRASH-

Moving slightly slower, but a much greater load of Night Elf and human crashed into the floor in the middle of the shaft, blocking Kathlin and Alissah into one corner…and attracting the attention of just about every soldier inside the harbour.

“So much for elven grace and agility…”

Liaena winced, refraining from any number of foul comments as she tried to ease her way out of the situation she had fallen into, which was as it happens under a Night Elfs butt. “Rithrynn….just go and do what you do best, would you?”

[Sinerathin]

Alissah, though supported by Kathlin, had immediately reached down to her belt to whip out her pistol as the dwarf entered the shaft, blunderbuss primed and ready and aimed right at them!

*CRASH*

The ensuing chaos made Alissah raise an eyebrow, as the dwarf was suddenly buried by a small tidal wave of large Night Elves suddenly coming down the shaft!

"I will not question the methods of my allies, as long as they work." She commented as she watched the mostly purple pile of limbs, sprawled bodies, big butts and hair that now filled the center of the shaft, with the occasional Liaena and Liam; who were barely visible; stuck somewhere inbetween. The prisoner, Sathrielle, was virtually impossible to see.

" ... do we still have the prisoner?"

*

Back up in the storage hall, the White Hand mercenaries were in disarray as they were being shot by arrows from every direction; those who hadn't already been shot having sought refuge behind the nearest crate.

Now within sight of the battlefield, Sherpa would march towards it with long, confident strides.

Raising his right hand, he would hold it up towards some of the nearby crates, before suddenly pulling it aside. To the Night Elf hiding on top of the shelf, it was as though an invisible force suddenly grabbed her, before throwing her out from her hiding spot and into the light as she rolled across the ground floor!

Reaching down to his waist, Sherpa would grab ahold of his Runeblade as he approached the frenzied Aleena who was caught in a duel with the remaining knight, who was struggling to stand against her furious attacks.

Wounded, the knight would back away from the Night Elf. But before Aleena could strike again, Sherpa would intervene with his Runeblade, meeting her saber mid-air in a clash of blades!

"I have some questions... " Sherpa started as he looked up at Aleena past their two interconnected blades, as a frigid frost seemed to spread from the blade of his Runeblade and across Aleena's saber.
"Questions about the whereabouts of my kin."

As Aleena released her blade, Sherpa was quick to parry the incoming blow; before retaliating with a fierce strike of his own, as the ashen haired High Elf brought his Runeblade down against Aleena.

But when his blade was parried by Aleena's saber, it would shatter it upon impact! As his blade connected with Aleena's, the upper half of the Night Elf's blade would crackle before shattering into a thousand pieces. As it was destroyed upon contact, Sherpa's Runeblade would continue through the air until it cut into the shoulderpiece of Aleena's armor, cutting through the combination of steel and exotic leather to leave a minor gash!

Yet even though the wound itself was minor in volume, the mere touch from the Runeblade was enough to send a frightening chill through the rest of the Night Elf's body, spreading a dark sensation as if all her heat had been snapped right out of her, replacing it with a cold emptiness inside of her.

[Rithy]

Aleena's eyes widened as her own sword shattered before her eyes, leaving her flabbergasted and momentarily stunned. This left her unable to react in time to the incoming runeblade, which cut into her shoulder; causing her to stagger backwards with a cry of pain as the tip of the runeblade became gorged in dark, purple blood emanating from the wound.

"How did he do that?!"

Throwing a quick glance at her saber, the remaining half still in her hand, she couldn't understand what had just happened. Her saber had been of the finest elven craftsmanship, albeit just steel, but good steel nonetheless. She had slain both beast and demon with it, but the Death Knight destroyed it in less than three hits!

Tossing the destroyed saber away, realizing that there was no time to mourn the loss of her favorite weapon, she instead drew the blood forged Runeblade she had looted from the peculiar Death Knight earlier.

Swinging the runeblade around, she brought it to bear against Sherpa's own, as the two runeblades clashed mid air.

"Sar O'din theran Felynh'yer sin!(your deranged kin doesn't deserve to live!)" She snarled back at the Death Knight as she engaged him with a cursed blade of her own.

"Alein mithrell, selin!(fall back, sisters!)." Sounded Lithriell's voice as she ran through the room, accompanied by Vashi and the last remaining sentinel.
"Vilein feladora opei!(We cannot stay here!)"

Without hesitation, the three Night Elves all rushed through the heavy brass doors of the elevator to jump down the elevator shaft! Though in their hurry, they crashed together as they tried to all grab on to the elevator cable, causing them to tumble down the shaft instead.

