“They’ve got some serious engineering going on here. They must have got gnomes in” Liaena muttered almost admiringly as she studied the dark walls, lined with pipes, cogs and valves. “Give us some more light, would you?” “I am not a torch” Bella grumbled as she obliged, murmuring the words of a prayer under her breath as her hand glowed with weak Light. The girl took a nervous look below them, where the rumbling of the elevator gaining on them was apparent. “What do we do about that, Liaena? When that arrives, they’ll raise the alarm!” “Yeah, yeah, I know” Liaena responded absently as she dug a vial out of her pocket, surveying the creaking and groaning machinery as Hester fluttered past. “That looks important” And with that, the girl hurled the vial straight into one of the valves that had just been gushing steam, the tiny bottle of liquid clattering audible down the pipe into the bowels of the machine. Bella’s eyes widened as she watched it disappear, while Hester squawked and put on a noticeable burst of speed. “What did you….?” A dull explosion reverberated somewhere inside the depths of the machine, to be followed by another. Below, the elevator stalled with a horrible squeal, as several pipes started to buckle at the seams from internal pressure and valves started to spew gas and boiling steam. Hester clucked and beat her wings frantically to escape from the storm that was brewing, even as a valve right next to them shuddered to burst its rivets and blast them with a plume of superheated steam. …. “This is the…stupidest thing….you have ever done” Bella wheezed as she released the weakened shield around them, the girl clutching at Liaena’s shoulder as she gasped for breath in the air, which was still horribly hot and tasted vile. Looking below them again, the stalled elevator was now only visible from the lights inside it. “There’s guys in there! This’ll kill them!” “Please, that elevator was full of gas. There’s no way they’d have got back inside yet…” Liaena muttered as she surveyed the scene around them, searching for an escape route. Other than the three doors up ahead, there seemed to be nothing other than the valves….and for once, she didn’t feel like pushing her luck with that. Considering her options, she weighed up the potential threat levels of ‘Soldiers’, ‘Sailors’, and ‘Bureaucrats’, and came up with ‘Sailors’ as the least dangerous option. There was a very narrow metal ledge to the ‘storage’ door, where presumably the lift was supposed to dock. Bella was coughing up her lungs behind her as Liaena ran her hands over the heavy metal finish, before fishing in her robes pocket to produce – the ‘elephant rifle’ she had acquired from Dimpsi a few days ago. Opening the barrel, she fished out one of the bullets that armed it, before jamming aforementioned bullet roughly into the crack between the two doors, and wedging it in fully with a hard kick. “What – caff – is – caff – that!?” Bella wheezed as Liaena backed away, clambering back onto the now distinctly dishevelled bird that was huddling close to the wall, as she levelled her gun at the door. “Expanding gunk” Liaena said matter-of-factly, before coughing as she aimed carefully at where she had located the pellet. The ominous rumbling coming from below them very clearly stated that they should be leaving the shaft sooner rather than later. “Impact released. Should – caff – do for a door”

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'!?"

"You idiot! Every fool within a hundred feet must have heard that explosion!" "Then let us not tarry." Serphia commented in a cool manner as the Captain walked past Alissah, ignoring the whining from the dwarf as she entered the barrack, shortly followed by the rest of her sentinels. The part of the barrack that they had entered featured a longer hallway with doors on either side, alongside the occasional banner, shelf and billboard featuring duties and events from washing lists to 'spring barbeque at Monday 17:30 in the southern tower'. "Your curious choice of hirelings makes me wonder if you have some kind of natural affinity towards danger, High Elf." Serphia spoke as she strode through the hallway of the barrack. Suddenly, a door to her right was opened as a White Hand sergeant, wearing a silk night gown and hat, appeared in it! "Who is the fool who discharged his weapo,-" *SMACK!* But the sergeant was immediately met by the backside of Serphia's armored fist as she brought it up into the man's face in a lightning fast strike! The sergeant was thrown back through his room, falling unconscious back into his bed! Kicking the door to his room shut, Serphia turned to look towards the rest of her sentinels. "Bar the doors, it should delay the reinforcements!" She announced to her sisters, all of whom quickly dispersed to either side as they grabbed everything from chairs, shelves to ripping planks directly out of the architecture to use them to block the doors around the barracks. Voices and activity could be heard from the other side of the many doors, some of the door handles beginning to move as the occupants of the room soon discovered that they were being barred in. Unsheathing her sleek elven dual swords, Serphia marched through the corridor with long strides, the rest of her sentinels finishing up the barricades of the doors to converge behind their Captain. Rithrynn and Vashi walked on either side of Serphia, Rithrynn with a bow and arrow at the ready. "What's that?" Serphia suddenly asked as they had traveled deeper into the structure of the castle, only to come across a set of heavy bronze doors directly to their left. Leaning her head slightly towards the High Elf on her shoulder, careful not to smother him, she pointed towards the doors with the tip of her sword. "You didn't tell me that they had a bunker inside the very castle."

As the double doors cracked open, with it came a billowing torrent of smoke and nasty, fetid gases that rushed into the room and made the occupants back away, suddenly blinded, as they gagged and coughed for breath. In all the chaos, a white bird fluttered wearily through the crack to land heavily on the stone floor, and rush behind one of the many crates scattered around the huge storeroom. Down below, whatever explosion that had been building in the depths of the machinery, was finally unleashed. The blast rippled through the shaft, scalding hot steam erupting through the thin crack that has been left by Liaena’s goo-bomb. Up above, the bronze doors that Serphia was inspecting rattled violently under the strain, as the entire fort trembled slightly. “AAAARGH! MY EYES! MY EYES!” “MY SYSTEM! …THE PIPEWORK! IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!” “I think you’ve poisoned me” Bella whimpered quietly, mostly hidden where she had tried to slink under Hesters wing. Liaena shifted aside fluff to give her a hard poke. The tired owl grumbled audibly, ruffling her feathers before she sank down in a classic ‘I am going nowhere’ pose on her butt. “Come on. We need to go, while they’re still distracted” “Go where!?” “The dungeons” “…Oh, goodie. That shouldn’t be a problem then” Bella griped as she followed Liaena. The little girl ran across the floor, using crates as shelters and pit stops as she finally reached the wall. “Why don’t we just stay here? We’ll be given an escort. And you’d deserve it, you maniac – mmgh!” The girl was cut off as Liaena clamped a hand over her mouth, both girls shrinking against the stone wall as one of the doors cut into it slammed open and several more of the labourers, plus one guard, charged into the room. “Arolf! The hell just happened!?” “Some maniac….just ruined my pride and joy” Arolf sniffed, using his sleeve to wipe away a flood of tears. Given his low vantage point, the gnome had completely missed the blast that had left his companions screaming and cursing in pain. Nor did he seem overly troubled by their plight, as he ran his hands tenderly over the steel door. “My child…I am so sorry” “How in the light are we ever going to find the dungeons? This place is like a maze!” Bella hissed into Liaena’s ear. Liaena resisted the urge to swat her, before rubbing her nose thoughtfully and glancing around the room. There were at least four exits, and an arch that led to another part of the vast storeroom. “Hrm.” “…..” -cluck- Looking up, the two girls stared across the room to where Hester had alighted next to one of the exits, a firmly shut door. The owl gave them a very obvious ‘wtf are you doing’ stare across the room, before starting to stab her beak at the door viciously. “That chicken is a genius sometimes….come on. Lets go” Liaena breathed as she started to make her way determinedly towards that door, sticking close to the wall and staying in the shadow as the shouting continued behind them. Bella followed, throwing many nervous glances behind them. “…So we’re just following that bird? That’s the plan?” “Have you got a better one?” “Leave?” “Nope.”

