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

[Sinerathin]

Sharon gazed back up at Rithrynn for a couple of moments, his eyes racing over happy features on her face.

Although his old, natural instincts shouted out the obvious warning signs; the High Elf slowly nodded, before smiling back at Rithrynn.

"Of course," Sharon confirmed, making an attempt to move; yet Rithrynn's solid grip prevented him from doing much. Staring back at the Night Elf, Sharon eventually motioned towards a set of sofas and table at the side of the room.
"Why don't you find yourself a seat over there, and I will get some light up in this room? I really did not expect anyone at this hour."

---

"If you hadn't been so damnable lucky with the appearance of that elf, you'd have been MINE!" Sounded Astrid's angry voice from the bag as it shuffled around, much to Donald's discomfort as he was on the bottom.

Doin furrowed his brows at the bag, intrigued by the unusual sight. There was a lot he did not know about Liaena, yet he learned something new every time he met her.

"Say'e, there shouldn't be annea problem with ye spendin' a night over. We got more rooms than we can fill, and we usually don't rent them out to just anybody; this being guild property and all." Doin finally said, giving Liaena a smile as he picked up his pipe.
"After all, the boss owe me some favors. I'll get ye tha finest room we have available!"

"Hopefully without any overgrown fairies breaking in through the windows this time." Frarn mentioned jokingly as he walked up next to his father. However, the two dwarves paused as their eyes drifted over to Kathlin, in Liaena's form; who was currently standing in the room.
"Is that a friend of yours?"

Doin peered over to Kathlin, before chuckling.

"I'm pretty sure she is, son. After all, who in their right mind would ever trust their own image in the hands of someone they didn't trust absolutely? Hah!"

[Rithy]

Rithrynn continued to peer back at Sharon for a couple of moments after he asked her. With a soft smile, she subtly nodded with her head as she removed her hands from him.

"Okay... " The Sentinel spoke, before stepping over to the nearby sofa. It was a rare thing to have Liaena away and Sharon still in the house, seeing as the nosy human usually didn't let Sharon get far away from her notice. In one sense, the attack from the mysterious assassins was a good thing as it finally took Liaena's paranoia away from Rithrynn and over to them.

As she walked over to the sofa, she brushed off some of the snow flakes that still remained on her cloak from the outside, before extending her butt and slumping it down into the cushioning embrace of the sofa.

"Have you been up here by yourself for a long time?" Rithrynn asked as she had become comfortable in the couch, allowing her eyes to trail back to the High Elf in her room.
"I hope the assassins are not forcing you into solitude... "

Rithrynn said as she gave Sharon a sympathetic look through the room, while fiddling with her gloves in the meantime as she removed them and placed them, alongside her Sentinel bracers, onto the table before her.

[Sinerathin]

"Oh, no. I wouldn't worry about that." Sharon answered confidently as the High Elf turned to the candles around in the room.

Pulling his arm out from under his cloak, he held his hand up in the air for a moment. Conjoining his thumb and ring finger, Sharon uttered a silent a silent spell. Snapping his fingers, half a dozen small lights suddenly ignited around the study, partly illuminating the room and chasing away some of the shadows around the corner where Rithrynn was.

"Greymoon and the others were here not long ago... " Sharon explained with a smirk as he ventured over to his office desk to retrieve the half empty bottle of wine and two glasses from his secret stash.
" at least... before I fell asleep, that was... how long was I out??"

Sharon paused for a moment as the High Elf simply stared up in the direction of the room as he tried to remember.

Unable to, the High Elf shrugged and merely let out a light chuckle before he continued over to Rithrynn. "Doesn't matter... "

Reaching the sofas and the table, he placed the wine alongside the two glasses down onto it, before looking at Rithrynn with a friendly smile.

"Can I offer you something to drink?" He asked as he picked the bottle up again and attempted to remove the cork. Yet Greymoon, being the last one to seal it, had pushed the cork so far down into the bottle that it was almost impossible to get a proper grip around it. Still attempting to grab it, the High Elf tried and failed a couple of times to pull it out before giving up. Grimacing at the bottle, he turned back to Rithrynn and smiled again at her.

"Also, I fear your sisters may not view me in the same light as you, Rithrynn. Light, they are... well, I mean you are rather tolerant. Relatively speaking." Sharon chuckled as he motioned at Rithrynn.
"I even wonder what they'd think about you being in my office. Would they even consent to that?"

[Rithy]

"They cannot complain about something they know anything nothing about." Rithrynn smirked back at Sharon, the Sentinel confident in the fact that her sisters knew nothing of the fact that she was currently with Sharon.

Standing up, Rithrynn reached out to take the wine bottle from Sharon that he was struggling with. Creating a solid grip around the persistent cork, she forcefully removed it from the opening of the bottle with one swift, powerful motion.

"And yes, I will not say no... " She leered at the High Elf as the Sentinel lowered the bottle to pour both of the glasses. Placing the bottle back at the table, Rithrynn picked up the glasses, one for her and one for Sharon, both filled almost to the brim with a plentiful abundance of wine in them. Handing one glass to Sharon and keeping the other for herself, Rithrynn stepped closer to the High Elf as she smiled broadly down at him at him.

"It is just us here. Forget about my sisters. They are surely entertained enough by themselves and the abundance of food you have given them. Focus instead on the moment at hand, that which Elune has blessed us with... " Rithrynn winked slyly at Sharon as she took a sip of her glass of wine.