"Ol letheran vifei!(We are not finished!)." Aleena snarled as she glared at Sherpa as they locked runeblades with each other, before kicing him back and breaking the stalemate! As she did, she would turn around and sprint in the opposite direction, towards the elevator, and throw herself down the elevator shaft.

During their fall, Vashi had managed to conjure a desperate levitation spell that slowed their drop. But as Aleena came plummeting from further up and down on their heads with her butt, the spell would weaken as they suddenly tumbled down the elevator shaft at a much greater speed, cursing, shrieking and desperately trying to speak to each other in Darnassian!

*

Rithrynn let out a groan, pulling her arm out from under one of her sisters who had landed on it. The landing could have been worse, if it hadn't been for the dwarf which had acted much in the way of a collision pillow for her.

" ... do we still have the prisoner?"

"Prisoner?" Rithrynn repeated, staring emptily at Alissah for a moment, before turning to look around for Liaena, whom she found lying under one of her sisters.
"I gave her to you... "

Rithrynn said as she looked at Liaena, trying to see the prisoner, which was not easy what with half of the human already being under a Anastia's butt. But the noise from outside the elevator shaft soon demanded her attention, as the chevaliers were approaching to see what the commotion was about.

Not wasting anymore time to look for the tiny prisoner who at that point could only be goddess knew where, Rithrynn would quickly rise to her feet, drawing her sword and dagger as she stepped over her sprawled sisters and rushed out of the elevator shaft. Alongside her was one of her sisters, who had yet to draw her own weapon following right behind her.

Rithrynn met the first chevalier not long after leaving the elevator; the chevalier seeming just as surprised to see her coming out from it!

She had little intention of giving the chevalier any time to think the situation over, immediately attacking him. The chevalier, however, managed to parry her first attack with his rapier. But before Rithrynn could take any further actions against him, she heard a voice behind her.

"Ri, go low!"

Rithrynn didn't have time to try to interpretate what her sister was trying to say, but out of instinct trusted her and dodged low. Fortunately she did, for just a split second later, a large oar came swinging over her head and hit the chevalier square in his mask, knocking the poor man senseless and back into the ground!

"Nice one... " Rithrynn smirked as she watched her fallen foe, nodding to the oar-wielding sentinel behind her.

Back in the elevator, Anastia smiled down at Liaena.

"Thanks for the catch, that could almost have been painful." She giggled ever so slightly as she began to lift her butt up from the disheveled human beneath her. But she had barely even managed to rise a few inches, until another set of voices could be heard. Anastia only had time to look up, before Vashi and three other sentinels plummeted down from the shaft above, landing right on top of Anastia; and by extension Liaena; burying the former two souls!

[Feychild]

“I will not question the judgement of my allies, so long as they work”

“I’m not sure judgement comes into it, but they usually do” Kathlin responded as she eyed the struggling heap of bodies. Stepping slightly closer, she reached down to tap a human arm that was sticking out of the mess gently. “Are you all right dear?”

“Auuugh…of…course. Never better!” Liam gasped from somewhere inside the Night Elf heap. There was a slight shifting of the pile as one of the booted feet emerging twisted into a new position. “…I definitely haven’t broken my back. I think”

“Would you GET OFF! Before you crush the prisoner!” the very annoyed tone of Liaena emanated from the centre of the pile. Unlike the more lanky Liam, the little girl was only revealed to the world when Aleena finally staggered to her feet, curled into a ball to protect the arch-mage who had narrowly avoided being flattened to a pancake…or disappearing up the bum of a Night Elf. “Jeez…I thought you lot were supposed to be graceful”

“How did you get that cut, Ma’am?” Kathlin chimed in at this point, tapping Aleena lightly on the lower arm as she spoke – being unable to reach her shoulder. The girl was peering up at the Night Elf as she spoke, at the cut left behind by Sherpa’s runeblade. “You should get that looked at. It looks infected”

“Should we be worried about the soldiers down here?” Liam muttered as he struggled to his feet. Liaena glanced at him briefly.

“No. Let the Night Elves handle it. It’s what they’re here for”

“….Yes, that’s why I’m worried about them”

“Could you uh, please crouch down a bit Ma’am? It’ll only take a moment” Kathlin was continuing to try and stall Aleena from heading into the middle of the docks for some much needed ass-kicking. The other Night Elves were busy chasing down the remaining White Hand by this point, leaving the four humans (plus one miniature) and Aleena being the only ones lingering by the elevator.

