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

[Feisty-Pants]

Rae'liel - The Not-so-Honored Guest

Moving swiftly up the wide staircase, Rae'liel and her six knights charged up into the foray. By now she knew the Copters would have been struck down, either by what little defense remained upon the rooftop or the long guns of Stormwind herself. It didn't matter, those Pilots knew all too well that their lives were forfeit for a greater purpose. Liadrin and Rae'liel were to deliver the grave news to their widows and children if Rae were to return.

Events took a turn however, when the six were spotted by Captain of a platoon of the White Hand. In unison they sharply turned, and in unison weapons were raised.

"SHIELDS UP, NOW."

Instantly, her Knights obeyed her command and a sputtering of muskets only claimed the life of two. A grave price for the small group, but a price that needed to be paid nonetheless. Gritting her teeth, Rae'liel's lips thinned in disgust at their tactics as they charged down the staircase in unison. They were fools, the lot of them. Their Knights could have held the line and forced the defensive Paladins to attack.

Instead, they would crash against Holy Might.

Might that began with her signal. Reaching down quickly and seizing the shield of dying Blood Knight, a spark upon the midst of her spine as she did so was the only signal the other Knights needed. The five Blood Knights stood steadfastly, and in unison vengeful wings of magnificent light erupted from their backs. Feathers of luminous gold erupted into the heavens behind them as another Knight retrieved the Shield of the second fallen and they were slung into the oncoming crowd.

Tearing through the air, the luminous shields bisected the first lightly armored target they ran into, only to bounce off the wall behind them and collide against two more each as with incredible procession the two Knights on the flank threw their shields as well. Bisecting two more and striking two more down with grace and ease as with a deft catch, they caught their returning shields out of the air.

What had been a fearsome group of twenty was now an smaller, but still powerful group of eight.

With their shields up to prevent any more havoc from raining down upon them, the Blood Knights drew back their hands in unison. Flowing from the grasp of five came the Light itself, coalescing into the Hammer. A symbol of the justice they were destined to serve. Akin to a gavel of judgment, these five hammers of heavily concentrated light magic were thrown forward to meet the eight rushing forward, unaware that their party had been cut into well under half its original strength.

Crackling as they tore through the air, the five hammers would rupture upon impact with the Captain and his men at the head of their fist of iron. With a rattling eruption that could shake the very foundations of the castle as the Paladins' shields remained raised to protect against the flash, once the initial concussion of the blast wore off, the shields lowered, swords were drawn and Rae'liel and her four remaining Knights descended upon whatever little might be left.

"The Captain is mine! Handle the remains of the others. NO PRISONERS SHALL BE TAKEN." Grimly uttering the execution order, Rae'liel surged forward with her shield at the ready, and drew her sword as the wings upon her back shone with utter wrathful brilliance. The light of day was hers in this moment, and she intended to see that it remained so.

With wrathful conviction, she charged the Captain who was recovering from the blast. There was little mercy in her mind whatsoever as the Sin'Dorei brought her sword down upon his neck. Aiming of course to end his life, and avenge the lives of her lost comrades.

[Sinerathin]

In an impressive show of either stubbornness or resilience, the heavy knights leading the line were only pushed back lightly by the magic of the Paladins. What might have been lethal to their lesser armored comrades seemed to be little more than annoyance to the burly men, as they raised their shields again and charged against the Paladins who were now ready to meet them.

There was little finesse or tactics in the charge of the heavily armored knights as they slammed into the elves with their heavy shields, somewhere even simply running them over. Although the elves may have been the first to strike back at them when they came into range, their weapons seemed to only glance off their heavy armor, and even moreso their impenetrable shields.

The Captain, although he had been in a charge, suddenly became a lot more cautious when he saw Rae'liel coming straight for him. Stopping right on the spot, he instead raised his sword to defend himself against the first vicious strike from the Blood Elf!

However, rather than attempting to swing his sword in another strike against the Blood Elf, the Captain instead stepped back as he reached for his belt. Grabbing his officer's flintlock pistol with one hand while stepping back, he quickly whipped it up against Rae'liel and in a cowardly move snapped off a quick shot right below her midriff; penetrating her armor and leaving a gushing wound!

Behind them, a fierce fight was still going on between the heavily armored Knights of the White Hand and the Blood Knights of Rae'liel. The White Hand knights had succeeded in dispersing the Blood Elves, leading to the whole fight looking much more like a mush-pit of individual duels between the fast and furious Blood Elves and the slow but impenetrable White Hand knights. Whenever her knights struck a blow, it was easily absorbed by the armor and shields of the knights, but whenever they moved to strike a countering blow, it was easily dodged by her knights.