[Sinerathin]

Sharon peered up at Rithrynn with an observant gaze.

The Night Elf had quite literally left any notion of subtlety or attempts at intrigue at the door, and made no observable effort to hide her blaring intentions from the High Elf. Or if she was trying to hide them, was doing a phenomenally bad job at it.
But, given that this was no other ringer than Rithrynn herself, it was to be expected. At the very least, it was a massive improvement over her previous attempts to approach him, which had been far more... direct.

Chuckling softly at the thought, he returned Rithrynn's luring smile with a smile of his own; before raising his glass.

"To the moment then, Rithrynn." Sharon said, before taking a long sip from his own glass. Wondering how he was going to deal with the situation, he knew he could not accept Rithrynn's approach, because of Liaena.

It was not the little girl's reaction to him should she learn that he had spent a night in secret with Rithrynn that worried him. Rather, he was more concerned about what kind of retaliation she would enact against Rithrynn. If Liaena should come to learn that her best friend was zeroing in on him, then by all reckoning, it did not seem implausible that Rithrynn would risk ending so far up Serphia's ass that it was questionable whether they'd even see her again before the end of the year.

Moving his right arm around Rithrynn's waist, Sharon moved up to suddenly give the Night Elf a light kiss on her lips before smiling at her handsomely.

"I like you Rithrynn, but I am afraid we can't go any further with this. Although I cherish your company, my true love lies with Liaena." Sharon explained in a cool manner, giving Rithrynn a sympathetic nod at the end of his last sentence.

[Rithy]

Rithrynn's face, which had lighted itself up like a firework of happy emotions; immediately took a complete turn for the worse at Sharon's words.

Her smile turning into a frown, the Night Elf becoming quiet. Suddenly letting go of her glass as if she had completely forgotten about its existence, let alone the existence of anything else, she allowed it to fall to the ground and shatter into a thousand little pieces before she moved closer to Sharon, moving her arms around him as she gazed down into his eyes with a blank stare.

"But... but she's just a human." Rithrynn said with a meek voice, holding Sharon tightly.
"You will outlive her by the ages!"

"It doesn't make sense. He doesn't make sense!"

Seemingly shifting between confusion and sadness, Rithrynn suddenly released the High Elf from her grip before stepping away. Throwing Sharon a last gaze, she promptly turned around before quickly leaving the room, shoving the doors aside as she left!

On the outside, she ran headfirst into Shani who was passing by the office. The Sentinel immediately stopped to throw a puzzled gaze at Rithrynn who had just emerged from Sharon's dimly lit candled office, raising a finger to ask her.

"Have you seen the little assassin? ... oh, and what were you doi,- hurrrgghhk!" Shani suddenly wheezed as Rithrynn had launched a lightning fast fist up into her lower abdomen, stunning the sentinel whom bent forward with a painful moan, before toppling down into the carpet while Rithrynn marched away through the corridor, without having uttered as much as a single word.

[Feychild]

“’If’, ‘If’. I didn’t know such highly trained professionals needed to make excuses” Liaena remarked mockingly at the satchel. Whether or not Astrid might have a point about the Night Elves consistently bailing her out of confrontations with the assassins, she conveniently chose to ignore. In her mind at least, she was victor over both.

Kathlin pulled a weak grimace at Doins words, before looking over at the other girl pointedly. “Yeah….you’d have to be really stupid to do something like that. Liaena.”

Distracted by her satchel, Liaena spared her a brief glance. “What? I do trust you”

“…Anyway. I guess I’m sticking around for a while too, if that’s okay with you guys” Kathlin mumbled after a pause. Looking over at Doin and Fran, she gave them a shrug and a faint smile. As always, it was drastically unlike any facial expression Liaena would pull. “At least ‘til I find out whether I’m on Stormwinds Most Wanted yet –“

“—Good idea. You should go and sort out our rooms. Go on, shoo” Liaena butted in loudly and cheerfully. Pushing Kathlin stubbornly towards the door, she steered the two dwarfs that way as well by virtue of positioning herself to slowly shift them back and plenty of smiles and good cheer. “Could you give me a few minutes? There’s something I need to sort out. I’ll come down and join you when I’m done, if that’s okay with you guys. Let me know if any more elves show up”

-SLAM-

With that, Kathlin found herself very succinctly on the opposite side of the heavy wooden door, along with a somewhat bemused Doin and Fran.

*

Inside the room, Liaena’s smile had melted away the moment she was left alone. Turning the table –dwarven height, so closer to a coffee table by any human standards – the right way, she pulled a chair up to it. Sitting down and placing her satchel on her lap, she opened it to feel around inside until she found the cloth bag that was alive. Untying the top, she yanked out Astrid and set her on the tabletop before tying a tight knot in the top again and throwing it back into her satchel with Donald still inside.

“Hi again.”

Leaning forward, one of her arms encircled the satchel possessively as she smiled at the little woman. It was not at all a nice smile, with a distinct tinge of malice to it. “…So, are you two dating, or something? You seem very close”

[Sinerathin]

Sharon appeared in the doorway to his office, the High Elf's gaze shifting between Shani who was lying on the floor, and Rithrynn's cloak just as she vanished around a corner at the end of the corridor.

"That... could have gone smoother."

