Sinerathin

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

The ritual room was playing host to a chorus of pain and suffering as the tormented trolls swirled through the air. But the screaming would come to an abrupt end as the unholy runes etched into their bodies began to glow with a stronger blue hue as ghostly tendrils began to stream up from them. The tendrils formed amorpheous clouds and faint figures above and around the trolls, as the trolls themselves made some last gasps for air before their bodies suddenly became completely limp in the air. "Enough. The reaping is finished." Sevarian spoke in his eerily calm voice, and the surrounding cultists lowered their arms and cancelled their spells. As they did, the floating bodies of the trolls immediately fell towards the floor, slumping lifelessly onto the hard rock surface where they simply lay. Up in the air above them beneath the oval roof, the blue mist continued to swirl around above them, with faint arms, figures and even hollowed faces barely being visible among the ghostly mass. A deadly silence had now fallen over the room, in stark contrast to the tormented hell it had been earlier, to the point one would have easily been able to hear it if someone had dropped as much as a needle to the floor! Sevarian's steps echoed as the man walked forward in his armor, his gaze fixed on the only remaining standing troll in the room; the main sacrifice who was standing in the center of the ritual circle. It was unknown whether the troll was truly alive or dead, his eyes and mouth emanating the same ghostly glow as that of the ghostly mass above him. His body was limp, only standing as if it was being animated by invisible threads from above holding him upright. Suddenly, his body just collapsed. Within the blink of an eye, the surrounding ghostly mist that had filled the room came to life; swooping down towards his body! As they did, it was consumed by a dark mist that concealed it from sight! Moments passed as the lift merely swirled around before them, before some distant shrieks could be heard as a shadowy figure suddenly rose up into the air beneath the roof; a twisted apparation that seemed to almost chase the remaining ghostly swarm around. The ghosts that now filled the room above them seemed quite oblivious to the cultists, Kathlin and Sevarian who were standing in the room with them, some of the ghostly shapes passing mere inches away from Kathlin as they floated around in circles. "Now is your time, girl. Are you ready?" Sevarian asked as he raised his hand, before dispelling the invisible hands that had kept Kathlin chained to the wall. Letting the girl fall down, one of the cultists came over to grab her in her arms as he began to walk her towards the middle of the circle, surrounded by the corpses of the trolls. But as he did, a sudden tremor shook the very reef; causing the room to shake! "What was that?" "Earthquake?" Sounded some confused voices of the cultists as they looked around them. Sevarian, who had been looking towards the doors, quickly turned to look back at Kathlin. "I had not expected your friends to come so soon." He commented with a slightly annoyed look, before his bleak features turned into a smile. "I never realized that they were willing to sacrifice so many of themselves for just someone as... meaningless, as you." Sevarian said, studying Kathlin's reaction before turning to look at the peculiar chevalier who had been standing quietly by the wall; watching them. "I need you to stop the intruders until the ritual is complete. Wait for them on this level, and destroy them in the corridors." Sevarian instructed, as the peculiar chevalier made a quiet gesture, before walking towards the door. "Before you go!" The chevalier paused, turning to look back at Sevarian through the darkened visors of his mask. "Take this. We are far from the prying eyes of the Church and their servants." Sevarian said as he reached for a sheathed sword that had been lying among the ritual tools and relics positioned near the wall. The peculiar chevalier grabbed it mid air as Sevarian tossed it to him, before pulling the sword a couple of inches out of its sheath. As the upper part of the sword escaped its sheath, a faint set of runes became visible at the middle of the mithril blade, glowing in a faint, red color. The sword seemed to emanate a violent aura, possessing a furious hunger as it remained outside of the sheath. Studying the blade, the peculiar chevalier sheathed it back; breaking the aura as he turned to walk towards the door. "Do not hold back this time." ------------------------------------------------------------ "Yes, I did. The alternative to stairs would be jumping." Sharon