Liaena turned away at this point, to stare out over the docks. “So. I want a ship”

“Of course you do” Liam muttered as he trailed along behind, the girl stalking along with an air of purpose. “Do you know how to sail one?”

“More or less” Liaena responded dismissively. Liam eyed her with a look of deep mistrust at that one, before glancing back at Aleena.
“Do they know how to sail?”

“….Maybe?”

“…..”

“Uh…Ma’am?” Liam turned to call over to Rithrynn, as she blitzed through the terrified dockhands that were scattered around the area, some having only just picked up crude weapons with which to defend themselves. “We…may need someone with seafaring experience. Could you…requisition one?”

[Sinerathin]

Sherpa trailed over to the half-open elevator doors to gaze down into the darkness of the deep shaft on the other side. He could not see any sign of the Night Elves, the darkness shrouding his vision, but he could definitely hear them through the occasional shriek and curse coming from below.

“I didn’t know you could fight that well!” Blastwit said as he came walking up from the sideline, keeping a safe distance from the doorway as if he was afraid to accidentally fall down.
“If only my men had half your skill when it came to dealing with Night Elves… “

He spoke in reference to Sherpa’s fight with the Night Elf Aleen, which he had witnessed from the sideline. But as he turned his face to look down the shaft as well, he grimaced.

“They got away, dammit!” Blastwit cursed as he gazed down into the darkness, before his gaze snapped back to Sherpa.
“I’ll inform the garrison immediately. We need to cut any escape by sea off!”

“Before you go, Captain… “

Sherpa suddenly spoke as the Captain was just about to turn around and walk away. The High Elf was sliding a rag across his blade, to clean off the purple Night Elven blood that adorned the tip.

“I’d like some explosives. It feels wrong not to leave them without a little parting gift.” Sherpa said as he gazed down the elevator shaft, an ever so hidden grin appearing on his lips as she put his runeblade back into its sheath.

Captain Blastwit looked at him for a moment, unsure how to treat a request from their mysterious savior.

However, the man resigned to turn to one of the few remaining chevaliers who could still walk, and motioned for the man to bring a batch of four heavy black iron bombs tied together in a bundle by a multi-fuse.

The chevalier handed over the explosives to Sherpa, who in turn held them up to the Captain.

Blastwit looked at the explosives for a moment, and then over to the elevator shaft. It was not like they could do any more possible damage than what the intruders had already done. Without a word, he’d inhale from his cigar, before moving its hot-cindering tip over to the fuse; thus igniting it and beginning the countdown.

“Consider this one on the house!” Sherpa proclaimed loudly down the elevator shaft before he slung the bungle of iron bombs down into the elevator shaft. The black bombs fell at great speed down towards the bottom of the shaft, occasionally clanking into the walls as they raced towards the bottom!

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

“Retreat, the battle is lost!”

“This is not what I signed up for!”

The dockhands had only taken a quick glance at the angry horde of Night Elves coming out of the elevator shaft before decided that the battle was already lost, throwing whatever primitive, crude or improvised weaponry they may have gathered to defend themselves with and legging it in the other direction.

More specifically, towards a small warehouse built into the bare stone walls inside the cove.

“Stand and fight, cowards!” One of the chevaliers cried out as he tried to create a semblance of order or discipline in the motley crew of part-time workers. But everyone except for the two remaining chevaliers had already fled the field.
“Perhaps a… tactical reconsideration is in order?” The other chevalier who was standing by him would carefully suggest.

The first chevalier, who was currently looking at the incoming Night Elves from behind his mask, and to the fleeing dockworkers behind them; decided against his honor to turn around as well and flee with his comrade!
The chevaliers followed the fleeing dockhands into the warehouse, before shutting the heavy wooden door behind them. Further noise could be heard coming from inside the building, presumably as the dockworkers and chevaliers moved every heavy crate and object they could find behind the door in order to bar it!

All the while, the eyes of the black haired and now miniaturized battle mage would slowly open, as Sathrielle would cast a confused look around her at her current situation.

The world had grown exponentially during her period of unconsciousness. Or was it she who had been shrunk?

Details didn’t matter. What mattered now was the fact that she was being carried by the snide, two-faced girl from before. Fortunately however, she seemed busy talking to one of her even bigger, purple, long-eared bodyguards/henchmen. What’s more, she also saw another small figure comparable to her own diminished form; Bella, moving around Liaena’s neck.