He contemplated, thinking back on the situation.
He had by no means expected Rithrynn to take the rejection lightly, at best suspect that she was merely toying with the possibility of there ever being a potential for a real love interest between them. However, he had not quite expected the complete silence and quiet outburst that she had displayed, something that Shani had been made to feel the consequences of.

"Is that your grip fading, sir?" Suddenly sounded the dry voice of Friedrick, asking Sharon. The High Elf gazed to the other side to see Friedrick approach him, the butler ever so vigilant when it came to watching over the affairs within the house. A small frown formed on Sharon's lips, as he gently chewed on his gum before replying.

"More like dodging a bullet." Sharon said, before holding up the pair of gloves that Rithrynn had left behind in the room. Handing them over to Friedrick, Sharon gave his butler a look.
"Could you return these to her? She left them behind."

Accepting the gloves, Friedrick made a light bow to Sharon.

"I will see if I can't find her in a better mood when I do." Friedrick stated. But as the butler was about to leave, he suddenly paused as he looked down at Shani who was still writhing around in pain on the ground.

"Is there any way of which I can be of service to you, madam?"

---

"Fuck. You." Astrid stated defiantly as she pointed her finger accusingly back up at Liaena's large face that was lurking over her.
"You have no business asking that!"

Astrid screamed out loudly, jumping up and down as she did. She had no desire to share that information with Liaena. If the overgrown midget learnt that she had any kind of affection for Donald, she might use him as a leverage against him.
And with her being the size of a finger, the last thing she needed was Liaena to use Donald against her as well!

"This is about you. And me. So leave him out of it!"

---

"Quite a quirky lass that one, innit?" Frarn commented as he studied the door in front of them. Doin passed a look over to him, before he chuckled lightheartedly.

"She's no ordinary girl, that's for sure." Donald said cheerfully, before the trio eventually turned around as they walked through the corridor.
"She may have a heart of gold, but she's got a mind as whacky as a bat. Not that I don't appreciate it, but I ain't imagening her prancing around the market like the other girls, looking for clothes."

"You know her, don't you?" Frarn eventually asked as he gazed over to Kathlin.
"Do you,-"

*CRASH*

But the question was interrupted as in front of them in the hallway, a window on the side was suddenly broken as a rock packed in a newspaper article soared through it, smashing into the wall on the other side before falling to the ground.

"What in tha great forges of Ironforge!" Doin exclaimed, before the dwarf rushed up to the window to see who had thrown the rock. Gazing out across the small square outside, the snowfall had simmered down, making it easier to see. In the darkness of the night, Doin managed to see two young men, wearing white cloaks and black, padded leather armor and chainmail.

"DON'T YA READ YOUR NEWS, VANNIE?"
"YOU'RE SCREWED, HAHA!"

They shouted up at the window where Doin had appeared. Furious, Doin opened the window before leaning out of it.

"YER LITTLE PRICKS; IF YE DON'T RUN, I'LL COME DOWN THERE; TEAR OFF YER HEADS AND SHIT DOWN YER NECKS!"

"BOOOOOO!"

Pulling his head back from the window, Doin turned towards Frarn and Kathlin, muttering "Fracking lillies... ".

"Bring me mah shoota, boy. The one with the pepper and rocks." Doin ordered Frarn, who quickly turned around and ran off to get the blunderbuss. With a tired expression on his face, Doin let out a deep sigh before he threw a Kathlin an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry about this, the stupid White Hand are acting up again. I hate those twats."

[Rithy]

Marching through the corridors to her room, Rithrynn went inside before slamming the damaged door shut; causing its battered hinges to clank with misery as the whole wooden structure reverberated.

Once inside, she paused for a moment; before stepping to the side and throwing her fists into the wall!

"Bad move. Stupid move! Why did I even try in the first place?!"

Muttering a series of curses in Darnassian under her breath, Rithrynn knocked her forehead into the wall before turning still. What had she really expected to happen? She knew Sharon and Liaena were deeply entrenched in their relationship. Without any sudden, major changes; what were her chances anyway?!

Biting her lips, she eventually moved away from the wall and the dent she had made in it. After all, she still had another choice; Sherpa. Liaena had Sharon, so what wrong was it that she could have Sherpa? Liaena would obviously not consent to it, but she didn't need to know. She wouldn't know, being far away in that dwarven alehouse, which probably housed some of her relatives if one were to judge by their height.

"Fine then... I still have paths left to walk." Rithrynn muttered to herself, before she returned her gaze towards the door to her room. But as she was about to open it, she paused for a moment; as she had felt a wet patch running down her cheek. Realizing that a tear had escaped her eye, the Sentinel froze, before calmly moving a finger up to her face and removing it.
But as she opened the door and walked out of the room, she suddenly saw a pair of gloves lying outside of her door.

It was her gloves!

" ... I left them!"

Picking them up, she looked around but she couldn't see anyone in the corridor. Was it Sharon who had returned them to her? Staring down at them for a moment, she eventually put them on. She didn't know why, but it made her feel happy, and not just because she had gotten them back.
Walking through the corridors, she headed down towards the atrium, a soft smile now having appeared on her face.