replied to Serphia, although soon realized that his reply did not fall in well with the Night Elven Captain. " ... we need to hurry! Go go! I got slow-fall spells if you slip!" He urged as another set of voices could be heard behind them back in the barrack, as more White Hand mercenaries had appeared in the barrack. Whether they were new or they were simply the men they had earlier barred in their rooms was unknown, but one thing was certain; they were heading towards their position and it sounded like there was no less than a dozen! "Blast it, ye weenies! I'll go first!" Smokey suddenly said as the dwarf ran past the legs of the Night Elves, and almost sprinted down the stairs. It almost looked as if the dwarf would fall at any moment and continue to roll, or fall down or off the stairs, but he somehow remained upright as he raced down! "I'm the one with the shortest legs, yet I'm also the fastest of the group! What does it say about the rest of ye?!" Smokey called out as he was almost at the bottom of the stairs. Although his argument might have held more merit if it hadn't been for the fact that the width of the dwarf and his backpack basically made bypassing him on the narrow set of stairs impossible without literally jumping over his head! However, as he was just about to step down on the bottom floor, a cloaked figure just touched down in front of him! It was Alissah, who had used a long hook-shot to quickly descend to the bottom in what had almost been a freefall! "That's cheating!" Smokey exclaimed, a little annoyed at having been beaten to the bottom. "We have more important things to do that decide who is the fastest, dwarf. And it is not a competition I would recommend for you." Alissah replied plainly, before suddenly unsheathing her one armed crossbow and pistol as the sound of rattling armor could be heard around the corner of the corridor leading out of the stair shaft that they were in! "They're here!" "Send in the heavies!" Sounded the distant voices of some chevaliers as the first one rounded the corner, carrying a simple steel buckler shield and rapier. However, what came behind him were two heavily armored jaggernauts of some knights! They wore the heavy steel armor from top to toe, with a heavy steel reinforced tower shield in their left arms and a crushing one armed hammer on the right. Their heavy steel helmet protruded forward, with only a small line representing their visors through which they could see. "Blast 'em!" Smokey yelled out as the dwarf pulled out his blunderbuss and fired off a volley of pellets towards the White Hand knights! Alissah immediately discharged her pistol, before firing off a bolt from her crossbow! The pellets from Smokey's blunderbuss seemed to only glance off the knights's armor and heavy shields that they had positioned out in front of them. The bullet from Alissah's pistol plonked off the steel frame of one of their shields, leaving only a tiny dent; while her bolt broke against one of their shoulderpads. "Uhm... " Smokey paused, as three more white hand mercenaries appeared behind the knights, alongside another battle mage. Stepping backwards into the stair room, the dwarf turned to look up at Serphia and her elves. "I'm just the demolitions man. These guys are your problem!" ----------------------------------- "It's leading to the catacombs, the morgue and the wine cellar." The battle mage called Juliet answered through her steel mask. "We have a wine cellar, and next to the morgue?" The auburn haired storage girl called Aurora asked with a surprised tone as she gazed into the corridor ahead that was significantly more dark than the previous storage hall! "Does it matter? We need to get them!" Juliet exclaimed behind Aurora. "Shouldn't we call for help?" Aurora suddenly asked, throwing a concerned look back at Juliet behind her. "Help? Didn't you see them? They're just some inches high! Are you afraid they'll shrink you too? If they cause you any trouble, use your fat butt for something good and just sit on them, idiot! ... move!" Juliet exclaimed as Aurora had been continuing to block the entrance to the corridor as she was standing in it, Aurora's frame being notably larger than that of the smaller Juliet. Lifting up one of her greaves, Juliet would kick Aurora in the rump and into the corridor before stepping in behind her. "These were probably the ones who sabotaged the elevator - get them, and you're bound to get a raise!" Juliet said as the Battle Mage raised a hand around the shaft of her staff, channeling on a small spell that caused the gem on the tip of her staff to glow with a powerful white ray that illuminated the darkened corridor ahead of them. "Let's go!" " ... uh, okay!"