But what had looked like an even fight was soon interrupted as an arcane spell flew through the air, hitting one of her knights in the back and pushing him forward! This distraction was enough for his opponent, the White Hand knight, to raise his mallet and bring it crushing down upon his head, shattering the Blood Knight's skull and causing his body to fall limp to the floor. With one Blood Knight down, the White Hand knight moved to gang up on a lone Blood Knight already involved in another duel with another White Hand Knight. While the Blood Knight gracefully stepped out of the strike from her opponent, she did not see the other Knight approaching her from the back who sweeped his mallet into her lower leg, shattering her knee and causing her to flop around and fall onto the ground like a rag doll! As the Blood Knight cried out in pain, she was quickly shut up as her original opponent raised his heavy metal boot and stomped it down on her face, shattering her!

The fight was quickly turning in favor of the White Hand, the Blood Knights's numbers having been reduced to only three fighting a desperate fight against the five White Hand knights where they struggled to not get isolated and overwhelmed.
The only thing that really seemed to be in their favor was that further away, the rest of the White Hand chevaliers who had not been victim to the initial ranged attack from the Blood Knights had not joined the knights in the fight, and instead seemed busy tending to those of their wounded comrades who had not been immediately killed and dragging them away from the fight.

"You elves are all mentally insane!" Sneered the Captain from through his visors as Rae'liel reeled back from the shot, temporarily stunned. Lifting his sword, he stepped towards her, the Captain clearly more cautious than that of his men as he seemed hesitant to engage Rae'liel.
"I would be doing the world a favor by putting you down!"

Behind him, it was possible to see the battle mage who had fired the original spell that had tipped the fight between the knights of Rae'liel and the White Hand in the favor of the latter. The battle mage watched Rae'liel and the Captain from a safe distance of twenty feet, before she started conjuring on a spell that created a humming blue barrier around the Captain in front of Rae'liel. Emboldened by the newly gained magical protection, the Captain put his empty flintlock pistol away and pointed his sword against Rae'liel, ready to attack.

Below them, they gained a clear view down to the courtyard of the fortress. The main gate to the castle had been opened, and the bridge to the mainland fortifications had been lowered. Riding across the bridge at a thundering pace were two dozen chevaliers arriving as reinforcements at the courtyard below them. Although they did not seem to know anything about the immediate battle taking place over their heads, one of the stable hands could be seen running across the yard to approach the first rider and pointed up at the battlements. It was, however, a long trek up a series of stairs and buildings that would delay the reinforcements before they could join the fight up above.

Noticing the reinforcements as well as he glanced down into the courtyard, the Captain's head quickly returned to face Rae'liel; and this time his smile could almost be seen all the way out of his helmet!

"You have lost this fight! Stand down!" The Captain called out to Rae'liel as he held his sword out threateningly, still not having dared to attack. Another cry could be heard behind them as the White Hand knights succeeded in ganging up on a third Blood Knight, reducing their number to only two who now fought back to back against the incoming knights.

[Feisty-Pants]

Rae'liel - The Not-so-Honored Guest

Surprise overcame her as the Knights of the enemy managed to withstand the assault of the Blood Knights moderately unscathed, with no debilitating injuries of any sort, so surprised was she that in the moment she lost focus, the Captain had dishonorably stepped back and fired a flintlock pistol into her abdomen.

Collapsing back onto a knee with her breadth stolen from her while the world spun, she swiftly came to realize that the cause she had fought for was quickly becoming lost. The thunder of reinforcements were coming, and blood poured from her between her fingertips from a coward's tactic. The Knights she had come here with were either dead or about to die, and it was her fault for being so reckless.

"Stop!" She cried out, raising her hand as she collapsed forward, sending her sword clattering across the ground as she was left rasping for breadth while she slowly bled to death. Agony and anguish crept up to her eyes, at least over two dozen of the bastards that were the White Hand had fallen to seven Blood Knights. She had done what she could, the only way she could buy any more time for Sharon was to survive for a little while longer.

"Only I know what kind of monster you serve. Let the two survivors go to the Stockades where they belong." She muttered in a trembling tone, attempting to rise to at least a knee before failing. "Curse it all!" Even her shield clattered from her grasp as the helmet came unfastened, clattering to the floor to reveal her rapidly paling expression. It was not from fear, but from blood loss as with the wound she had been dealt she couldn't muster the strength or will to cast a healing spell.

In the Stockades, the two would survive...and likely escape with their amount of skill. And escape to Shattrath they would, where with their word the might of the entirety of the Scryers would descend upon this Fortress. If she were lucky, her sacrifice would now allow them to live in this hole of theirs much longer.

Sputtering blood from her lips as she tried to speak again, the crimson trailed down her paling chin as she could barely muster the strength to move. "Y-you coward."