[Feychild]

Liaena studied the angry little Astrid, the girl wearing a clear I-am-not-impressed expression all over her face. “Oh, come on. We’re really going to do this again? I would have thought at least one of you would have some sense”

Looking down on the satchel on her lap, Liaena bounced it up and down gently on her knees, a move that would likely cause Donald trapped inside some considerable discomfort. “I already know you two mean something to each other. You want him back, he presumably wants you, I don’t want either of you or any more idiots trying to kill my boyfriend. So why can’t we come to some accord where we all get what we want? I can negotiate”

Gazing down at Astrid, Liaena’s tone took a noticeably colder edge. “…Or, you can just go and do what Esmeralda did, and piss me off further. You’ve done a decent job of it so far…but I really wouldn’t advise it”

*

“That’s okay” Kathlin said lightly as she edged cautiously down the corridor, keeping a sharp look out for any more flying rocks coming in from the windows. “So who are the White Hand?”

Reaching the rock, the girl crouched down to start carefully dislodging the newspaper that was crumpled around it, shaking away shards of glass as she did so. Smoothing out the page and beginning to read, Frarn ran up again with a wooden blunderbuss with a trumpet-shaped head to the barrel. Handing it to his father, Doin leaned out of the window to spray out a rapid volley of uneven pebbles and gravel on the figures down below.

BLAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM

“ARGH!”

“FUCK YOU, MAAAAAN!”

Withdrawing the blunderbuss from the window as running footsteps faded, Doin handed it back to Fran with a snort and a shake of his head. “yellow pisspot lilies”

“Excuse me, Mister…?”

Looking behind them, Kathlin stood there; wearing an apologetic look as she held the scrap of newspaper out to them. “I think I was pretending I knew your names and so I never got them. You might wanna see this”

[Sinerathin]

“You may have killed Esmeralda, but that doesn’t frighten me!” Astrid called out defiantly with a furious voice, waving her arm up towards Liaena.
“I will not submit to your threats, bitch!”

“Offhh, can’t we just consider it?” Suddenly sounded the rather muffled voice of Donald from the bag on Liaena’s lap.
“If it’s a parley you want, I consent!”

“Are you mad?!” Astrid screeched back, her gaze falling momentarily down upon the satchel that Donald was still trapped in.
“We can’t trust her!”

“No, but this isn’t getting us anywhere!”

Biting her lips, Astrid turned her head to glare back up at Liaena with a look of utter distrust. However, before she found the tolerance to formulate some words that was not swearing to the other girl, the sound of gunshots from a rifle could suddenly be heard from the corridor outside; which made Astrid instinctively twist her head towards the door, before glancing back up at Liaena.

“Did you take us to some kind of gun club or is that a reason for us to be worried?”

---

“What is it, lass?” Doin asked as he threw a worried look towards the paper in Kathlin’s hands. Walking up to the girl, the dwarf extended his hand to take the piece of crumpled paper from her and stretched it out to read it. Behind him, Frarn stood on his toes behind his father to peer over his shoulders and down on the newspaper.

In between numerous advertisements, job-openings and fashion tips stood a large title written in bold letters, reading: “Advisor of Treasure, high ranking member of Stormwind Royal bank murdered last night!”.

“Last night? Was it yesterday?”

“No, son. It happened just few hours ago. Fresh print.”

“It’s four in the mornin’!”

“Seems they brought us an exclusive… how very considerate of them.“ Doin mumbled, scoffing at the text as he continued to read out loud; “He was found dead in his private quarters, by his own wife who was spared by the assassins. ‘No one came in or out!’ says Captain Ragnar, who was the hired mercenary of the Red Vanguard assigned to protect him. On questions regarding if he is accusing the wife of involvement, he had no further comments… well shit.“

“Why didn’t we hear anything about this sooner?!” Frarn asked, and Doin shook his head.

“I have no idea. We need to tell the rest!”

“What’s going on out here?” Suddenly sounded another pair of voices from outside the window, as the Red Vanguard officers and members at the first floor had stepped outside. In front of the Guild Alehouse, where the two younger White Hands had stood, now saw no less than almost a dozen white cloaks gathering outside. The men and women were all mounted on horses, donned in black leather armor and shining silver platemail armor. Some of them had their white hoods pulled over their heads, with their faces hidden behind stainless steel masks.

Facing towards the doorway where the Red Vanguard members had emerged from, one of the black haired riders, apparently the leader; trodded forward as he raised his hand.

“Good evening, Master Glacus.” Called Sevarian from his steed, the darkcaster wearing a white cloak around him similar to the rest of the people in his company. Beneath his cloak he wore a stainless cuirass and shoulderplates over some expensive black silk robes. The man beckoned towards the older guildmaster of the Red Vanguard, a man in his early sixties called Renhard Glacus. Upon being called out, Glacus narrowed his gaze at Sevarian.

“What do you want? It’s the middle of the night. Have you no notion of space and time?!” Glacus called back, and Sevarian hummed on a light laughter.

“Perhaps we don’t, but perhaps it’s also for the better. If you hadn’t been sleeping, dear Mister Longbarrel might not have been dead.” Sevarian smiled, before leaning a little forward on his steed as he noticed the surprise that mixed with the suspicious looks on the faces of the Vanguard members.
“Or don’t you read the news?”

“Dead? If something had happened, I would be the first to know!” Glacus stated, throwing Sevarian a slightly confused look.

Sevarian, looking rather amused by Glacus' reply; turned to his nearest compatriot standing next to him. The iron masked rider pulled a news article out from beneath his cloak, the very same article that Doin just had read, before throwing it down into the snow covered pebblestone street. The Vanguard officers looked down at it, as one of them stepped forward to pick the article up before returning to the group where they all gathered around it to look.