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

"We need some stretchers over here. Get some wet towels for the burns." A White Hand battle mage called out as she stepped out of the door next to Bella and Liaena. Two men carrying a bunch of stretchers beneath their arms quickly rushed past her as they headed towards the elevator, which was now filling the top of the room with heavy, darkened steam. However, there appeared to be ventilation grates in the roof of the storage through which the steam escaped. None of the mercenaries seemed to notice the small figures of Liaena and Bella skittering around in the shadow of their feet. That was however only until the White Hand Battlemage turned around and shook her head in disappointment, when her eyes suddenly fell on Liaena and Bella through her visors. When she first spotted the tiny figures running around beneath the crates and boxes, she first did not believe her own eyes. But the battlemage soon returned to her senses after an initial period of disbelief, suddenly pointing down towards Liaena and Bella as they scurried across the floor. "Intruders, get them!" She called out loudly! Unfortunately for her, there were no one except a single auburn haired storage girls in simple leather outfit who heard her - the rest of the White Hand mercenaries being preoccupied with the small disaster at the elevator. At first, the storage girl simply threw the Battle Mage a weird look as she pointed at the floor. "There!" The battle mage cried out again, and finally the storage girl spotted the tiny figures of Liaena and Bella as they ran! "Don't let them get away!" The Battle Mage said as she suddenly began to summon on a spell, her hands gaining a faint blue glow as she prepared to cast it. A couple of feet behind her, the storage girl had finally gotten her butt in gear, and began to run towards her to help in the chase! -------------------------------------------- Whether intentional or not on Serphia's part, Sharon was immediately grinded down into her shoulder by her cheek as the very floor beneath their feet shook with tremendous force! Even the massive bronze doors of the elevators were rattled by the tremors from within the spine of the reef itself, and Sharon was quick to push himself back onto his feet. "By the light!" He first exclaimed, as surprised as any of the Night Elves in the group, before suddenly pausing. " ... yes, that sounded definitely like Liaena's work." Quickly turning to look back up at Serphia, he began to point towards the nearby corridor next to the elevator. "This castle was built in cooperation with the Stormwind military, and most probably to regulations! That means that, in accordance to the Royal Health & Safety regulations, there has got to be a set of stairs or two leading down to the very same place as that of the elevator in case of emergency, such as fire, earthquake... or Liaena." "Hostiles in the barrack!" Suddenly sounded a voice from up above. On the walkway surrounding the second level of the hall to the elevator above them suddenly arrived four White Hand chevaliers and one battle mage. Two of them were armed with muskets, and the remainder two with rapier & pistol and a vicious looking halberd. "Can I open fire, sir?" "What? THEY'RE INVADING US! OPEN FIRE DAMMIT!" The White Hand sergeant fiercely replied to the question from one of the chevaliers, and soon three of the chevaliers aimed their firearms down at the lower level towards where Serphia and her elves were, as the battle mage next to them began to cast a spell! "FIRE!"

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Thanks for the compliment, Ater. We like to think that we are doing something right, considering the lifespan of our RP :) (which I believe we are the longest-lived RP in the entire advanced section)