An opportunity had been spotted, and a plan had already formed in Sathrielle’s head. Now she had act before the window was lost!

Although she had lost her staff, she was nonetheless capable of summoning a small gust of fire from her hands. Liaena would suddenly feel a shock of pain emanate from her hand, as if someone had just poked it with a hot-needle! As Liaena’s grip opened following the fire spell, Sathrielle would immediately climb up onto her wrist, rush up along her arm, and onto her shoulder!

There she would find the confused Bella, looking straight back at her.

"Uhhh, Li?! ... your prisoner, she's... !"

“You’re coming with me, girl!” Sathrielle said before she grabbed the front of Bella’s collar, and pulled her towards herself.

As Bella collided into Sathrielle’s shoulder, she would suddenly feel a moment of weightlessness as the world disappeared around them; before they would reappear again a couple of feet behind Liaena, and closer to the elevator.

Having unsheathed her short sword, she would point it threateningly at Bella.

“Work with me and you’ll be alright; but know I won’t hesitate either!” She quickly said to Bella as she forced her forward as they made a run for it towards the elevator shaft, which still housed some Night Elves, including Aleena and Kathlin. Neither of whom seemed to have noticed the mini-duo running from Liaena and the rest of the elves in the docks.

But as Sathrielle and Bella came closer to the elevator shaft, Sathrielle would suddenly force Bella to stop as she noticed a bundle of iron bombs fall down into the bottom of the elevator shaft right in front of them – fuse almost burnt out!

“Oh crap!” Sathrielle would exclaim, before beginning to pull Bella back from the elevator shaft, to which they now stood precariously close to the blast radius!

[Rithy]

“Could you requisition… one?”

“Pfff, it’s just boats!” Rithrynn would reply to Liam’s concerns, the Sentinel giving the human a rather humored look as she motioned towards the collection of boats by the dockyard.
“It’s not like you need any great experience or prior knowledge to make the thing float; it’s doing so already!”

Rithrynn would reply, full with confidence as she marched down towards the pier of the small harbor. Any opposition that may have been mounted by the White Hand in that area was either unconscious or had already fled into the warehouse.

Why spend time trying to break into the warehouse when they could just untie one of the smaller vessels and sail with that?

Two of her sisters, alongside Liam and Liaena, had already left the elevator and were now walking along the small docks.

“Move your lazy butts, and let’s get out of here. Lithriell, get the Watergate open, the rest of us will ready our ship!” Rithrynn instructed Lithriell, sending the Night Elf off to open the gate to the cove that the dockworkers had closed earlier.

Looking behind her and towards the elevator, Rithrynn would motion for the rest of her sisters to hurry up and get out of the elevator, something which seemed to be taking them a very long time!

“Aaiii!”

But a sudden, small shriek from Liaena as something burnt her hand made Rithrynn immediately turn to look down towards Liaena who was standing next to her, though not in time to see the smaller Sathrielle before she had already disappeared with Bella!

“Are you alright?” Rithrynn would ask as she looked down at Liaena.

*
“Great, I missed the battle because of you… “ Aleena would complain as she glared back down at Kathlin, the Night Elven warrior obviously none too happy about being held back, especially not because of a minor flesh wound. Gazing out from the elevator with an annoyed look, she would finally let out a defeated sigh before sheathing her scavenged Runeblade on her back.

All around them in the elevator shaft were still the rest of the Night Elven sentinels lying about, groaning in misery as they each struggled to get back up, if however very slowly. It was by far harder for the ones who had ended up on the bottom of the pile, having to suffer everything from pointy shoulderplates to grinding butts!

But as the Night Elf was about to sit, to allow Kathlin to treat her, one of Aleena’s ears would suddenly twitch!

She heard the echoes of a voice coming further down up the shaft, alongside a series of heavy clanking as something came falling down towards the. She looked up, only to see a bungled heap of bombs fall down towards them at high speed! She immediately reacted, grabbing Kathlin and pulling the girl into her and away as the heavy iron bombs crashed into the floor, rather than potentially crushing the girl’s head!

Aleena would look down at Kathlin, to see if the human was alright; before noticing Kathlin’s gaze, which was focused on the series of bombs now lying right in the middle of the shaft between them.

…

LIVE BOMBS!

“GRENADES!” Aleena would immediately cry out to the rest of her sisters in the elevator shaft!
“GET AWAY!”

Her sisters, who had originally been rather slow at getting up from the pile’o Night Elf only seconds earlier, would now suddenly react almost immediately; shooting up from the floor in a chaotic flight as they heard the word ‘grenade’, and rush towards the exit of the elevator in a flurry of pointy ears, flying hair and waving arms!