A moment passed, before Glacus; now with a grim look on his face; turned to look back at Sevarian who was still on his mount.

“Have you come all this way just to gloat, or do you actually have anything of value to say?” Glacus asked as he cast Sevarian a dark stare. Sevarian took a few moments to answer, staring back at Glacus with a sly smile.

“Though I might carry dark tidings, I also carry advice.” He finally said, looking out across the Vanguard members.
“It would be better if you looked for jobs elsewhere. It is no secret that Stormwind has become too competitive for you to thrive, no… survive. If you cannot even protect your top clients, who would hire you?”

“Are you doubting our skill? If so, let’s have a duel; your man against mine! I will not tolerate your lot coming on our turf and insulting us like this!” Glacus shouted back, pointing at Sevarian where he stood as anger filled the old man!

[Rithy]

Traveling through one of the many corridors of Sharon's mansion in the lower levels, Rithrynn listened for the sound of cheer and celebration that came from the atrium and the living room. The party seemed to be finally exhausting, something she could guess from the fact that it wasn't as loud as it was before. Which by no means meant that it was quiet, however, as Rithrynn felt quite relieved that none of Sharon's neighbors had filed any complaints yet.

Upon reaching her destination, the guest room that had been turned into a makeshift den for her warband's nightsabers, Rithrynn met Ashei outside the door.

"Rithrynn?" Ashei suddenly asked as she noticed Rithrynn, and the sentinel threw her a confused look.
"What are you doing here?"

"I need Nisha. Now."

"But I just finished with her!" Ashei complained, and Rithrynn merely stared back at her.

"Lieutenant business. And I said now!"

Looking on the verge of defeat, Ashei let out a sigh while mumbling something beneath her breath. Opening the door once more, Ashei gazed in to see Nisha, the nightsaber finally having conquered the queen sized bed back from her competitors. But as Ashei whistled at her, she let out of growl of complaint.
Upon hearing this, Rithrynn's head appeared in the door as well, and she pointed straight at Nisha.

"If you don't come with me this instant, you'll spend the rest of your stay outside!"

Rithrynn warned, and Nisha growled gain. But eventually, the Nightsaber, although with great hesitation and reluctance, leaped down from the bed and prowled towards the door. The moment she left the bed, the other nightsabers immediately leaped into the air, and thus began yet another battle for the queen sized bed, with bits and pieces of cloth and feathers flying everywhere as the giant felines fought between eachother for dominance!

*

Arriving in the frozen gardens in front of the house, having finally saddled and readied Nisha, Rithrynn threw a quick look behind her to make sure no one was following before she retrieved a note from her satchel.

It was the note she had received from Sherpa, and the Night Elf squinted down at it as she read through the High Elf's regal handwriting.

"32rd Eternal Sun street... I have no idea where that is but it can't be that hard to find!"

Mounting Nisha, Rithrynn proceeded to the garden gate where Falaani still stood; the watcher halfway buried in snow as she huddled together by the iron gate. Upon seeing Rithrynn, she turned to give her an almost pleading look.

"Are you my relief?"

"No, I'm just heading out. Lieutenant business!"

"By Elune, have they forgotten about me?!" Falaani shouted, and Rithrynn simply smiled.

"Noooo.... your relief is coming. Just hang in there." Rithrynn said as Falaani, however disgruntled, opened the gate. Passing through it, Rithrynn paused to look back at Falaani on the other side before she waved.
"Try not to lose your cool!"

"Screw you!"

"Heh... " Rithrynn giggled playfully to herself, before turning to look back at the street. Despite her stay in Stormwind, the streets never ceased to confuse her. Taking a vague guess from her memory of the Cathedral district, Rithrynn charged off to the north. She didn't know for how long Sherpa's offer stood, but reasoned with that it was better late than never!

[Feychild]

Liaena’s head had also turned quickly towards the door when the volley of gunshots had echoed through the room. The stillness of the night made the silence afterwards stretch out even longer with no additional shots. “That’s either good…or really, really bad”

“….”

“Looks like we’re going to have to take a break, I’m afraid. You guys can have a chat, and actually agree on something first” Liaena informed the diminutive Astrid lightly. Swooping down, she picked up the small human to drop her back into the sock and into her satchel. “I’lll probably talk to your boyfriend next time, anyway. He seems more sensible”

“That came from the corridor…”

Turning her back on the door, Liaena looked up at the wreckage of the skylight before dragging over a chair and using it as a legup to get a foot on one of the broken beams. Hoisting herself up, she carefully avoided the broken glass as she crawled through the hole and onto the roof above. Accidentally bashing her elbow and knees on broken tiles as she clambered through the narrow gap, she grimaced as glass poked through her clothing. “Ugh. Being bigger is actually kind of annoying”

“….”

“I can’t believe I just thought that”

Much of the snow on the part of the roof she eventually pulled herself onto had already been shaken off by the activities of Night Elves earlier. Remaining crouched over and staying as close to the roof as she could, Liaena crept towards the side of the building that faced the main street, the area that distant shouting was now emanating from. Reaching the ridgeline in the roof, she huddled in the shadow of the building as she looked down at the drama that was developing down below.

*

“….That escalated quickly” Kathlin mumbled quietly as she looked down at the events taking place from their vantage point of the window. Glancing over at the two dwarves, they both appeared enraptured by what was going on down below. “Could I see that paper again?”