[Sinerathin]

"You can be sure they're going to get locked away for a long time for what you did today!" The Captain answered in a stern voice as he stood over the Blood Elf with his arms folded across his chest.
"This wanton slaughter and unprovoked attack shall not go unpunished!"

Appearing from the sideline, the battlemage who had tipped the scale in the battle between the knights of Rae'liel and the White Hand stepped up behind her. Grabbing her arms, she tied her wrists together with a rope; leaving a solid knot!

"Mind telling me what's going on, Captain?" Suddenly sounded a much more smooth and calm voice further away from them, as the Captain turned to look at the chevaliers arriving on the battlements from the stairs. But one character in particular stood out from the rest; a High Elf walking alongside the chevaliers wearing some luxurious silk and black mageweave garbs adorned with silver and golden embroidery, and a black mageweave cloak hanging over his right shoulder. He had a slender yet strong figure, and his snow-white hair flowed back behind his head.

"Sir!" The Captain spun around to give a salute to the High Elf, who casually motioned for the Captain to return at ease.

"Take a deep breath, then tell me." Sherpa continued in his same cool and unaffected voice as the High Elf walked onto the level, passing over the corpses of both Blood Knights and Chevaliers that littered the now much bloodied battlements of the fortress. His gaze traveled from the bodies of the dead over to the damaged structures of the fortress itself that had suffered the explosive attacks from the gnomish attack copters. Although much of the surface of the fortress had been destroyed by the rockets and explosives, the main support and structure of the buildings seemed intact and relatively unscathed wherever the rockets had hit.

"I see the Mason Guild did a good job." Sherpa muttered with a somewhat satisfied voice, trailing around on the battlements before his attention turned to Rae'liel and the Captain.

Next to Rae'liel, the two surviving Blood Knights were brought besides her, all disarmed and with their hands tied behind their back, and each accompanied by a knight. Most of the knights were still alive, short of one who was lying further away and bleeding on the floor, one of the Blood Knights having succeeded in exploiting a weak point of his armor in the later stages of the fight.

Walking up to them with his hands behind his back, Sherpa casually inspected Rae'liel and the Blood Knights as they were presented before him.

A moment passed before his blue and grayish eyes eventually fell on Rae'liel, a flash of recognition passing across Sherpa's face as he looked down at her.

"Rae'liel of Shattrath." Sherpa commented with a faint smile, his gaze continuing on to the Blood Knights at her side.
"And her brave knights... yet so far away from home. I would almost begin to wonder."

Despite the grim display all around them, with the damaged fortifications and the bodies strewn about, Sherpa seemed remarkably cool and unaffected. A part of the elf seemed to suggest that he did not care at all. Perhaps even found the whole spectacle amusing.

"You have great skill. And your attack, however misguided it may have been, was most valiant." The High Elf spoke as his gaze returned to Rae'liel.

"Yes, you are with my older brother's little scheme, aren't you? I am impressed by the sheer number of women my brother seem to find in his company... you must be like two hundred and twentieth... "

Sherpa spoke, for the first time seeming genuinely unsure as he moved a hand up to rub his jaw.

[Feisty-Pants]

Rae'liel - The Not-so-Honored Guest

Groaning softly in pain as she was hefted to her knees and her hands were bound behind her back, the lecturing from the captain came to here ears as little more than muffled nonsense. Her senses were beginning to dull from the blood she lost and her head hung as she was helpless but to watch her blood begin to pool at her knees. Blinking blearily as another person joined the crowd, the new voice spoke her name.

The mention of her name helped her regain her focus as she grit her teeth, the sharpened pain in her abdomen drawing to a point as even with her hands bound, she channeled Holy Magic. Her senses were once again acute, and she knew all too well what she stood before. While the humans and their despicable Death Knight leader might have considered themselves the victors, the story was simply just beginning.

Above in the sky, one of the burning Copters crashed into the rooftop masonry of the fortress as its Pilot burned alive. Taking with him a handful more of White Hand Magi that had lit his craft ablaze. More importantly, the payload that he carried had arrived at the destination as Rae'liel had ordered.

The crash echoed through the halls of the Fortress, and Rae'liel knew all too well what it was, and even in this dire situation as she sputtered more blood from between her lips, she cracked a grin that was frightening at best and utterly horrifying in its determination at worst.

"Death Knight, we meet at last." She spoke softly at first, as holy magic rippled subtly throughout her underneath her armor. The grave wound that she had been dealt ceased its flow of blood, and the pistol round that had once been lodged in her stomach rolled into the depths of her armor. The presence of darkness immediately in front of her had granted her new volition and strength.

It was only natural, she was a Paladin after all. All evil must be stopped at any cost.