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Sharon gazed across the wooden ramp and onto the ramparts. All he could see was one lone armored chevalier casually walking along the wall, whistling on a rather cheerful tone beneath his helmet as he passed the rampart and disappeared into one of the many guard towers dotting the ramparts. "Deep down. Kind of like your Falere." Sharon commented, giving a small smile back at Serphia when the Captain turned to give him a nasty look. "Except in the castle, naturally. Dungeons are usually located deep within the building." Turning to look away from Serphia and towards the castle, Sharon pointed towards the complex of large stone buildings that made up the core of the fort. "But first, we need access to the main buildings. Once we have it, we should be able to find a way down into the lower levels of the castle." "Then we need to move. The patrol will eventually come back." Alissah explained, before the human suddenly walked past the group and crossed the wooden ramp to jump down onto the ramparts on the other side. Taking a moment to look to either side, she eventually signaled for the rest of the group that it was safe to follow. "Down the stairs, to the yard. There should be an entrance to the main buildings somewhere there." Sharon instructed as he guided Serphia and the Night Elves down towards the small yard. Although they were entering the fort, there were few signs of any White Hand soldiers. The walls were quiet, and only a few faint figures could be seen through the night on the other side of the castle, as well as the occasional movement in the lit windows of the castle. As they arrived at the bottom of the stairs however, it soon became apparent that they were stuck in a small alleyway with a solid metal door blocking the path ahead of them. But before Sharon could even utter a sentence, Smokey had stepped forward! "No worries! The maestro's got this one!" Smokey explained with full confidence as the dwarf, still mostly white, approached the metal gate and attached a small satchel which he squeezed inbetween the side of the door. Fiddling through his many pockets, he eventually retrieved an ivory adorned lighter and heavy dwarven cigar. Using the lighter to light his cigar before putting it back into his pocket, the dwarf took a deep breath on the cigar, before gently tipping the hot cinders of his cigar onto the small cloth satchel he had shoved into the side of the door. A small explosion immediately occurred, and the metal door swung open, revealing the warmer interiors of what seemed like to be a barracks of some sort. "Solved! Hehe!" Smokey exclaimed triumphantly while blowing out a heavy cloud of smoke as he turned towards the group. "You idiot! Every fool within a hundred feet must have heard that explosion!" Alissah sneered angrily at the dwarf, quickly rushing up to the door to look inside to see if anyone was coming! "Buu-huu, next maybe you could try a 'thank you' for making sure we didn't remain sitting ducks down here!" Smokey complained back at the woman, clearly not agreeing to the criticism of his work! In the meantime, Sharon had already buried parts of his face behind his glove as he leaned against Serphia's cheek. "This is not going to end well... " --------------------------------- "We have received reports of a mechanical failure of some kind down in the base level of the elevator in sector N." Said one of the chevaliers as the group walked towards a large set of heavy duty bronze doors that were built into the wall in front of them. The room that they were standing in was a larger, open hall with rows of heavy stone pillars supporting the naked cave roof above them, carrying clear signs of dwarven architecture in them in their rectangular shape and sharp corners. Much like the cove below, the large hall seemed like it had been mined directly out of the reef itself, before being built into, with multiple bare cave walls breaking the pattern of block walls. The hall appeared to be a vast storage, sectioned into different parts labeled everything from 'food', 'utility' to 'ammunition'. An elaborate network of rails had been built into the floor and sides, clearly designed to ferry heavier goods from the elevator. Some smaller rope driven loading bays could also be found in the various corners of the room, and judging by their labels lead to the various cannon positions around the battlements. The group that now stood in front of the heavy bronze doors of the elevator shaft consisted of two chevaliers wielding swords and a halberd, one armored White Hand battle mage, two rather bored and impartial looking storage workers in simple blue linen uniforms, and a rather annoyed looking bald gnome in a heavy leather apron who gazed at the door with utmost dismay through his large goggles. "This is the fourth malfunction we've had in one month! I told the administration time and time again that this is what happens when you outsource component production to the lowest bidders! Those goblin parts are messing up my brilliant design once again! I did not spend two months designing this system for it to be ruined by cheap solutions!" The gnome, Arolf Steamtrinket, ranted on as he pointed angrily at the door. "They said something about there being a gas leak of some kind." The chevalier next to the gnome continued, as Arolf looked up towards him. "My ingenious system is driven purely by steam! Unless they forgot to turn on the ventilation for the coal ovens, there should be no chemicals free at all!" Arolf's furious ramblings were cut short however as a deep, metallic groan suddenly emerged from the heavy bronze doors in front of them, which made the entire group look towards it with sudden curiosity. Slowly but surely, something began to push the heavy bronze doors apart, as the heavy gears and machinery holding them in place let out a trembling mechanical roar. Between the doors, a thick, green blob of goo could be seen seeping out between the doors which had managed to push the doors a dozen inches or more apart despite their attempt to automatically shut! "Oh by the holy blitzfuse! The grey-goo worst case scenario has occurred, the nanobots have come to consume the world! Just like Thinker Ripzgeld predicted!" Arolf exclaimed, the gnome struck by a sudden onset of terror as he gazed at the expanding goo between the doors. The surrounding humans, although they looked startled by the gnome's reactions and the mysterious goo, seemed instead more confused than afraid! "Nano-bot what? What's a 'nano'!?"