Upon receiving no response whatsoever, the girl reached over to carefully disentangle the paper from Doins clenched hands. Smoothing it out to read out, her brow creased as she scanned the lines rapidly. “It doesn’t say how he died. Why doesn’t it say how he died? Surely it’d be a giveaway as to who did it whether he was stabbed, or poisoned, or…”

Glancing up to catch Frarn looking her way, the girl gave a little embarrassed shrug. “…It’s kind of an important point to leave out. Ehm.”

Clearing her throat self-consciously, Kathlin glanced between Frarn and Doin quizzically. “So are either of you two going to be duelling?”

[Sinerathin]

The two Dwarves stared up at Kathlin for moment, before they both broke into a light laughter.

"The Big Fox has quite a temper, lassie. You can bet your porkchops he'll keep any promise of trashing anyone messing on our property!" Doin exclaimed with a jolly tone, before Frarn commented on the sideline.

"Aye, and Big Fox, that's Glacus. Our boss, the old guy down there." Frarn explained as he pointed down to the ground where Glacus stood, who was currently shouting back at the white cloaks in front of the alehouse.

"We better get down there, kid. The boss will want every lad outside!" Doin said, before the elderly dwarf turned and marched towards the stairs:
"Ya don't 'ave to come, miss, but don't worry: nothing's gonna happen to ye here. This is the Van's big house!"

---

Sevarian quietly observed the raging Glacus for a moment after having received the challenge. The darkcaster seemed to be in a process of contemplation as he casually gazed around at the crowd that had gathered outside the alehouse, consisting of members of the White Cloaks and the Red Vanguard.

"Very well. I would not turn down such a challenge... " Sevarian finally said, a smirk appearing on his face. Turning to look at the masked rider next to him, Sevarian nodded in his direction. The rider's face was hidden behind an iron mask, with only two dark visors. The rider slowly bowed to Sevarian, before taking one foot over the horse's head and dropped to the ground next to it, his steel boots crunching the snow beneath them as they landed, and he turned towards Glacus and the Red Vanguard members.

As he approached them, the two dwarves, Doin and Frarn, appeared in the doorway of the alehouse as they walked out onto the grounds outside.

"What seems tha be the core of the matter 'ere?" Doin called out, as Glacus had noticed their arrival and turned to look down towards the dwarves.

"I am sure it is obvious enough, Doin." Glacus commented, his eyes jumping over to the white cloaks on the opposite side of the street.
"They want a duel."

"If you wanna teach 'em a lesson; let me at 'em!" Doin proclaimed boisterously, shaking his armored fist.

Glacus smiled at the Dwarf's apparent eagerness, and nodded.

"It is a job that I am happy to offer you." Glacus replied, placing his arm on Doin's shoulder as he looked the dwarf in the eye.
"Give him hell, brother. The guild will be watching!"

One of the officers standing next to Glacus motioned towards the Vanguard squire standing by the doorway. The young man swiftly disappeared back into the alehouse, before quickly reappearing in the doorway again as he carried an axe, a broad kiteshield and a red, horned steel helmet.
The squire hurried up to Doin, who accepted the arms and armor from the squire with a quick thank. Equipping the shield in hold hand, donning the helmet over his brows and clutching the shield in his other, the white bearded dwarf turned to face his opponent standing over at the White Hand crowd.

"Imma give ya one chance to walk away, friend. Otherwise this axe here is going straight between yer bollocks!"

Doin cried out to the White Hand Champion. But the figure did not say a word in return, merely watching him from the darkness of his visors. Frarn walked up next to his father.

"Take yer time with him. Let's give them a beating they won't soon forget!"

[Rithy]

Having managed to make it through the city, with only having scared a minimal amount of guardsmen, Rithrynn had finally reached the Cathedral District on her nightsaber. The wealthy buildings stood tall all around her, built with white marble stones that gave them a regal look. Many of them bore pious inscriptions on the walls and fences, and many of the owners had dispatched no small sums of gold in decor to praise the light. White, stainless banners carrying the symbols of the church of light hung next to Stormwind banners beneath high white archways rising over the roads, connecting the streets.

To Rithrynn, seeing the district created a mix of admiration and revulsion.

On one hand, the expansive architecture was truly impressive for such a simple specie with such short lifespans. On the other, it was also disturbing to see so much effort put into the worship of false idols and misguided promises.

"These humans have so much to learn!"

She thought to herself, before retrieving the note from her belt as she inspected it, affirming the street she was looking for. Riding around the white neighborhoods, Rithrynn's eyes scanned from side to side as she looked for signs and indications of what street she was in it.
Fortunately for her, she had ample of opportunity to pass through the streets without interference. Most of the windows around her were dark, as the residents were most likely deep asleep.

Having passed through at least five different streets, she finally arrived at a sign marked the Eternal Sun Street. Ordering Nisha to a halt, the Nightsaber let out a quite growl as it sniffed in the air.

"Progress, at last!" Rithrynn cheered, as she ventured into the street, looking for the 32rd.
"I hope I'm not too late... "

[Feychild]

Hidden in the shadow of the chimney stack, Liaena peered down at the events unfolding below. Doin, while his voice could be clearly heard, was out of sight to her over the edge of the roof. The White Hands and their leader on the other hand, were clearly visible in the lamplit square as she studied them carefully.

“Do I know that guy?”

Eyeing Severian, something about him did seem familiar….although from where exactly, she found it impossible to place. This in and of itself, was hardly unexpected. Liaena had already done the rounds of pissing off virtually every large organisation in Stormwind, at some point or another. And her memory had been somewhat erratic as of late.