"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!"

"OPEN FIRE DAMMIT!" The rather clumsy and uncoordinated attack left more time to react than what the White Hand perhaps ideally would have given them. While a lot of the Night Elves in the back had scattered to move behind walls and support beams to gain cover from the shooters above, it did not matter much however as most of the gun barrels seemed to be trained at the largest target; Serphia, as well as Rithrynn and Vashi who were standing at her sides. Rithrynn, who had already prepared her bow and arrow, quickly aimed it and fired off a rapid shot at the chevaliers above! The arrow zoomed through the air towards the head of the chevalier on the furthest left and hit straight in his mask, right between his visors! Fortunately for the man, he escaped the near death experience as his steel mask was enough to stop the powerful arrow as it bounced off him, leaving a dent in between his eyes; but not without violently knocking his head backwards as he stumbled into the wall behind, accidentally discharging his rifle! Vashi was next to act, rushing in front of her mistress, Serphia, as well as Rithrynn, before conjuring a magical barrier between them and the group of chevaliers. As the remaining two shooters fired off their muskets, the bullets dissipated and lost all momentum as they passed through the barrier, the lead bullets merely plonking down on the barrack floor! The battle mage however launched a vicious fireball towards the group, which exploded as it crashed into Vashi's barrier, destroying it and launching sparks and fiery tendrils in every direction! While all of this was going on, Serphia had thrust one of her swords into the wooden beam next to her before she motioned to the Sentinel standing behind her to give her her spear. Holding it in one hand above her shoulder, she pulled the spear behind her while stepping forward before violently throwing the spear through the fiery inferno left behind by the combination of Vashi's barrier and the battlemage's fireball! The spear flew up to the second level, biting off a chunk of wood as it glanced the banister; before going straight up into the upper belly of the battlemage, a good portion of the spear tip chewing through his armor to penetrate his ribcage as he was thrown back! "I think you severely overestimated their defenses." Serphia commented to Sharon as she marched forward through the hall with long step, picking up her sword which she had buried into one of the nearby wooden beams. Up above, the remaining chevaliers had all sought cover from the arrows from the rest of the sentinels that now peppered the banister; either to reload their cumbersome flintlock firearms or to see to their wounded comrades. Walking into the corridor that Sharon had pointed at, the rest of the group followed shortly behind their captain, Rithrynn and Vashi still sticking close to Serphia. "What was the point of that climb if we're simply going back down again?" Came a slight complaint from Rithrynn as they spotted a door leading down to a staircase. "Unless you intended to get that little beardling to blow us into the core of this reef, then the climb was necessary." Serphia was quick to answer, kicking in the door only to stare down into a long drop through a deep shaft no less than seventy feet straight down, with only a small staircase no more than three feet wide built into the wall leading in a spiral down to the bottom! Taking a step closer to the edge, Serphia threw Sharon an odd look. "Did you say something about 'safety'?"

“Keep up, would you!?” Liaena gasped as she rounded the corner of yet another crate, to make for the door Hester had pointed out. “I’m am, the air is just foul” Bella wheezed, hard on her heels as the girl chanced a glance behind her. “Crap! The mage’s seen us!” “What!?” Liaena barely had the chance to look back as the spell rocketed towards them. Diving for cover behind another pile of boxes, whatever it was impacted against their cover and sending a shower of sparks towards the roof. Liaena silently blessed the huge piles of junk and their small stature as she looked over at the door, now not so very far away. “I’ll get them, milady!” “Watch it---!” “Gah! GIANTS!” Liaena and Bella scattered as the crates were unceremoniously pushed aside by the servant girl, who towered over them like a mountain. Liaena found herself ducking and weaving as she dodged from the girls clumsy grabs, while keeping one eye on the door that now wasn’t so far away at all. “Dammit! Get out of the way, girl!” The mage cursed as she ran towards the serving girl, as Liaena backed away from the huge boots advancing on her, turned and dived for the thin crack separating the door from the stone tiles. Bella glanced frantically at the crack as her companion slithered under it, looked back at the mage and evidently decided to opt for the lesser of two evils as she also made a mad run for it. “They went in here!” The servant girl called back to her mistress as she rattled the door handle frantically. The door initially failed to budge before she yanked back the heavy bolt and pulled it open with a creak. “Come back here! Or I’ll…!” The girl’s voice tailed as she stared down the dark corridor, only lit by the glow of the room behind her casting odd shadows onto the floor. Behind her, a small owl emerged from a stack of crates to flutter over her head and swoop down the corridor with a brief ‘cluck’ of thanks left behind her. “Where does this go…? …”

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!"

"And here I thought dwarves were known for their bravery to the point of recklessness." Serphia was quick to comment at Smokey's small retreat from the White Hand squad down the corridor, the Night Elven Captain glowering down at the dwarf with an unimpressed look on her face. "No wonder you are still stuck fighting Troggs and Trolls." Turning to the corner leading into the corridor where the White Hand soldiers were gathering, Serphia rushed forward as the rest of her sentinels reached the bottom of the stairs behind her. They did not afford getting into a stalemate. The White Hand blocking their way would soon be reinforced by a band of mercenaries coming from the barrack upstairs, something that would trap them in a pincer attack. The time of caution and deliberation had long since passed; now was the time for unrestrained aggression and an all out attack! "To me, warriors! We will break their line!" Serphia called out, as Vashi lunged out with her staff; creating a small carpet of smoke at the entrance to the corridor that the sentinels used to rush through. Rithrynn had already dashed past Serphia and Sharon, with another arrow ready in her bow. Running through the magical mist, the moment she appeared on the other side, she immediately raised her bow to take aim at the White Hand line. But rather than aiming for the two bulky armored knights who made up their front line, she instead aimed past the one on the right; at the battle mage who was channeling on a spell behind them. Letting the arrow go with a forceful 'twang!', the serrated arrow flew past the bracing shield of the knight, and instead hit the battle mage straight in the lower shoulder where his breastplate and shoulderpad intersected. The man fell back with a grunt of pain, and soon all of the Night Elves, with Serphia in the lead; charged towards the knights! Serphia, who was first in the group, made a leaping kick towards the shield of the rightmost knight! As the almost eight feet large Night Elf crashed at full force into his shield with the flat of her foot, it was enough to push the knight backwards and to the side. The man refused to give much ground, being quick to absorb the energy from the kick and reposition himself, but Serphia's charge had left an opening in their line that she used to charge past them as she headed straight for the men in the back! The chevalier with the buckler and rapier was first to meet the incoming Captain, but as he prepared to meet her dual blades, an arrow flew past Serphia to hit him in his chestplate! The arrow embedded itself in his steel plate, but did not penetrate through; merely pushing the man back slightly. But this minor distraction was all that Serphia required to bring her swords around in a lightning fast scissor like motion around the man's shoulders! Although he attempted to deflect them with his rapier, his defense was overwhelmed by the ferocity of Serphia's attack as his blade was pushed aside, before Serphia's dual swords closed in around his neck to sever the man's head in one fluid motion! The man's head had barely begun to fall towards the ground when Serphia raised her foot to kick the headless body of the chevalier backwards and into the battle mage behind him who was now trying to get back up; knocking him back into the floor as the headless corpse of his comrade landed on him! Behind Serphia, the two knights had long since been surrounded by the Night Elves! One of the Sentinels who had gotten behind one of them had managed to ram a dagger into the joint of the knight's left arm, before quickly dodging away as the man retaliated with a swing from his hammer! The knights had been forced back to back as the Sentinels surrounded them, probing them for any weakness or openings while staying away from their slow and cumbersome swings! Up above however, the first White Hand chevalier could be seen stepping onto the stairs up above! The man quickly spotted the fighting going on below, as he pointed down on them. Rithrynn, who had been about to fire off another arrow, snapped her head around to look at Alissah, Liam and Smokey. "By the goddess, be of some use and get those reinforcements off our asses!"