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“Is everything alright? I heard a scream” Sharon, standing on Serphia's shoulder, a position which elevated him above everyone else in the group short of Serphia herself; gazed down at Liam with his arms folded. "No. The situation is quite under control I would say... " He muttered with a quiet voice, as his eyes drifted over to Rithrynn, who currently looked quite proud of her recent accomplishment. " ... however, we are going to need to talk about your idea of subduing civilians once this mission is over." Sharon said, shrugging his shoulders when he became the center of Serphia's eyes as the Captain obviously did not have anywhere near the same problem with Rithrynn turning the gnome into a sport event. "Just details that could get us into trouble later." A pointy leather hat emerged above the floor of the scaffolding beneath their feet as Alissah grabbed onto the edge of the wooden platform to pull herself onto it. The woman was carrying a long rope that was tied around her waist, and ran down all the way to the bottom of the reef below. But as she had put one knee onto the platform and reached out to grab the guard railing, a distant 'plonk' could be sounded from the mist below as the rope around her suddenly tightened and almost pulled her off the platform. "Dammit, dwarf!" Alissah hissed as she held on for dear life, almost about to produce a knife to cut the rope before the rope slackened; allowing the human to climb up onto the scaffolding with the rest of the team. As she stood up on the platform, she quickly removed the rope around her waist to wrap it around the nearest wooden support beam. Finishing her knotting, she would pull in the rope three times, before stepping back as it tightened. A distant whirring and creaking noise could be heard from below the platform as up and out of the mist; Smokey emerged. The dwarf was dangling back and forth on the rope, which was attached to the small wooden device that he had attached to his belt, and was currently rotating the levers on each side of the contraption to pull him up the rope with minimal effort. The dwarf in question had a rather relaxed pose as he ascended the side of the reef, literally lying vertical in the air with his big backpack hanging loosely below him as he rose through the air. One particular feature of the dwarf that was different from when they had last seen him on the ground however, was the fact that most of his upper body was now painted white! Including sections of his pants and backpack as well. The dwarf, despite his leisurely position, did not seem particular happy. Almost reaching the platform, the dwarf suddenly paused as a stick of dynamite fell out from his backpack and into the mist below! "Drat!" He cursed, before looking back towards the platform. "Eh, I got plenty where that 'un came from." Continuing to cycle the levers of his contraption to pull himself up to the scaffolding, the dwarf would place one leg onto the edge of the platform before stepping up onto it with his other. As he finally stood with a somewhat solid ground beneath his feet, he would gaze out across the rest of the group; his face and beard all painted white with fresh paint! "Who tha hell threw that bucket'o bloody paint?!" ------------------ The elevator shaft that Bella, Liaena and Hester had entered would turn out to be a long, dark and tenebrous tunnel that stretched far up through the very spine of the reef in an almost two hundred feet free drop! It was pitch black outside the elevator's oil lighted environment, and the air was noticeably heavier. Cables hung from the top of the darkened shaft, attached to the elevator wagon below them. Various tubes and pipelines were built into the stone walls of the shaft, occasionally spewing out hot steam that filled large parts of the elevator shaft as the heavy gears on each side of the elevator below them began to suddenly rotate. Whoever operated the elevator had obviously not gotten the news about the incident at the bottom, as the elevator below Bella and Liaena began to climb up through the elevator shaft and the heavy machinery around them broke into life. Further up ahead, there were three heavy bronze doors in the shaft where the elevator would dock at one of them. There were little indications as to where each door lead, short of some small, grime covered inscriptions on the exterior of the doors labeled the lowest 'storage', the second 'administration', and third 'barracks'.

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

As the two first tiny dynamites from Liaena fell down into the belly of the ship and plonked down onto the crates that had been stacked in the ship's storage, it gained the attention of one of the two loaders. Before he could open his mouth, the fuse reached its end, and Smokey's dynamites exploded in the cargo hold with a loud bang! Although the two dynamites were severely diminished in both size and volume from their original shape, Smokey's life philosophy of 'more is better' was readily apparent as they generated a bright flash and an ear deafening boom in the cargo hold like a pair of firecrackers from hell; swooping up a cloud of dusk from the boxes and crates! "AAAAAAAAHHH!" "Bloody hell! Who the hell is throwing firecrackers!?" Sounded the both frightened and infuriated voices of the loading workers from the ship's belly. Up on deck, one of the sailors looked down with a smug smile. "Did one of ye weenies shit your pants? I hope I don't have to call the cleanup crew to,-" *BANG* Suddenly, the third dynamite that Liaena had tossed exploded not far from the sailor's feet; causing him to almost literally levitate a couple of feet off the ground as his face turned white as marble, and he fell over. A moment of silence ensued, before laughter erupted from the two loading workers in the ship's hold as they laughed at the sailor's misfortune. "What is going on here?!" Sounded the angry voice of one of the patrolling chevaliers who had come to inspect the commotion, and was walking up the docking ramp to the ship. Looking across the workers from behind his steel mask, his fury was obvious nonetheless. "Are you eight?! Kids?! We are not paying you to play around. You are two hours behind schedule already! If I hear ONE more firecracker, I'm going to keelhaul the lot of you!" The ill-tempered chevalier was quick to get order among the ship's crew, who somberly returned to their activities of unloading the ship. As they stacked up a new set of crates on another wooden trolley, two of the loaders took it upon themselves to push it towards the bronze gate of the steam elevator. "Bring it down, we have more cargo!" One of the men called out. The dwarf with the blunderbuss, who was sitting next to the gate; got up on his feet to walk over to a large horn sticking out from the wall and shouted something unintelligible into it. Moments later, the heavy clanking and trembling of heavy machinery could be heard as the elevator was heading back down towards the harbor. As the bronze doors opened, the two loaders from previously came walking out of the elevator with their wooden trolley, before the second duo of workers loaded their own packed trolley onto the elevator. -------------------------------------- "Was that a genuine tone of concern that I just sensed in your voice?" Came the comment from Sharon, as the High Elf clambered back onto Serhpia's shoulder. Brushing some dust off his robes, he looked up at the face of the Captain to throw her a smile. Unlike Rithrynn, it was quite obvious that Serphia had little experience with carrying anyone of her shoulder. If anything, it struck him that he was at best a second concern to the Captain. "Considering where she normally keeps her passengers, I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised." "And here I thought you would mark the day I suddenly disappeared and vanished without a trace with drink and celebration." Sharon said jokingly, before looking ahead. "Thanks. I feel much more safer knowing that my prediction was not entirely true."