Aleena, noticing that Bella seemed to be almost be in a sort of trance as the girl stared at the fuse of the explosives intently, decided to grab the human and pull her out with her as she followed her sisters in their frenzied escape!

On the outside, Bella and Sathrielle could do little more than watch as five large, full-sized Night Elves plus one Kathin suddenly emerged from the elevator to jump and run right towards them; none of them seeming to have noticed the two tiny creatures right in the middle of their path!

Vashi was the last one to leave the elevator, only turning around to erect a magical barrier to shield her fleeing sisters.

*BOOOM!*

As the bombs went off, the fiery explosion produced by the black powder bombs would shoot out from the elevator and into the emergency barrier erected by Vashi. But the bombs had been too close, and the time to prepare had been too little, and so the explosion was only hampered ever slightly by the barrier, causing Vashi to be thrown back, alongside a good number of her sisters as they all began to fly forward through the air instead – and falling right towards Bella and Sathrielle!

[Feychild]

“Oh for Lights sake…do I have to babysit everyone!?”

Cursing and clutching her burned hand, Liaena turned to chase after Sathrielle and Bella, the former making every effort to make good her escape in the small amount of time allowed her due to the surprise attack. However, the girl barely took a few steps before she stalled, wide eyed – before starting to backpeddle, as several large, purple, Night Elf butts soared through the air towards her.

Directly in the path of the flying butts, Sathrielle also stared up at the oncoming storm as if in a trance – before collecting her sense moments before impact to vanish in a faint ‘pop’ as Bella, now left alone, twisted around to search haplessly around for her erstwhile abductor. “Noooo! Take me too! Take – “

-THUDTHUDTHUD-

In a beautiful display of accuracy on behalf of the Night Elves, Bella disappeared deep into a purple butt as a Night Elf – who happened to be Aleena – crashed down on top of her. Liaena, who had stalled a few paces away, studied the place she had once been dubiously.

“I suppose this way, I don’t have to listen to her any more. Silver lining?”

“By the Light…what just happened!?” Liam’s agitated voice came from behind her as he strode past Liaena to help up Kathlin. That girl appeared even more dishevelled than previously, but only slightly shaken as she let him pull her to her feet. “It’s all right dear. I’m used to it”

“She is” Liaena acknowledged this absently as she turned away…before swinging back with a frown. “….what’d you mean ‘dear’?”

“Hey RITHRYNN! Er…LIEUTENANT!”

One of the sentinels that had gone off to commodore ships yelled from the deck of the biggest, flashiest sailing ship in the harbour, over towards Rithrynn and the group of elves and humans. “I got us a boat! See! And a….boat driver. Do we want it?”

To demonstrate her point she held up a very ruffled sailor in her other hand, the man having apparently accepted his fate and now hung limply in her grip.

“That’s a bit…big” Liam ventured, standing just behind Rithrynn as he studied the war ship, all sails, and cannons, and requiring at least 50 men to crew it. Kathlin also followed his gaze as she stood beside him.

“Well, they are Night Elves. They’re big”

“Yes but…” Liam laboured on, anxious to make his point. “There isn’t any wind in here. How are we going to get out? Who is going to row...? …”

“……”

Liaena sighed, leaning over to speak to Liam quite slowly and elaborately, as though to a small child. “Don’t ask those kind of questions in front of the Night Elves, Gray. You might not like the answer”

[Sinerathin]

When she saw the purple storm that was more than five, full-sized Night Elves come either falling, flying or tumbling towards her and Bella; Sathrielle had no problems whatsoever leaving her hostage on her own.

"Every woman to herself!"

The shrunk battlemage would let go of the terrified Bella, and disappear in a white glimmer and mystical mist! Reappearing a couple of feet away, she'd immediately hide behind a small rock to glance back at her previous position, just in time to see a desperate and confused Bella scurry around in confusion before suddenly disappearing beneath the large rear end of the Sentinel Aleena as she slumped down on her with a crash; the apprentice then nowhere to be seen!

"Don't think I'll ever be getting that hostage back anytime soon."

Sathrielle thought to herself as she studied the chaos, before eyeing the elevator where there was now a cloud of smoke steaming out from between the gate doors.

There was, however, a dangerous amount of open ground between her current hideout and the elevator doors. She also noticed a rather rare sight, a Night Elven mage, Vashi, in the midst of the pile of Night Elves that was now sprawled nearby. Even though she was unsure exactly how lucid or aware the particular Night Elven Magi was, she did not want to risk alerting her with any sudden teleportations.