“Here, Hester! Over here!”

Bella threw a worried look back down the corridor as the small square of light in the distance turned into a dazzling beam that shone down the passageway, casting huge dark shadows as they huddled against the wall. “They’re going to catch up, Li. We can’t outrun them”

“Tell me something I don’t know – get over here, you useless chicken!” Liaena snarled up at the ceiling. “We don’t have the time for this! I know you can see in the dark!”

…

The darkness remained obstinately silent, save only for the audibly angry words of the arch mage back at the mouth of the passageway, as she more or less shoved the hapless Aurora down the corridor. Liaena ground her teeth as she gave up on her fruitless pet-summoning and turned to run again, dragging an unwilling Bella with her. “Fine then. Plan B”

Grabbing a vial out of her satchel with her free hand, the girl yanked the cork out with her teeth to gulp down a hasty mouthful as she ran. The results were almost immediate as she suddenly grew, almost stumbling on the stone floor but just managing to keep her pace as she regained her normal – if insignificant – size. Maintaining her grip with her other hand, Liaena curled her arm against her body to shield Bella, now sitting dazed in her palm. “…what…?”

“There! Get her!”

Came the cry from the mage behind her as a spell rippled through the air and hit square in the small of her back. Liaena felt a cold chill as the temperature of the chain-mail she was wearing fell dramatically, the cold seeping through her undershirt into her skin. For the time being however, that was apparently the only effect.

Bella got a very undignified toss into Liaena’s cloak pocket as the girl yanked another vial out of her pocket. Sparing a moment to check the label, Liaena then lobbed the vial over her shoulder like a bomb for it to shatter on the corridor floor between herself and her pursuers. Almost immediately a cloud of opaque green gas seeped out of it to start filling up the corridor, exactly like the stuff downstairs.

“Light! I need a light!”

Liaena hissed as she fished in her pocket while stumbling through the corridor, the gas behind her having blocked out nearly all light from Juliet’s spell in addition to confusing their pursuers. The result was the corridor was nearly pitch black against once more, the only glow being from the green cloud behind them that was rapidly spreading.

“You suck!” Bella stuck her head out of her pocket for no reason other than to complain as Liaena frantically fished in them for a flint-stone. “I’ve got gunk in my hair! Do you ever wash this robe!? I…”

-BLAM-

Bella’s words were violently cut off as she narrowly escaped being flattened against the stone wall, Liaena’s cloak flapping out of the way as she ran straight into the end of the corridor and solid stone. Staggering back, Liaena shook her head as she nursed the lump on it. “Ow.”

“….You ok?”

“Yeah. Night Elves hit harder.” Liaena said dourly. Looking around them, she could tell from the faint glow that Bella was now finally conjuring that the corridor at this point split into a T to lead off in two directions. Inconveniently, they were not signposted. “Great.”

“Cluck”

“…..you rotten, useless bird” Liaena growled as she turned to look at Hester, who was giving her a blatant ‘who me?’ look where she was perched on the floor half way down the left hand fork. “Fine then. Lead on, great leader”

"Lead on, great leader”

Just as Liaena had finished her last word, a distant swishing sound could be heard from the corridor behind Hester, just before a longer, gleaming metal object fast approached the owl from behind!

Hester barely had time to get away as the flying Runeblade flew straight past her and into the ground where she had been, sliding across the floor but not without slicing some of her tail feathers clean off! In the split second that the cursed blade of the Runeblade passed close to the owl, it was almost as if the unholy magic contained within the red runes of the blade reached out as small wounds formed on the skin beneath her feathers on the side she was facing the blade!

As it missed, the blade continued to slide across the floor with great strength, sparks flying before it lodged itself into a stone corner with a loud noise!

A silence ensued after Hester had been almost sliced in half by the Runeblade, an eerie silence falling over the corridor, before the sound of two steel boots clamping down against the floor in a casual walk could be heard from the corridor on the left.

Emerging out from the shrouding darkness was the figure of an armored chevalier, quietly walking towards them before pausing. His white cloak and armor was as neat and polished as that of any of his colleagues, but his breastplate carried a heavy dent and partial penetration from what had seemed to be an axe! The damage, however, did not seem to bother the chevalier in the slightest. Nor did the darkness seem to impact him. His mask slowly moved towards Liaena who was standing in the corridor, and as his dark, empty visors focused on her, it could almost feel as if she was looking down into a bottomless abyss.

Extending his metal glove outwards towards the corner, the Runeblade suddenly began to twitch; before shooting out of the bricks to fly back into his hand!

A churning noise emanated from his hand as he clenched his fist around the handle of the Runeblade, the blood red runes along the blade glowing brightly; almost as if they could sense the presence of Liaena, Bella and Hester. The magical tendrils that danced around the blade seemed to drift in the direction of Liaena and the rest, as if they had some kind of hunger.

Suddenly, the peculiar chevalier stepped forward with one steel boot, and with the blade extended to his right side, he dashed towards them with a surprising quick and furious charge!

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

"By the goddess, be of some use and get those reinforcements off our asses!"

"Quiet yer yap and keep shooting! I'm working on it!" Smokey shouted angrily back at Rithrynn, unpacking a bundle of dynamite, plastic explosives and a bronze watch knitted together by an elaborate, if unstable, set of wires.

"Gimme that!" Smokey exclaimed as he all of a sudden reached for Alissah's hook-shot, snatching it from her before the woman could object!

"That's not yours!"

Attaching the explosive package to the bundle, Smokey aimed it at the bottom of the stairs at the top of the long shaft before firing the hook shot and letting it go. As the hook attached itself to the bottom of the staircase, the rest of the device and rope soon followed; until both the device and package were now stuck to the bottom of the staircase!

"Saynora, you fools!" Smokey laughed out as he tipped his cigar.

...

...

But nothing happened.

Alissah, who had originally been looking up at the top of the stairs where her hook-shot alongside Smokey's own explosives now lay plastered below the stairs, would turn to throw the dwarf next to her an ice cold gaze.

"You forgot to set the timer, didn't you?" She asked with a tone so cold that it could have frozen the molten core of Blackrock mountain!

"Nuh! Nah! It was suppos'd tha blow!" Smokey replied, waving his arms in disappointment.

"Bloody,-"

"With me, men!"

*BOOOOOOM!*

However, Smokey soon got his wish as just when a White Hand officer had stepped out onto the stairs with sword in hand, his bomb exploded! The stone stairs below the officer's feet were blown apart and disintegrated, while the man was thrown with a scream across the shaft; to land with his back on the stairs on the opposite end, roll downwards for some ten steps, slip off the edge, and fall twenty feet down to the bottom of the the shaft where Smokey and Alissah stood; a heavy 'thunk' being created as he hit the stone floor in his armor and helmet.