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

"I hope you are right about the wards. Or else, the White Hand will be the least of your concerns!" "If you were going to question my trustworthiness, don't you think now would be a little bit too late to do it?" Sharon asked back at Serphia as they slowly made their way across the narrow canal towards the lower rocks of the reef. "Perhaps you should be more focused on the climb ahead. Fortunately, if something should go wrong, I can probably conjure up a slow-fall spell if necessary." Sharon said in a nonchalant tone while looking at his metal glove, choosing to not meet the gaze of Serphia. Part of him was having doubts about the wisdom of maintaining a snarky attitude in the face of Serphia. Her face, which he was literally right beside. If he managed to piss her off more than usual, he knew that he was only one bite away from being eaten! But he put his trust in Rithrynn to intervene if things went too far. Right now, he would rather prefer to focus on the mission, and not appeasing the Captain. Alissah, who was sitting between the rest of the Night Elves in the boat behind Serphia and Sharon, did not say a word. The silent woman instead choose to give rowboat that they were sitting in a concerned look, as she noticed that it was dipping dangerously far down into the water compared to the boat next to them. Whether this was due to Serphia's big butt or the quality of the boat in question, she could not tell. Turning her head to the Sentinel Lithrielle who was right next to her and rowing, she cast the Night Elf a narrow expression from beneath her hat. "Did you check the boat for holes?" ------------------------------- The cove in the reef that they had entered revealed itself to be housing a complete and functional wharf, with wooden cranes and loading docks built into the very stone walls of the cove itself. A small set of wooden and stone buildings were located at the innermost section of the cove, one of them looking like a stone warehouse built into the reef itself. In the middle of the small town inside of the reef were a set of large bronze doors, surrounded with various mechanical cogs, tubes and vents attached to the rocky walls around it. Alongside the multitude of smaller boats that were located within the cove were two larger ships, a tall frigate which looked to be one of the battleships of the White Hand which sported numerous scars across its front plated hull, and a shorter but broader merchant and transportation ship which were closest to Liaena and Bella. The noise of moving cargo and the voices of the personnel around the merchant ship could be heard, as they were using one of the cranes to unload a series of wooden crates from the ship and onto the dock. It sounded like there were no less than half a dozen men in the cove with them. Voices echoed beneath the jagged rock roof as some of the crates were loaded onto small carts which were pushed by two of the dock workers alongside the pier and towards the bronze doors at the innermost part of the cove. As they approached it with their cargo, their attention seemed to drift to a dwarf sitting next to the doors. The dwarf nodded in response to the two dockworkers, before pulling a lever which caused the bronze doors to open; revealing a metallic platform surrounded by rocky walls. The two workers entered through the doors, and they were closed behind them by the dwarf with the lever. A deep groan could be heard from within the walls of the reef itself as the tubes around the heavy bronze door began to spew forth steam, as what sounded like an elevator carried the workers and their cargo up through the spine of the reef below the castle. What remained in the cove were four other workers, wearing simple linen and canvas outfits, alongside two armored chevaliers which could be seen casually patrolling alongside the ships. As well as the lone dwarf by the dwarf, who rocked back and forth in his chair with a large blunderbuss resting in his lap.