In fact, standing behind her rock, she was pretty much invisible from the rest of the people in the cove unless someone were to walk all the way up to the cave wall!

Rather than risk it in a sprint to the elevator, or a teleport that could be intervened by Vashi, perhaps the most prudent course of action would be patience. The intruders did, after all, not have the luxury of time to go search for her behind every rock and in every nook and cranny in the cove. If she waited, hopefully they would leave on their own accord...

Taking a deep breath, Sathrielle would crouch down to further reduce her visible size behind the rock and remained completely quiet - staying as motionless as possible.

[Rithy]

Chaos ensued as the group of Night Elves with Kathlin fled the explosion, before the shockwave threw them forward!

Aleena felt her feet levitate from the ground as she was soon flying through the air instead. She was completely unaware of the little Bella who was in the path of her and her sisters, at least until she landed with her butt perfectly on top of the little human, who was immediately and firmly shoved up into her rear!

"I... think I landed on something, or someone... " Aleena would groan where she sat, experimentally wriggling her butt around on the ground beneath her as she sensed the new presence in it.

"Speak for yourself!" Another one of her sisters commented, who herself was trapped under two other sentinels and trying to tear her way free!

"Who... " Aleena was about to ask, until she noticed the look that she was receiving from Liaena; the black haired girl's eyes shifting between her face and her butt.

"Ohhh... I guess that explains it."

"Girls, get off your butts and get moving! We're escaping TODAY, please!" Would Rithrynn's voice suddenly sound as she came running up to the sprawled mess of Night Elves as they were recovering from the knockdown of the blast, clapping her hands as she urged her sisters to hurry!

She did at least succeed in inspiring action, as her sisters, most still shell-shocked, began to somewhat chaotically rise all at the same time, which lead to a lot of elbowing and unnecessary knockdowns. Aleena would slowly stagger to her feet, using one of her sisters as support as she stood up. But just as she did so, Vashi, whom she had been using as support, would suddenly rise up herself, throwing her off balance!

"You shiii,-!" Aleena would exclaim in a curse, flailing with her arms as she fell to the side!

Unfortunately for the hidden Sathrielle, it was exactly towards her hiding spot that the big Night Elf was tilting! The tiny battlemage might extend her head to look up to see what was causing the expanding shadows around her, only in time to see Aleena's two big, purple buttocks before she crashed down on her with a thud; with Sathrielle immediately vanishing again, but this time, straight up Aleena's butt!

"Elune!" Aleena would gasp as she felt the tiny thing as it was forcefully shoved up into her rear, before looking down. Just sitting there for a moment, sensing the wriggling and commotion that was now coming from inside her, Aleena would close her eyes.

"Patience, patience... "

Standing up, this time without being knocked down, Aleena would bend herself forward as she rested her hands on her knees. After a short pause, she would suddenly clench her butt before immediately straightened herself back up! The ensuing motion caused both Sathriella and Bella to both be pushed deeper up into her ass, and a satisfied smile appeared on Aleena's face.

"Much better... " She muttered to herself, before happily following her sisters who were already on their way up on board their newly commissioned ship, all the while happily swinging her hips side to side!

"Ready the sails, cut the ropes! We have long since exceeded our welcome in this place!" Rithrynn kept shouting to her sisters, content with merely watching and doing 'officer-thingies' all the while leaving the real physical work to her sisters! The 'commissioned' captain was at the wheel, whilst enjoying the company of two Night Elves both aiming their bows at his neck!

"Get us out of her." Rithrynn would shout angrily as she walked up to the Captain, who cowered before her as she angrily waved her elven sword about dangerously close to the man!

"N-no one's in the steam engine room, ma'am! We can't move without steam!" The terrified man whimpered as he tried to put as much distance between him and Rithrynn's blade, all the while trying to not get shot by the other two Night Elves surrounding him!

"Vashi, you do... whatever, with the engine." Rithrynn turned to Vashi, ordering her to go down below. As the ever loyal magi nodded and ran off, Rithrynn was left looking after the wind of cloth strips that marked Vashi's departure down into the bowels of the ship, before turning to Liaena.

While no one was looking, Rithrynn would carefully lean down towards Liaena, to whisper into her ear.

"What's an 'engine'?"