"See, I told ye it would work!" Smokey laughed triumphantly while holding his cigar in one hand, looking up at Alissah. Alissah was quietly looking down at the man who had fallen right in front of them, a painful moan emanating from his helmet as the man could barely move, the air literally having been knocked right out of him!

"I guess they won't be using that way anymore... unless they intend to do as him." Alissah idly commented as she motioned down towards the officer lying at their feet.
" ... in which case they wouldn't present much of a problem anyway."

With one Chevalier already down and their battle mage stunned, Serphia had already leapt to engage the three others. This time however another one of her sentinels had managed to catch up with the ferocious assault of their Captain, falling in on the Captain's side as she engaged the first chevalier armed with simple sword and shield.

The chevalier was quick to put himself into the defensive as the 8ft tall Night Elven captain came straight for him with two bloodied blades, raising his shield and stepping back as the first strike glanced across his shield with a force enough to rip the paint off the metal surface! On his left and right, his two comrades were quick to enter into the fight, one wielding a larger, two-handed sword and the other a lighter sword and pistol.

But while the first chevalier was stepping back and away from Serphia, her attention suddenly switched from him and towards one of his approaching allies instead!

As the third chevalier was raising his right hand carrying his pistol for a point blank range shot against Serphia, Serphia had already slashed her right blade out in an upward strike towards his hand. His finger pulled the trigger, but only just after Serphia's blade had hit his hand; effectively slicing off two of his fingers in a clean cut and mangling a third as the pistol was pushed aside and upwards and the shot missed!

The man was about to scream in pain at the received injury, but never received the chance as Serphia had launched her other blade in a forward thrust towards the bottom of his helmet; burying her sword into the side of his neck before immediately retreating it, leaving the man to stumble back with blood gushing out beneath his helmet.
In the meantime, the two other chevaliers had attempted a counter attack, but the sentinel accompanying Serphia had already intervened with her spear, making a lightning fast jab towards the incoming shieldbearer before swiping it around in a dangerous arc towards the claymore wielding chevalier who was forced to stop and parry!

While the sentinel interrupted the two chevaliers, Serphia had spun around to strike at the side of the shield bearer! Although the man managed to react in time to block the initial strike, he did not notice Serphia's leg past his shield that came from below to knock his feet right out from under him! While he fell, Serphia moved to switch place with her spear wielding sister who quickly moved in to ram her spear down into the torso of the fallen chevalier, while the Captain herself continued her unrelenting assault against the claymore wielder!

In the meantime, Rithrynn had ignored whatever commentary that the dwarf might have had about her more than reasonable demand! Instead, her eyes were fixed on the two heavily armored White Hand mercenaries who were now fighting back to back.

Their heavy armor, alongside large shields and defensive teamplay made it difficult for any of her sisters to inflict any deadly blows. Instead, they had formed a semi circle around them were they merely probed for opportunities - of which there were few!

"Great, just great, humans and their fetish for overly big sets of armor! ... what would Liaena have done?"

Rithrynn thought to herself as she aimed another arrow, deciding to shoot past the White Hand heavies and into the flank of the claymore wielding chevalier who was just about to defend himself against Serphia, an action that had some rather horrific consequences for the former. But that was when Rithrynn's eyes suddenly lighted up, and she turned around to face Alissah and Smokey.

"Sorry, I just need these for a moment." Rithrynn quickly explained as she reached out to snatch a pair of dynamite sticks from Smokey's bag. From her understanding, the dwarf had plenty, and wouldn't miss just two!

... even if one of the sticks were fairly big.

Although she had never really used explosives before, at least not intentionally, she had seen them used a couple of times, both in potion form and more conventional powder form. The mechanics were simple enough. Apply fire and make distance!

"Oh, and I need that one as well."

Rithrynn was quick to mention, even if almost as an afterthought, as she reached out to steal Smokey's cigar which she used to light the dynamite. Except that it was not the fuse she set on fire.

"Bronzebeard's balls - that's the wrong way, lassie!" Smokey exclaimed as Rithrynn used the cigar to put fire on the canvas at the butt of the dynamite, which quickly began to burn in a vigorous flame that began to spread to the rest of the stick! On the bright side at least, her lack of expertise within handling explosives were compensated for by her reflexes as she had already tossed the heavy stick towards the two White Hand mercenaries that were shielding one another. Upon seeing the burning stick of dynamite flying through the air, her sisters that had surrounded them were quick to retreat back immediately!

The two heavily armored knights noticed it as well, but with the short fuse(or more correctly, no fuse!) and their heavy armor and shields, were unable to run away in time before the dynamite exploded and send them both flying like steel ragdolls!

Serphia had just smashed the claymore out of the hands of the chevalier she was facing when one of the knights suddenly came flying smoking through the air to knock the chevalier aside, before the knight smashed into the floor only to slide a couple of meters further down along the corridor.

The Captain, who had just seen her defenseless target knocked senseless by the human cannonball, merely blinked for a moment before lowering her swords, and giving Rithrynn an annoyed look.

"What that you?"

"Eh, quick solutions, mistress! We're in a hurry!" Rithrynn explained as she ran across the corridor and past Serphia.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to ask for directions!" Rithrynn answered, as she jumped over to where one of the knights had landed, his armor now dented and literally smoking. There wasn't much movement from him as he lay on the ground, except for the occasional painful grunt. Placing one boot on his shoulder, Rithrynn squatted down over him to grab the bottom of his helmet to pull it up. The man behind it looked like he was pacing back and forth between unconsciousness and consciousness, his eyes literally looking in every direction!

"Wake up!" Rithrynn called out to the White Hand knight as she began to slap him with her steel glove!

"Don't play with the enemy!" Serphia called out as she cleaned her blades against her cloak.

"Uhh... whh... " The knight emitted, his eyes slowly becoming focused on the large, purple face that was hovering over him.

"Where's the dungeon?!" Rithrynn asked loudly.

"I... I would rather die than tell you anything, wench!" The knight called back defiantly from here he lay beaten on the floor. Rithrynn's face turned into a sour pout at his reply, before the sentinel suddenly held up the second stick of dynamite that she had gotten from Smokey's bag. Placing it down into his helmet right next to his face, Rithrynn then nodded as she lowered Smokey's cigar to light the fuse.

"Wish granted!" She said, before lighting the fuse and closing the helmet. A reaction soon followed from the knight, as he began to shake and twitch around in his armor.

"No! NO WAIT! I'LL TALK! I'LL TALK! NO MORE BOOM-BOOM!" The man's muffled voice sounded from beneath his heavy helmet, as Rithrynn reached down once again to open the helmet, but left the fuse still burning.

"Oh, where?" She asked, a small smirk forming on her lips. The knight quickly rose his still functional arm in the air, using his thumb to point down towards the stairs at the end of the corridor while screaming out the details!

"Down t-there, keep going, then a left, then right at the crossroad, and you're there! I swear it's true!" He desperately pleaded! Rithrynn, seeming content with the answer, moved two fingers down to extinguish the fuse next to his face.

"Thanks!" She replied, before raising an arm and launching her steel fist right down into the man's face, knocking him out cold on the spot!