Drawing out her elephant rifle, a tap restored it to full size. Pulling a vial out of her bag, she screwed it into the muzzle carefully while balancing it on her knees, before turning to aim down into the yard where the White Hand were as she watched the proceedings carefully.

*

“I’m not worried”

Remaining where she was as the two dwarves legged it off down the stairs, Kathlin turned to plant her elbows in the frame of the broken window, after pushing away any errant shards of glass that might have remained after its recent assault-by-rock. “well, maybe a little bit”

“…This is a duel until yield, right?” the girl enquired as an afterthought to the empty corridor. Unsurprisingly enough, nobody answered her. “I assume that’s the….default, if nobody specifies it?”

“……”

Pulling a ‘yeesh’ expression, Kathlin shook her head as she also watched what was going on.

[Sinerathin]

A circle of red and white cloaks had formed in the square outside the Alehouse, as members of the White Hand and Red Vanguard turned their attention towards Doin and the steel masked Champion of Sevarian.

As Doin trodded out onto the frozen square in his heavy armor and shield, he glared over at the Champion. The Champion had still not uttered a word, as he watched his every move. It was impossible to see the eyes of his enemy through the steel mask.

"Begin!" Called a voice from the crowd, and Doin held his kite shield up in front of him, the large wall of fortified wood and steel effectively hiding almost the entire dwarf behind it. On the other side, the White Champion reached to his sword and pulled it from its sheath and held it out. It was magnificently crafted Estoc blade, thinner than your average longsword, but solid, and a razor, needle sharp tip. Stopping, he took a step forward; before rushing towards Doin in silence, only the cranking of armor and crushing of snow being audible!

"Yaaaaahh!" Doin rorared as he walked a bit towards the white Champion with his shield facing his opponent. As he came close enough, the White Champion suddenly leaped forward with a kick, landing with the bottom of his foot into Doin's shield. Doin's shield and left arm was pushed to the side, but in the process; the dwarf brought his axe around, aiming at the leg of man.

But the White Champion had quickly brought his own weapon to bear against the dwarf, and parried the incoming blow. As he lead the axe astray, the man immediately followed up with another quick strike against Doin's weapon hand; slicing his sword through the air as he hit the bottom of the dwarf's hand.
Doin immediately let out a cry of pain as his little finger was just severed from his hand, falling through the ground. But the dwarf was not stunned. Instead of reeling back, the dwarf instead raised his shield again and charged forward right into the White Champion, hitting him square in the abdomen and pushing him back until he fell down into the snow.

With his axe raised, he plunged it down towards his fallen for; who immediately rolled away!

Getting back onto his feet, the White Champion swung his sword around to keep Doin at a distance. But the dwarf continued his tireless attack, advancing upon his opponent with his shield race; the heavily armored dwarf functioning much like an impenetrable wall!

The White Champion changed his grip, holding his sword up side down in a double handed grip as he aimed it at the incoming Doin. Charging against the incoming dwarf, he suddenly stopped without warning. Doin, expecting an attack, had raised his shield. But when no strike hit his shield, the dwarf raised his axe to strike. But just as he raised his arm over his shield, the White Champion struck, thrusting his sword forward in a perfect movement against the lower inside of Doin's arm!
The sword snuck past the armored plates and into the hardened leather, and stabbed right through and into the flesh!

Doin let out another cry of pain, but with a determined roar he had raised his heavy kite shield up; and smashed the iron frame into the chestplate of his opponent, knocking him back.
Picking his axe back up again with a grunt, ignoring the pain and the bleeding, Doin quickly stepped forward against his opponent.

The White Champion slashed across the space before him, hitting Doin's shield which did practically nothing. The dwarf continued forward, full of determination, and tried to push into the Champion with his shield again. But this time the Champion sidestepped to the side, and brought his sword against Doin in a plunging attack. Quickly raising his own axe, Doin managed to parry the attack with the metal hilt of his axe just in time as the Champion's blade was mere inches away from the visors of Doin's own helmet.

As he held his opponent's blade at bay, Doin gazed back up at the cold mask of his silent opponent. The Dwarf was panting heavily from the intense fight. But when he looked towards his foe, he saw no such sign of exhaustion. There was nothing but shadows behind the steel mask. He could not even see any steam from the Champion's breath. All he could hear from the Champion's mask at such a close range was a silent inhaling, which sounded more akin to air simply passing through a tunnel than actually breathing.

Gritting his teeth, Doin moved his shield in from the side to help push the blade away!

As he did so, he pulled his axe to the side, hidden beneath his shield. The tireless White Champion prepared for yet another attack,but before he could execute it, Doin's axe suddenly appeared from beneath his shield as the Dwarf let out a frantic roar as he swung the axe right into the Champion's lower chestplate. The axe caved the breastplate in like a can opener, and the White Champion fell back to his knees.

On the other side of the street, Severian watched; his facial expression had remained completely void of emotions throughout the entire duel. The sight of his Champion falling did not even seem to make him blink, as he merely watched the duel as it continued.