[Feychild]

Scrutinising the massive battleship that the Night Elves had seen fit to commandeer, Liaena looked up to give Rithrynn a sweet smile. “It’s what I’m going to go and fix”

“…Right”

Peering after the human as Liaena disappeared below deck after Vashi with a distinctly purposeful touch to her stride, Rithrynn turned back to the deck to see Kathlin and Liam with a coil of rope, the former fashioning a safety line to tether themselves both to the mast.

*

Heading down into the belly of the ship close on Vashi’s heels, Liaena emerged into a large room with a huge furnace set into one wall. Mounds of coal sat to one side in huge crates, and pipes lined all the walls and ceiling of the cavernous room. The Night Elf stood in front of the open door to the furnace, bending down to peer experimentally into the interior. “Sooooo…fire. Fire is good?”

“Steam. Steam is good” Liaena corrected the elf as she peered up at the large boiler set above the furnace. “Give me a boost, would you?”

Peering down at the little human quizzically, Vashi eventually shrugged her shoulders as she bent down to pick up Liaena effortlessly, lifting her up to one of the valves leading into the boiler. Unbolting it, Liaena leaned in with one arm until her fingers touched the cold dampness of the interior. “Well, it’s full, at least”

“Why would you build a ship, and then put water in it? You humans make no sense…” Vashi muttered, still holding Liaena as she carefully produced a vial out of Rithrynn’s bag, studied the writing on it and then uncorked it to pour it into the tank. And then another. And another. “Waddya doing?”

“Lowering the boiling point” Liaena said conversationally as she slammed the valve shut and bolted it, then slid down the Night Elf to point into the forge. “Now, how about a fireball? Right there please?”

“…..”

Studying the little girl for a moment, the indignity of being ordered around by a human was eclipsed by the promise of fire and boom as a smile lit up the elfs face like a schoolgirl and she stabbed a finger into the centre of the forge before snapping her fingers. Fire blossomed from her fingers and filled the inside of the metal cavity as Liaena slammed the door on it, filling the forge with the heat of a raging fire in a moment. 90% of whatever diluted chemical concoction that now filled the tank above vaporised in a moment, followed by the additional 10% a moment later as the tank, as well as the pipes that filled the room started to groan and buckle under the pressure.

“What’s going on? How come we’re not moving?”

Vashi muttered, the elf looking more like a lost puppy as she stared around the engine room of the ship that was indeed, going nowhere. Liaena wandered over to a control panel containing a lever that contained an array of settings including ‘full reverse, neutral, full ahead’ and multiple different options in between. It was currently set to ‘neutral’ as she gripped the handle firmly to shove it right into the ‘full ahead” option. “Cuz I haven’t given permission yet”

“Wut?”

*CLANK*

-VWOOOOSH-

[Rithy]

As the engines beneath the hull began to come to life and make the entire ship shake, back on top of the deck, Rithrynn and her sisters were looking rather nerveously around.

"Why is the boat shaking?!" Aleena asked, throwing Rithrynn a confused look.
"Is it an earthquake?! But there's no waves in here!"

"FIRE! FIRE! THE SHIP IS ON FIRE!" Lithriell would suddenly announce loudly across the ship as the sentinel stood a few feet away from them on the deck, whilst pointing frantically up at one of the large pipes running from the ship's engines as large, pitch-black clouds of ash and sot were being belched out into the air from them.

"Don't let the snake go anywhere; I will go and kill this 'engine' thing!" Rithrynn proclaimed as she pointed with her sword at the captured White Hand Captain who was still huddling at the wheel.

"N-N-NO-NO-NONO! T-thisthisthis... this is quite normal!" The man tried to speak while holding out a hand towards Rithrynn.
"She got the engine running! This means we can leave! If you would only let me,-"

-WWOOOOSH-

But before the man could continue, the whole ship would suddenly accelerate on the spot! The sudden movement was enough to throw everyone on deck off their feet and backwards, all except the Captain who managed to cling to the wheel while his two captors around him were thrown on their butts! The paddlewheels at the back of the ship were now rotating at full speed, plunging the ship forward!

A series of cracking could be heard as the ship crashed into a portion of the dock, tearing the pier to splinters and throwing almost three tonne of planks and crates into the sea! Another series of smaller sailing vessels docked nearby were also crushed to firewood as the steampowered battleship drove straight through them!

The Captain was desperately trying to steer the ship towards the exit of the cove, which was no easy task due to the size of the ship, the smallness of the actual cove, and not to mention the great speed at which they were traveling.

Turning to a small horn at the side of the wheel leading down into the engine room, the Captain would shout down into it!