Behind her, having spectated the little interrogation, the rest of the Night Elves had gathered. Serphia, having her first blade and put it back into its sheath, smiled as she looked down at Rithrynn.

"I see the time spent with monkeys has made you more apt in communication with them." Serphia remarked with a sly grin.

"Eh... I think the fear of having your head blown up is quite universal, actually. Heh... eheh." Rithrynn replied as she straightened her back up to meet her Captain in a more ceremonious position. Serphia nodded, before her facial expression suddenly turned a lot more serious again as she looked to the rest of the Night Elves.

"That's enough celebration! We have the location of the dungeon. Get your butts moving, unless you want that midget beating us to the punch!" Serphia called out as she motioned for the rest of the group to advance further inwards!

But as she was about to walk forward, she paused to glare down at the little High Elf who was sitting in her hood.

"And if you want me to continue carrying you around, you better contribute more in fights." Serphia said with a threatening tone as she stared down at Sharon.
"Otherwise I would probably be better off with you in my ass than balancing you on my shoulder!"

Bella made a noise somewhere between a gasp and a strangled squeak as Liaena stared at the peculiar chevalier, gaze fixating on the blade in its hand. The runes on the blade appeared to rearrange themselves as she stared, crawling up and down the steel in a deeply disquieting fashion. While she had no idea what language they were from, she was increasingly sure as she watched them that they meant: to cause pain, anguish, tor–

“LI! MOVE!”

Liaena snapped abruptly back to reality at Bella’s shriek, stumbling back as the chevalier charged towards them. “Oh crap”

Sliding the blade towards the girl’s unprotected neck with killer intent, the runeblade glanced away with a burst of fire to slide across the glowing shield that had appeared around the girl to protect her. For a moment Liaena stared in bafflement at the sight, glancing at the hand she had brought up in a reflexive gesture to shield herself. “….did I do....that…?”

“…………”

“Would you get a grip! DEAL with him, would you!?” Bella screamed from where she was trying to make herself as small as possible inside her breast pocket.


“I’m working on it!” Liaena snapped back a lot more ferociously than she might otherwise have done under the circumstances, backing away from the creature while patting her pockets down for Allissah’s dart. Behind them, faint swears and curses emanated from the cloud of gas that she had laid down in the corridor, however eventually the mage would inevitably find her way through and they would be equal numbers – if the creature she was dealing with now even counted as ‘one’. Liaena remembered vividly the results of the duel with Doin, and the large dent in the creatures armour told that tale loud and clear. “If this takes long, we’re going to lose this”

The blade slid towards them with vicious speed. Liaena hit the ground in record time as the blade whooshed over her head, long barrelled shot gun appearing out of nowhere in her hand as she pushed the barrel up into his midriff and squeezed off a total of five shots.

BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM

The goo balls hammered into the peculiar chevaliers chest, knocking him back against the wall. The event was obviously little more of a mild inconvenience to him as he glowered at the girl, pushing his way out of the material as strands of glue strained and snapped.

“Now what…?”

Bella whispered somewhere around her midriff. Liaena had that unpleasant feeling of falling rise up again as she stared into the darkness of his visor, before shaking her head to clear it as she backed away. “We run”

There was a pained cluck from the little white owl as she landed heavily on the floor, holding one wing at an awkward angle as the long flight and tail feathers on one side were viciously sheared off half way down. An outraged squawk immediately followed as Liaena caught her up to hold her to her chest with one hand, before starting to leg it away from the chevalier down the corridor he had come from.

"Are you always this charming when handing out threats?" Sharon inquired with a soft smirk as he gazed back up at Serphia's menacing face that was right beside him, seeming awfully relaxed about it all.
"I did not wish to come between you and your prey, but if you insist; I can lend you my help."

Sharon replied as he casually moved his gaze away and towards the corridor ahead of them. Although he did not meet her eyes anymore, he could almost literally feel the fury that emanated from them and pierced against his neck!

"Good job with the intel, Rithrynn. We'll take that path." Sharon then turned his attention to Rithrynn, giving her a pleased nod with his head. Although Rithrynn's little interrogation with the White Hand knight had been anything but courteous, her communication skills did indeed seem to have increased. It was perhaps not such a surprising thing, given the time she had spent together with Liaena.

"Let's not delay. Any moment we waste is just the more risk to the lives of both the hostage we are here to rescue as well as Liaena's party."

Sharon said as he pointed towards the direction given by the White Hand Knight. Although part of him wondered if he had played Serphia's temper too far, he was slightly, however privately, relieved as the Night Elves kept continued to journey down in the given direction. Right behind them followed Liam and Smokey. Alissah had snuck her way to the front of the group, seemingly not being content sitting back at the rear as her eyes vigilantly scanned the corridors and darkened walkways that they passed through.

It was becoming apparent that they were no longer in the castle on top of the reef anymore, as the corridors that they walked through had been carved directly out of the reef itself; with only the ground being paved with heavy stone slabs.

As they followed the spiraling stairs and pathways further down into the reef, the air became noticeably more colder and humid. The corridors became darker, and there was barely any lighting whatsoever down here. Sharon had been about to conjure a magical light from his staff when he remembered that blinding Serphia would not buy him any favors with her, and so convinced Vashi to light the way with her magic instead.

"They are coming this way!"
"Hurry, shut the door to the catacombs; now!"

Suddenly sounded some distant voices echoing through the corridor further ahead, as soon they entered into a large open cave space leading to two heavy iron doors, and just in time to see two chevaliers, lead by an officer, pull them shut before them! A small tremor could be heard as they collided together, and a mechanical clank could be heard from the surrounding walls as the lock mechanism of the door activated.

"I see they realized that fighting us wouldn't work." Sharon commented, however slightly irritated he might have been at the sudden obstruction. Turning to Smokey, he motioned from Serphia's shoulder towards the door.
"Would you mind?"

"With pleasure!" Smokey exclaimed happily.
"I'm a specialist in finding ways... or, making ways, rather. Stay back, ladies. This'll be loud!" Smokey snickered as the dwarf scurried towards the heavy metal doors and began unpacking his equipment from his satchel.

The doors themselves in question were built into a heavy stone structure within the very cave, and adorned with imagery of skulls and bones in a macabre fashion that flowed from edge to edge.

"A castle is one thing, but a catacomb... I have to say, my brother surprises me yet again." Sharon commented as he gazed up at the wicked imagery, leaning against Serphia's head regardless of the Captain's opinion about it.

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

It was a quiet, almost systematic struggle that defined the peculiar chevalier's escape from the mass of goo that bound him to the wall. Ripping and tearing the main mass away with his metal gloves, he walked right out of the rest of the goo; some of it still clinging and slinking after his clothes and armor as he stepped back out into the middle of the corridor again.

Facing towards the direction that Liaena had run off to, he turned and would walk after her in a fast march; his Runeblade close in hand next to him as he stalked the corridors!

Further ahead, Liaena soon found herself running into another section of the complex within the reef. This new area appeared to be a catacomb, rising about twelve feet into the air above her and separated into numerous smaller corridors, empty sanctums and small halls. Empty shelves were carved into the masonry of the walls, seemingly anticipating coffins in the not so distant future. Only a few of the catacomb's shelves were filled with heavy stone coffins, all of whom were shut tight.

There was almost no light whatsoever in the catacombs, short of the occasional sconce or brazier burning in a ghostly blue light that illuminated small parts of the catacombs with a haunting light.