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

"Insolent little wretch; restrain that harpy!" The other cultist shouted angrily, clearly not a fan of having the ritual interrupted. Sevarian slowly turned towards Kathlin who was hanging on the wall, and raised his hand. Suddenly, a dark presence surged over her, dropping her body temperature by what felt like multiple degrees and pulling the breath right out of her lungs! The shield which had protected the troll was dispelled, and Sevarian slowly shook his head at the little girl trapped to the wall. "Like a fly before the storm." He commented with a calm tone, not sharing the same passion as that of his infuriated underlings. "Impressive effort, but it is worth nothing. You have to learn that there are some things that simply cannot be stopped. Some things, are simply meant to be, regardless what you might do to avoid it. And in it all, death is the only certainty." Sevarian turned away from Kathlin, leaving whatever curse he had cast on her in place as he casually walked over to the summoning circle with the cultists surrounding the troll. Stopping next to the creature, he looked down at the troll. "I will give you a purpose far greater than anything your little tribe could ever have offered you. You will touch power beyond anything you could ever imagine. It will course through you. And it will rip you apart." As the the troll raised his head to look up at Sevarian from where he stood on his knees, Sevarian suddenly jabbed his right hand forward; having secretly taken the knife from the cultist! With little warning, he buried the knife into the right side of the troll's throat; holding onto one of its long tusks to keep the creature still as he sliced with grateful motion from one side to the other of the troll's throat with his knife. " ... a sacrifice of blood and bone, to serve as a conduit for our power... " As he retreated his blade, blood gushed forward from the gaping wound in the troll's throat. Standing back, Sevarian let the Troll clutch his throat as the blood flowed down onto the floor beneath him, raining down into the runic symbols that had been etched into the ground around him. As the blood touched with the runic scriptures, they suddenly reacted; glowing ever more intensely in a ghostly blue light as they seemed to absorb the blood from the troll. Meanwhile, the rest of the cultists had gathered in a circle around them. As the blood of the troll quickly left his body, they raised their hands in unison. When the troll was about to collapse, his body suddenly stiffened. Its gaze turned blank, and suddenly the body floated up to its feet. Even as the entirety of its chest had been painted red by the gushing wound in his throat, the body still stood; as if it was being animated by invisible strings! Opening his mouth, he screamed in anguish, his voice sounding more like a distorted echo drawn from his very soul as he had no breath remaining to physically scream with! As the gruesome ritual continued, the runic markings that had been painted on the remainder of the trolls above their own tribal tattoos suddenly began to glow. Within seconds, all of them succumbed to theirs knees, screaming out loud as if the runic symbols on their bodies were burning their very flesh! As they languished in anguish on the ground, they began to be dragged across the floor towards the animated troll in the center of the summoning circle by invisible hands. As the cultists around the ritual circle began to chant in a darker tongue, the suffering trolls were lifted up into the air around the circle. The blue light that had emanated from the runes at the start now illuminated the entire room in a bright blue hue, pulsing with power as the screams of the main sacrifice only increased in magnitude! Watching the ritual, Sevarian turned to look back at Kathlin on the wall. "Some scholars say that ever since mortals pervaded the world, they have ravaged and squandered the great powers within it, making it more and more mundane beneath their feet. But the Scourge taught me differently. Just like mortals use magic, they themselves can be fuel for magic. With the... proper ingredients, simple practitioners can create spells far greater than anything even the highest of circle mages in Dalaran ever could. The power in the world never faded. It simply took another form, and now I am showing you how to extract it."