"S-slow down, or we'll crash! It's too tight in here!"

[Sinerathin]

A flicker of light appeared on the deck, as if a gateway to another dimension had just opened; made up from pure energy. Stepping out of it and onto the wooden deck of the frigate was Captain Blastwit, accompanied by a masked Battlemage of the White Hand.

"Garrison Captain Blastwit, welcome aboard the Siren's Wail."

Standing in front of him; next to the first mate occupying the ship's steering wheel; was the ship's Captain Sebastian Horrowschmidt, a clear eyed and well dressed young man who wore his blonde hair in a slick hairstyle across his head. His attire consisted of a heavy, white and gold Captain's trenchoat over silver chainmail. His appearance was the very representation of cleanliness and hygiene, as not a single speck of dirt could be seen on his entire person.

"The ship is in position, and I have coordinated with the Galleon 'Aegis' and Cruiser 'Nephelim' of the Royal Stormwind Navy to assist us in our blockade and closing off the harbor." Sebastian reported as Captain Blastwit walked up to him, before the man turned to motion towards the reef beneath Honor's Watch. Or, more specifically, the entrance to the cove where they could see that the watergate had been lifted.

The frigate called Siren's Wail, with its metal reinforced eagle-shaped front hull and steampowered hind engines, was turned with its broadside towards the hull, pointing at least 32 of its 64 cannons at the cove entrance. All around them were the Aegis and Nephilim with their blue sails from the stormwind navy, who were also pointing over eighty cannons at the entrance.

"Fortunately, the sun is on our side this day." Blastwit noted as he looked out to the horizon, where the sun was already rising up into the sky. The darkness of the night had passed around the dock, giving way to the early morning light and revealing the waters around Honor's Watch.

"The enemy's force is presumed to be around ten to twenty men large, and are trapped in the cove. They may try to requisition one of the lesser boats. Our orders are to fire upon and sink any vessel that leaves that cave until ordered otherwise by the Garrison Command."

"I understand. All cannons are loaded, and our men are in position to fire. Our allies are ready as well." Sebastian reported, standing next to Blastwit as the two men walked over to the railing of the Siren's Wail.
"But, if I may ask... if what I heard is true, that the Grandmaster is dead; who's organizing our defense?"

"Light if I know, some close, civilian friend of the Grandmaster. Kicked the ass of one of the intruders when we were in a pinch." Blastwit explained as he leaned his arms on the wooden railing. Sebastian looked at him for a moment, before turning to gaze towards the entrance of the cove as well.

"Ah... well, that answers my question then." Sebastian said with a thoughtful expression.

[Feychild]

“Ehhhh….that’s never going to work. Sorry” Kathlin said consolingly to the Captain, who was turning steadily more and more pale as his frantic orders were met with nothing but silence and the ship continued to churn through the waves at top speed towards the exit to the cove.

“He’s right! We’re going to crash…” Liam groaned as he watched the rocky walls loom closer and closer. Kathlin stepped up beside him to follow his gaze.

“Hm. I wonder if this would count as shielding the ship, or shielding the wall”

“What?”

Thrusting out a hand, a glimmering shield appeared between the prow and the rock wall. Kathlin was promptly knocked back with a jerk that appeared to wind her as with a loud squeal the boat crashed into it, sliding along the smooth barrier rather than the tearing out huge chunks of its side on the craggy rock wall to plunge into the tunnel. The shield flickered out of existence as Liam supported his companion, eying askance another corner that was looming fast as he braced himself. “Well…this is going to hurt”

-BANG-

-BONK-

-SQUEEEEEEAAAAALL – BANG!-

“FULL STEAM AHEAD!”

Liaena screamed as she came flying up from below decks, Vashi hard on her heels, the elf would have been well ahead if not for the uncomfortably low ceilings. “Rithy! Rithy! I found an Engine!”

“YES THANKYOU, I NOTICED!” Liam roared back at her. Both of the priests were looking decidedly the worse for wear at this point, with Kathlin in particular struggling to keep her balance. “We can’t take much more of this!”

“We…we’re nearly out” the captain gasped. The man looked torn between resigning himself to death and clinging desperately to life as the exit to the cove loomed in front of him. Then, he saw what lay outside and promptly decided on the former. “No no no, wait! Wait! Hostage! Hostage!!”

“Ramming speed. I heard ramming speed” Liaena mused to herself as she stared out at their welcoming committee, before turning around to look at Rithrynn. “Target acquired, Rithy?”