An eerie silence pierced the darkened hallways and corridors of the catacombs, a quiet so intense that one could hear one's own heartbeat. But the silence was occasionally interrupted by the voices of three men somewhere further inside the catacombs, shouting something about a door and barricades.

"... I have to say, my brother surprises me yet again."

"Given that you have let him build himself so strong in your very home city makes me suspect that him surprising you is rather normal by now." Serphia commented while also gazing up at the grim doors to the catacomb with her arms folded together beneath her chest. When the smaller High Elf leaned against her cheek, Serphia couldn't resist cocking her head to the side, slightly squeezing Sharon down into her shoulder!

With the pause in their advance throughout the underground complex, the sentinels had dispersed throughout the room. Some were standing alongside Rithrynn and Serphia and watching the door as the dwarf worked on it from a distance, others had gone to take a seat on some nearby stone slabs, while the ones in the back had turned to face the way they had come from to set up an overwatch.

"Why do they need a catacomb in the first place?" Sounded a question from one of the sentinels behind Serphia.
"I thought that big church thing they had back in the city was where they took the bodies of the dead."

"I believe they call it a Cattydral or something." Commented another one of the sentinels.

"Big difference!"

Serphia, who had been leaning her head on top of Sharon, ceased and straightened her head back up while moving one ear towards the sentinels behind her.

"He is a Death Knight. Maybe he is making a secret undead army down here?" Rithrynn suggested, gaining her the attention of many of her sisters, including Serphia.

"Undead. You heard that, human?" Serphia spoke more loudly as she directed her voice towards Liam in the back.
"Maybe before this is over, you will have a chance to put that little 'light' of yours to some use!"

Serphia exclaimed in a mocking tone, as a faint snicker could be heard from the rest of the sentinels standing around Liam! Rithrynn, who was standing next to Liam, took a step towards the human to place an arm on his shoulder.

"Eh, it really shouldn't be so difficult." Rithrynn said in a lower voice as she leaned towards Liam.
"I know one human who was even smaller than you, and she had no trouble dealing with undead! Just, trust your instincts, and I'm sure you will not be possessed by any evil, unholy spirits that will turn you against us or send you in an unholy rampage to destroy parts of the city you care for."

Liam, who had been looking at the doors with a slightly glazed over stare, cast a now slightly more worried glance up at Rithrynn at her comment. “….is that likely?”

“…...”

Receiving nothing but blank stares from the other sentinels at this, the man turned slightly more pale as he took a step forward towards the door Smokey was now busily wedging dynamite sticks into. “Well. I’ll make an effort not to do that then”

*

“Who puts catacombs in a fortress?” Bella enquired in an nervous, over-loud whisper. The mini priestess was now comfortably riding in the girl’s breast pocket, her comment the only sound in the tomb other than Liaena’s gasps as she ran, and the distant shouting.

“Maybe…they didn’t want to pay Cathedral rent?” Liaena suggested breathlessly, as she eased Hester into a more comfortable position where she was riding in her bag. The owl was looking more upset at the loss of her most glamorous tail-feathers than she was pained from her injury as she returned the girl’s favour with a nip. The little ex-priestess was rather glad she was preoccupied with the task of fleeing such obvious Bad News, as it allowed her to distract herself from how much the tombs truly gave her the creeps. “….who would Sherpa keep in a place like this?”

“Get that extra bar in! For the love of the Light man, put your back into it!”

Skidding to a half at the nearby shouts, Liaena crept closer to the side of a shelf - empty, aside for one coffin on the very far end and started to stalk quietly along it towards the voices.

Of the three men trying their hardest to strap every additional reinforcement that they could lay hands on to the huge iron doors, one appeared to be the leader and was also the one doing most of the yelling at the other two. Of the others, one man appeared to be particularly ill at ease as he perpetually glanced behind him at the dark halls. “….I think I saw movement back there, Sarge”

“Nothing in here alive except us, man – and we won’t be that either less you put your back into it” the Sergeant snapped back as Liaena peeked around the edge of the shelves at them. Watching them, a distinctly mean idea couldn’t help but spawn in her mind as she quietly produced a small spherical bomb out of her satchel, crouching it down to roll it quietly along the floor towards them.

Hester meanwhile, ruffled her – remaining – feathers angrily at being so rudely disturbed in Liaena’s quest for her bomb. Fluffing up like an ill-intentioned pom-pom, the bird let out the most horrendous screech into the dark. “BWAAAAAAAARRRK!”

“GAAAH!”

The nervous chevalier jumped about half a metre into the air at the noise as he dropped his end of the heavy beam he was carrying in his shock. The other let out a horrible scream of pain that merged beautifully with the little owl sounds as the solid wood slipped out of his fingers and landed on his foot. “AHHHH!”

-psssshhhhhhhhh-

Having trundled all the way over to the three men now thoroughly distracted, there was a quiet ‘click’ inside the bomb before it started to emit a cloud of white smoke that rose up ominously around the three men. One of them already cursing and clutching his foot, the nervy guard let out a croak that sounded like ‘I knew it’, as the sergeant stared furiously around them now holding his sabre. “Who’s there! Show yourself, or I swear I’ll –“

BLAM

Flying through the air like a Frisbee, the solid stone coffin nailed the sergeant square in the abdomen and sending him rocketing back, plus coffin, towards the heavy iron door.

On the other side, Smokey rubbed his hands together with satisfaction and started to back away from the door, ushering Liam back who had just stepped forward. Faint cries could be heard through the iron doors at this point, but the dwarf was oblivious to all but his own creation of loving destruction. “Stand back now, stand back Laydees ‘n gents. I don’t want any o’ my beauties to hurt ya. Least not till I’ve bin paid for this”

Liam allowed himself to be shunted back graciously, more preoccupied with staring at the door from which a very heavy ‘thud’ had just emitted. “Those sound too solid to be spirits”

BOOOOM

The dynamite stuck into the lock of the door detonated, sparking up and down the hinges and centreline of the doors in a chain reaction with the other explosives as they all went up at once, shattering the hinges from the wall and central bolts from each other! The doors quivered, before falling towards the Night Elven party with thunderous finality as the closest immediately jumped back.

Yanked back by the Night Elf he was standing next to (Rithrynn), Liam hit the ground just as what appeared to be a stone cannonball with a purple chevalier plastered to it rocketed out of the gloom and clean over his head. Serphia, who had remained resolutely upright and proud even in the force of the explosion, barely had time to widen her eyes in surprise before the coffin ploughed right into her stomach and sent her, plus chevalier, plus coffin, plastered against the opposite wall further down the corridor.

“Hrm.”

Liaena muttered as she stared into the clouds of smoke and dust, quietly debating the explosive power of her assault which she was reasonable sure had started off lower than what had just transpired. The girl stepped over two groaning chevaliers as she cautiously moved towards the doorway. Waving away the smog a long eared shadow reared up in the gloom which became Rithrynn, Liam coughing away the dust under one arm.