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Sharon was staring up towards the sky from within Serphia's hood, the High Elf's eyes scanning the dark night sky for any sign of Hester and Liaena above them. But beneath the star filled sky, it was almost completely impossible to notice a small little owl flying through the air. "Since you are going to play the role of the prized adviser sitting right in my ear, do you have any inputs that you wish me to consider?" "Did you have any plans for this….sir?” As the attention of both priest Liam and Captain Serphia turned on the smaller High Elf, Sharon tore his gaze away from the star laced sky to shift between the large, purple face next to him, and the shorter Liam standing next to Serphia. "Most of their wards will be designed to either detect and or prevent magical intrusions and scrying attempts. Physical wards are much more expensive to maintain, such as barriers and distortions in the physical realm, and thus will probably only be located on the inside or at strategic choke-points." " ... probably." Sharon explained, seeing as short of Vashi, he was the group's current foremost expert in the matters of the arcane. "In order to reach the reef, we will need a form of seaborn craft or vessel, preferably something small and inconspicious. Although it's only a short swim to the actual reef itself, the water is ice cold. I have never combined climbing and hypothermia, but I highly doubt it is an ideal combination." Sharon smiled towards Serphia, before his gaze directed itself towards the many surrounding warehouses and loading yards that were all around them. "We should however be able to 'requisition' a simple rowboat or two from the harbor if we are quiet about it. I know there are a few lying around here that we could use to cross the water with." "Is everything alright over here?" Suddenly sounded the voice of a man as two patrolling guardsmen suddenly rounded the nearby corner, one of them raising his lantern towards them while throwing them an inquisitive gaze from between the visors of his helmet. Not wanting to raise any suspicion, the smaller High Elf choose to say nothing from his position in Serphia's hood. Instead, he looked down towards Liam, giving the boy a hard look; as the last thing he wanted was for Serphia to take over the social aspect! "Oh, we are fine, officer!" Liam quickly responded. "We are off to find a haven of debauchery to relax and release our stress with the sins of the night. You would not happen to know the nearest tavern, do you?" The guardsman threw Liam a long look, before motioning towards the northernmost alley. "Just through there, there's the Barbed Cod. I suppose you haven't taken your vows yet." The guardsman smiled, before his gaze moved over to the almost half naked Night Elven warriors, and back to Liam. "Nice catch, kid. You gotta teach me someday." The guardsman commented with a light tone, before turning around and walking away with his colleague. "Have a good evening, citizens!" As the guardsmen disappeared, Sharon leaned towards Serphia's cheek. "And... watch out for the sentries, I was about to say."

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Producing a small, green vial from a pouch at his waist; a shrinking serum given to him by Liaena a long time ago, the High Elf took a moment to simply gaze at the vial as he held it between two gloved fingers in front of him. It was a look of almost hesitance, as if some part of his brain was begging him to reconsider the decision. "Ehhh, luck to ye, laddie. And ladies." Fran commented as he looked to Sharon, and then to the Night Elves. "They're expecting me back at the alehouse. I'll be leadin' the mob, after all! I've always been a good agitator! So... luck to tha mission, I'll see ye when it's over!" Having started to feel many degrees less comfortable the moment the familiar face of Liaena had left the locale, Fran was quick to turn around and march towards the exit; slamming the door as he left the resort. On the other side of the table, next to the crowd of Night Elves, Alissah had just finished taking a sip from the antitode. Her lips barely contracted as she swallowed the liquid, her face remaining stoic as she silently passed it over to Smokey. As the dwarf accepted the antitode and took a whiff, he quickly produced a small canteen from his belt. Uncorking it, a powerful alcoholic aroma spilled out into the air around him, hinting at the most-likely home made content of the dwarf's canteen. Pouring what remained of the antitode, which was at least what the almost dozen Night Elves had taken altogether, down into the canteen; Smokey turned the lid back, gave it a good shaking, and downed the entire canteen in one big swig! Alissha, who had remained quiet as usual, gave a face of disgust to Smokey as the dwarf let out a belch so loud it could be heard all the way to the outside and by Bella and Liaena as they flew over the house! "There's no point delaying this!" Sharon thought to himself, realizing that the rest of the room was getting ready to depart. Forcefully ignoring all sense and reason, he swigged down the contents of the small vial, which despite not tasting great; at least tasted far better than the antitode he had endured earlier. Placing one hand on the table as he leaned towards it, Sharon quickly found the whole world growing rapidly around him. With the blink of an eye, he was lying at the edge of the table, not far away from Serphia's massive ass that was perched on it as well. "You have a strange tactical sense." Alissah commented monotonously, her eyes looking down at the now tiny High Elf who was walking around on the table. "Thank the light for that, or tonight's plan would not be possible." Sharon replied as he ventured towards Serphia's hand which the Captain had left on the table for him. Jumping up into her palm, Sharon turned to the rest of her warband. "And please, before you leave; remember to lock the door. The keys are by the pegs at the entrance!"