Panting frantically, the dwarf raised his axe with a frenzied grunt. But just as he did. the white Champion suddenly shot his hand up and grabbed it by the hilt. Doin, unable to bring the axe down, and worn out by exhaustion, roared as he tried to kick back at his opponent.
But he missed, and the White Champion, his chestplate opened but still moving, rose back to his feet with a unnatural silence. Without a word, the Champion raised his sword arm, and plunged his sword forward, stabbing Doin beneath the shoulderplate and into his flesh, breaking his collar bone and digging his way out on the other side. Doin cried out in pain, before the Champion retracted his blade

As the sword left his body, Doin fell back down into the snow with a thud. The Champion stepped back, throwing a last gaze at the Red Vanguards across the street, before unceremoniously turning around to walk back to the other White Cloaks on the other side of the street.

"It seems like your fire is running low, Glacus." Sevarian commented as he gazed at Doin, before his gaze shifted to Glacus.
"You are outdated."

One of the officers, accompanied by a squire, rushed over to check with their fallen comrade, Doin. In the meantime, Glacus merely stared at the scene, the old man seemingly struggling to find any words for what he had just witnessed.

[Sinerathin]

As Rithrynn ventured down into the snow covered street, the curtains twitched a few blocks away.

From one of the tall, narrow houses further down the street, a shadow watched her from between the curtains. The Sentinel and her nightsaber had not gotten far down the street before the door of the house opened, and a hooded maid came walking down the stairs; passing through the small garden and continued towards the golden fence. She paused for a moment when she reached the gate, her hood snapping back to the open door to the white marble house, before she finally opened the gate and passed out through it.

Hurrying across the street towards Rithrynn, she quickly slowed down when she came closer.

"Uhm... hello?" A nervous voice sounded from her hood, as the girl hesitantly stepped closer. The girl immediately froze up when the Nightsaber's eyes fell upon her, before gathering what little courage she had left as she took another step.
"Are you Ri, ahem... I mean, who are you?"

She asked, stammering slightly as her gray eyes switched back and forth between the Night Elf and her big nightsaber. The girl finally stopped, seemingly unwilling to come any closer as she stared up at Rithrynn.
She was wearing a black silk outfit beneath her thick gray woolen, with a white apron around her waist. From her small figure and stature, she seemed no older than fifteen.

"S-sorry if I'm asking... I don't know... eh," The girl stammered, appearing to regret her decision of coming out into the street with the Night Elf as her hood now shied away from Rithrynn.

[Rithy]

When she saw the girl approach, Rithrynn ordered her nightsaber to stop.

"Yes.... " Rithrynn said, her silverly eyes narrowing as she looked closer at the little human.

In a way, the underaged little girl reminded her much of Liaena if appearance alone was something to go by. But she still lacked the devilish attitude and nastiness that characterized Liaena's personality, not to mention an ego that was ridiculously disproportionate to the rest of her body! But even so, she was still fat! ... Liaena that was.

"I am Rithrynn Syn'Dial, human." Rithrynn answered, before approaching the little girl. As she did, Nisha let out a deep growl at the stranger, showing the full array of her teeth.

"Do not worry about her, she's just a fuzzy little dummy who just likes to play." Rithrynn snickered to herself as she moved a hand forward to pat Nisha on the head. In response to this, Nisha let out a ferocious roar at the humiliation; before hanging her head in shame. Smiling, Rithrynn returned her gaze to the little girl, tilting her head slightly to the side as she studied her.

Was this Sherpa's liaison? She wondered as she looked down at her. She had not expected Sherpa to send a frightened little girl to greet her, but then again, she did not know what to expect. She had never imagined Sherpa to be the one to welcome her with a small parade and flying colors dead early in the morning in a winter night.

"That.... would have been rather funny if it had been true!"

"Who are you? Or... more importantly, who is your master?"

[Feychild]

“That should not have happened”

Was the overriding thought running through Liaena’s mind, consuming all others and momentarily stunning her into inaction as she stared after the departing Champion. The girl had seen enough broken bodies to know that when a breastplate was opened up like that, it tended to mean that the vulnerable flesh it protected underneath was severely damaged, in all likelihood beyond repair. Instead he was up, and walking like it was nothing - which she had also seen more than enough of in her life.

“…How many of them are there!? Ten? Twenty?”

Eyes running over the amount of silent White Hand members to try and quickly count them, Liaena shrunk even further into the shadow of the building – just in time to see her doppelganger run out of the building over to the men assisting Doin.

“No! What are you doing!? Get out of there!” Liaena hissed helplessly from her vantage point on the roof. Muzzle of the gun wavering between Severian and the Champion, she opted to train it on the latter as her finger tightened on the trigger, but still hesitating to pull.

“Please, let me help. I’ve been…trained for this” Kathlin assured the two Red Vanguard members hastily as they picked Doin off the snow between them, sounding as convincing as she felt at the dwarfs grievous injuries (i.e: not very). Bobbing along next to them, the girl gulped as she untied the wreckage of the dwarf’s shoulder plate with gentle fingers. Glancing over her shoulder to see what the white hand were doing, she froze briefly at what she saw.

Turning back quickly to face the other two Red Vanguard again, the girl leaned in towards the elder one to mutter quietly to him as she wrapped her cloak up into a sausage between her hands, using it as a pad to briefly staunch the elder dwarfs blood. “Their champion. Why isn’t he bleeding?”

Behind them the snow was grey and smashed from the turmoil of the fight, with splatters of blood littering the ground and a congealing pool where Doin had fallen. There was none however, in the departing tracks of the Champion, or on the man himself, save on his metal greaves, gauntlets and sword blade. “He should be bleeding”