“…Hi Rithrynn” Liaena said finally, a smirk appearing on her face as she looked at the Night Elf. Surveying the scene, her eyes passed over the general destruction, the regrouping elves clambering to their feet and Serphia working at dislodging herself from under a coffin with her face black as thunder before she pointed at a chevalier at her feet. “Uh, that was him”

“That was you” Bella remarked snidely from her shoulder. Liaena cast her a black look, before stabbing a finger down at the chevalier. “Ok, but because of him. Do try to keep up”

Standing on top of Serphia's shoulder, Sharon might have felt a little untouchable and above most threats short of Serphia's own ire. However, what the High Elf could not really expect would be the flying stone coffin that shot out from behind the door in the middle of the explosion, and headed straight for the Captain.

Much like Serphia, Sharon barely had time to raise a brow as he stood on Serphia's shoulder, before the coffin hit. When he blinked, he realized that he was no longer standing on Serphia's shoulder anymore, the Night Elf having been cannoned through the room by the flying coffin traveling at an explosive express speed, only to crash into one of the walls behind them! While Sharon had simply been standing on the Captain, and not in any way attached to her whatsoever, he had not escaped all ill.

Without the Captain's shoulder to stand on, he soon realized that he was standing eight feet up in thin air in the absence of a large Night Elf below him. And for a High Elf no more than a few inches, that was a big drop.

"Well shiiIIAAAIIIIII!" Sharon exclaimed as he began to fall, threatening to land face flat onto the stone floor before re positioning himself mid air to land gracefully on his feet and hands. His much reduced size had at least garnered him much more sympathy from the laws of gravity.

"The bigger they are the harder they fall... "

Sharon thought as he looked back on Serphia, before facing to look back at the floor.

" ... I'm glad it works the other way around as well."

Where the mysterious coffin had come from in the first place was an enigma, or at least it was until Sharon saw the next person to walk out from the dust and raining debris from the catacombs.

"Liaena, it's good to see safe and sound!" Sharon exclaimed as he walked forward with his staff, waving up at the girl who at the moment was like a giant. Standing next to an even bigger giant, Rithrynn! Indeed, while standing at their feet, Rithrynn's already minimalistic sentinel uniform did not exactly become any less revealing.

But however joyful the High Elf may have been to see Liaena, he soon gained a more confused expression as he looked up at Liaena.

"But... our, 'intel' suggested that that the dungeon was this way... so what are you doing down here? Did you find any trace of Kathlin yet?"

" ... Elu,-"

*THOMP*

*CRASH!*

Serphia gasped as all the air in her body was knocked straight out of her as she crashed into the rocky wall with a loud crash! Simply sitting there for a moment, with a large, heavy stone coffin resting on her lap and with a chevalier sandwiched in between the Night Elven Captain and said coffin, Serphia gazed across the room in confusion.

Some of her sentinels who had gotten back on their feet after being knocked on their asses by the maniac dwarf's explosion, carefully approached their Captain to look down at her.

" ... are you okay, mistress?"

But as Serphia drew her first breath since the explosion, they all took a step back as fury filled her silver eyes. Placing her hands at either side of the coffin in an iron grip, Serphia shoved it off her and forward with an impressive display of strength, a power most likely stemming from the absolute hatred that was burning in her eyes!

“Uh, that was him”

Serphia had grabbed the chevalier, who was currently muttering some intelligible gibberish, before tossing him aside as she stood back up!

"Moron... " Serphia seethed as her eyes fixed upon the new arrival, Liaena. Marching past her sentinels, all of whom gave her a wide berth, she headed straight for the little black haired human!
"What do you think you are doin,-"

But before the menacing Captain could approach Liaena, Rithrynn had thrown herself into Serphia's path; blocking her by propping herself up against her, something that resembled a failing dam trying to hold back a tide. A tide of revenge and righteous retribution!

"No, mistress! Could we please delay any summary executions until after the mission?!" Rithrynn pleaded with a weak smile as she looked up at her Captain, who was minutes away from simply walking over her.
"Besides, I'm sure there's plenty of baddies for you to take your anger on just in the next room!"

"This is the LAST time I put up with that degenerated midget and hairless monkey! Step out of my way, or else!"

*

"So... how did you end up here exactly?" Shani casually asked through the neverending darkness, to Falere who was lying just above her; both sentinels finding themselves deep within Serphia's large rear.

" ... "

"It wasn't such a cool story, was it?"

" ... "

The purple haired ex-Lieutenant gave out an eerie silence as she sat around completely motionless, seemingly not even acknowledging Shani's very presence.

"I guess it wasn't... "

" ... "

"Heh, I sorta always suspected there was a secret relationship between you and the mistress. I guess I was right."

"There was NO relationship!" Falere sneered back, sending a foot to kick Shani in the head without warning.

"Ouch! ... aww, come on, I saw the looks she gave you after each muster. It was real passion! And you always went with her instead of us." Shani snickered, dodging yet another foot from Falere as the ex-lieutenant grinded her teeth together.

"Goddess, would you shut up!"

"I'm not judging! Mistress is a fine warrior!"

" ... "

"Considering how much you two love one another, this must be your dream situation! Hi-hi!"

"Shut! Up!" Falere suddenly roared, twisting and turning herself around to grab Shani and bring her head between her own thighs to squeeze her! Trying to counter, Shani grabbed and pulled her arms while kicking and squirming around with her legs.

"No, you're making too much commotion!" Shani cried out.

"I don't fucking care, you're toast, bitch!" Falere cried back as she amplified the assault to include hair pulling!

However, the two women immediately paused when suddenly the fleshy walls around them convulsed and they found themselves sliding upwards.

"Oh no, now you've gone and done it!"

"It's your fault!"

"No, it's... aaahhhh!"

Locked in their fight as they were, the two sentinels still let out simultaneous screams of anguish and dismay as the walls around them suddenly contracted and they were sent straight up, flying kicking and screaming further into the great darkness!

*

Serphia, whose eyes had originally burned like hellish candles as she glared down at Liaena from behind Rithrynn, suddenly changed to a much more neutral silver as she opened her mouth in a minor surprise. A strong sensation flowed through her body following the sudden fight between Shani and Falere. Placing a hand on Rithrynn's shoulder, Serphia looked awkwardly away from Liaena. Subtly squeezing her mighty butt together, she momentarily closed her eyes as she felt Falere and Shani travel to an even deeper plane within her ass! As they did, a faint set of cries could almost be heard in the silent room, and the Captain's lips turned into a small smirk.

"We'll... deal with this later." Serphia said with a much more distracted yet delighted voice as she looked back down at Liaena. Rithrynn, who initially looked surprised at her Captain's sudden change of mood, happily stepped back with a smile as she was relatively sure Serphia wouldn't immediately rip the head off Liaena!

Stepping past Rithrynn, Serphia bent over to pick up the tiny High Elf and placed Sharon back on her shoulder. Turning to the rest of her sentinels, her face grew much more strict once again.

"Form up, sisters, we still have a mission to do!"

Rae'liel - The Not-so-Honored Guest

Diplomacy and bureaucracy had never been her strong suit, and as the Guards overhead continued on their constant drivel, Rae'liel's scowl did little more than grow in distaste. From the corner of her eye, her fellow Blood Knights were equally unimpressed in every measure. To the Guard's request that they simply wait in line, the Blood Knight had only a few words to spare.

"I do not believe you understand the gravity of our request, guardsman." She began quietly, with the tension she possessed reverberating through the air to their ears. "You are standing before a Lieutenant of the Blood Knights from Shattrath. We are not some farmer's folly. We are here in fact, because of a diplomatic incident that needs to be discussed immediately." With a shift of one arm, the unfastening of a buckle or two, and the moving aside of some chainmail and silk cloth brought to bear a set of bloodstained bandages about her shoulder.

Silence seemed to settle as the Guards saw the stains of crimson and iron upon her shoulder. This Knight, in spite of grave injuries had rode forth to try and insure that this matter was brought to an even keel immediately, before anything else could worsen. At least, that is what it seemed, Rae'liel was not about to admit she got it in a scuffle with a Night Elven Captain. For now, she hoped this ruse would remain to be convincing enough.

"I, an identified neutral party in your kind's trivial war against the Horde was fired upon by your guards, and was injured as a result. I demand an audience with your King now. Before this escalates any further and before any unnecessary blood is lost." Returning her armor to where it should be properly placed, Rae'liel glowered furiously at the guards. "I am owed an immediate audience before the king with your accords set with the Naaru. Feel free to take the time to review the law, it will be there."

Amused even further, the Guards both chuckled and adamantly refused her entry. Perhaps taking joy in refusing the woman entry. With one final scowl as she looked up to the two, and she spun about on her heel, her cloak embroidered in crimson and black swirling about her as she remount atop the horse.

"Your King will hear of this."

Rae'liel was impatient, never having been one to wait a week, let alone three months to get a mission done. There was only one purpose to her life now and that was righteous vengeance. Allowing scum like a Death Knight to peacefully exist wasn't an option. She and her Six Knights stayed at the Golden Goose, and she wrote a letter to Liadrin. There was no other course but immediate action, an assault from above to sabotage and destroy the Death Knight's fortress from within.

Two days later, on the far outskirts of Elwynn Forest, a set of four unmarked, heavily armored, and heavily armed Copters designed by Scryer Gnomes sat in wait, and the Seven Blood Knights rode towards them, leaving the city behind them. There, the unmarked Copters started as each Knight changed into purely white armor. Armor that bore no mark nor any sort of allegiance to any governing party. Not the Horde, not the Naaru, not even the Scryers.

They were all here for their own action and purpose. They were all here to follow Rae'liel into hell itself if need be. Watching the ground beneath her shrink away, the four copters rose to dizzying heights, well beyond the reach of normal and magical weapons as they were little more than specks in the heavens above.

As they hovered high above, the hints of ongoing conflict below made Rae'liel smirk. It seemed at last that Sharon had grown enough of a spine to do something about his brother.

Garbled across the Copter's rudimentary communications system, Rae'liel whispered only a few commands. "We descend into hell, Knights. Feet first, but like the Phoenix of our people we shall rise. Stay together, work in unison, and we shall cut a swathe of death for our allies. Jump now. Copter units three and four, sweep their guns. One and two, do the same in short procession."

"Jump now."

Lofting from the sides of their Copters, the seven Knights descended at a maddeningly fast rate. White magic surrounded them as they fell faster in an increasing fervor. Magic that did not go unnoticed, as explosions of magic began to rupture the air about them. So focused were the seven, that they did not notice the pair of copters sweeping in from the horizon.

With a bone-jarring rattle, dozens of goblin-created rockets tore across the ceiling in a series of deafening explosions as the coptors swept overhead. Those who were fortunate enough to survive the devastation had only a split second to summon their nerves as the cannons that lined the tops off the walls were soon decimated by another series of rockets.

More importantly, this created a hole into the heart of the Fortress. Crashing through the top few stories of the structure first were the Knights. Each shining in brilliance of the Light's Protection as they landed hard but unscathed on the second floor of the fortress. There, chaos ensued as shields were brought up and in a ruthless advance they brutally slaughtered a dozen armed members of the White Hand who had only a split second to feebly defend themselves against the sudden surprise onslaught.

"Move now. To the stairs, up them we shall advance! TO ARMS DEATH KNIGHT. THE LIGHT COMES FOR YOU!"

"I want those copters down NOW!" Called a White Hand Captain who was overseeing the battle below from the taller battlements, as he pointed towards the copters in the sky.
Standing next to him was a battlemage, who quickly complied with his Captain's orders. Turning to walk towards the edge of the fortifications to look out across the harbor to the nearest mainland fortification of the Stormwind harbor defense, he began to flash towards them with a spell.

Hundreds of feet away from the battle, on top of the fortifications surrounding the harbor, soldiers from the city guard had long become aware of the assault that was going on against the fortress of Honor's Watch.
Rushing out of their barracks and watchposts, a band of soldiers ran with all haste towards one of the heavy bronze forged flak cannons that dotted the top of the harbor walls. Wasting no time, they adjusted the long barrel to face the gnomish copters that were engaged with the defenses of Honor's Watch.

"Take them down!" The sergeant of the men shouted, before all across the walls of Stormwind harbor, flak cannons began to spew forth their deadly salvos in unison! Their heavy munition glowed through the night as it traveled across the harbor and towards the fort, before detonating on and around the copters swirling around honor's watch. Explosions filled the air, shortly followed by a rain of deadly flak and fragmentations from the explosions that flew anywhere!

Although the shots of the first salvo did not have any direct hits, the lethal fragments that were thrown about in the air following their initial explosions did not miss. Shards of metal flew into the sides and bottoms of the copters, some ripping straight through the metal plating! One of the flak detonations happened close enough to one of the gnomish copters, causing their volatile goblin weaponry to prematurely detonate as one of the copters went up in an spectacular explosion! The two others were harrowed from every other side by a nightmarish hail of constant flak and shards flying through the air, some even penetrating the cockpits of the pilots and threatening to turn them into mince-meat!

But as the pilots entered evasive maneuvers to avoid the supporting fire from Stormwind's own defenses, the White Hand also responded with their own attack against the air. On top of the battlements, some battle mages had bound together to summon a flurry of spells that they threw up against the attacking copters, conjured to do everything to blind the pilot with searing displays of light magic to causing them to explode with ravenous shows of deadly fire magic!

Back on the battlements, where Rae'liel and her knights were advancing, the White Hand had reorganized following the initial confusion.

As they advanced across the heavy stone walls and ramparts, the seven knights were suddenly met by at least twenty White Hand mercenaries as they appeared up from the stairs in front of them. They were armed with everything from muskets to staves to heavy halberds, with battlemages, heavily armored knights in full plate from top to toe and more agile marines making up their rank. Running on their right was the White Hand Captain, wearing a complete set of heavy white and silver armor from top to toe, and an enchanted sword in his hand.

"Halt!" The Captain suddenly yelled when he saw the seven knights in his path, and the white hand mercenaries immediately stopped.

"Present!" He yelled, as at least a dozen muskets were pointed at Rae'liel and her knights. Not even bothering to raise his sword, the Captain immediately gave the order to fire.
"Fire!"

In front of them, a volley of musket fire, accompanied by a series of spells from the battlemages, were unleashed by the small platoon against the elves! The heavy mithril infused shots flew towards them with great speed, and although some of them may have glanced off their shields and shoulder armor, some of them hit as well; punching through their armor with great force! Two of the knights fell as they were victim to the deadly volley, and another one found himself caught on fire as one of the battlemages launched a smoldering fireball over him!

With the knight's numbers diminished, the Captain raised his sword to issue the charge.

"Attack! Do not let them escape!" He called out, as all twenty of the chevaliers now charged forward in unison; lead by the Captain who was accompanied by five other knights clad in super heavy armor, wielding crushing hammers and massive kite shields that formed the iron fist of the charge!