Floors above in the Copter, the Kamikaze Pilot's burning hand grasped a button, and pressed it. With such a final motion, electrical circuitry fired through the aircraft and coalesced into a single point. An absolutely massive magical located in the heart of the craft. With it, a massive amount of magical energy channeled into a focusing iris came to a point, and then erupted into a calamitous rupture that vaporized anything that dared to be in range of it.

To include the dozens of poor fools who had crowded around the burning craft to put out the fire.

Though it may not have held the same kind of power of the bomb that decimated Theramore, anything that was in range of it, at least half the fortress itself would suffer damage beyond imagining as it was consumed in a crackling arcane light. It mattered not which was in the way of this wave of desolation. All would be lost in this earth-shattering roar of vengeful destruction, steel, flesh, bone and stone would all perish.

So calamitous was this, but it missed the party at hand by good fortune. Half of the Fortress was consumed in literal hellfire, and in this sudden distraction, Rae'liel found her opportunity. Her bound hands clenched into fists, and a burning holy fire ruptured outward from her form. Simultaneously, her two remaining Knights launched themselves into their captors in desperation as enemies who stood within twenty feet of her were consumed in holy flames.

The ropes about her wrists burned, and she dove for her shield and sword. Parrying a blow from the suddenly alerted Captain, Rae'liel swung her shield upward and clipped his chin with the edge of the barrier, disorienting the man. Within the blink of an eye, her blade sunk into the depths of his chest past the collarbone, bringing his life to an end as she kicked him off her blade.

A burst of magic struck her, and she spun while the embers on her arms still burned. Turning to the Mage that had turned the tide of the initial fight. Instantly, her sword-arm through the blade through the air, and it whistled menacingly so before it struck him in the chest, impaling him as he fell with little more with a whimper. With her Knights back in the fight against the other Knights in a graceful dance to which they would knowingly die.

They were here as a sacrifice to bring a greater evil to an end.

Eye to eye on now more even terms, the still injured Sin'Dorei glowered at Sherpa before taking the fallen Captain's sword. Her wounds burned, they ached with utter misery, but here in this moment, it mattered not.

"I am not here for your brother, you fool. I am here for you. Prepare yourself, servant of the Scourge."

She was eye to eye with evil. The kind of evil that had brought her home to its knees ages ago. Valiantly she charged across the distance with her sword and shield on high, honorably she moved across the distance with burning conviction. She drew within close range of Sherpa, and she sought to bring her sword down upon him to cleave the accursed abomination in two.

[Sinerathin]

As Rae'liel charged towards him with all her righteous hatred for what he was, Sherpa remained unphased by the aggression before him, merely standing there with his hands folded together.

As she brought her blade up to strike the mortal blow against the passive High Elf however, another blade suddenly intersected from the side; and blocked her sword mid air!

Now next to them stood a new figure who had just blocked the blow from Rae'liel. Initially it looked like a chevalier of some sorts, wearing the same polished plate and lamellar armor with white cloak as the rest of the mercenaries, except for a deep cut currently residing in the abdoment of his chestplate that he did not seem to care much about.

But what set him apart was the sword he had used to parry Rae'liel's attack.

It was a runeblade that had just intercepted the path of Rae'liel's sword, the stainless steel of the cursed sword littered along the blade with blood red runes that glowed in an eerie red light with unholy magic. The mere presence of the unholy weapon seemed to drop the temperature around Rae'liel by multiple degrees, inspiring a sense of emptiness, and dread. The runes glowed ever more brightly, seemingly being empowered by the death and carnage that was all around them.

The suffering wrought throughout the castle seemed to feed directly into the twisted and perversed magics that coursed through the blade, as the peculiar chevalier who wielded it stared back at Rae'liel from the emptiness of his blackened visors. There were no eyes to see behind his steel mask, merely a bottomless darkness that peered back at Rae'liel.

"I am no slave and no servant, I am a master of my own." Sherpa replied with a smirk, before his gaze turned to face the peculiar chevalier and apparent who was protecting him Rae'liel.
"That, is my servant however. And he has been waiting to draw the blood of a Paladin such as yourself."

Unlocking his blade from that of Rae'liel's, the peculiar chevalier swung his Runeblade at her in a vicious strike, again and again and again. The death knight's attacks seemed both overpowering and inexhaustible, as his blows rained down against Rae'liel from all sides without any pause or delay. Every time she blocked the Runeblade and it came close to her, it felt as if the mere proximity of the cursed blade caused her old wounds and scars to slowly begin to open once more across her body, seeping blood. The ravenous hunger of the Runeblade seemed to be what fueled the attack, an attack that was reminiscent to that of a starving beast in the wild!

Some of the White Hand knights in the back who had seen the new contender in the fight, actually began to back away from both Rae'liel and her Blood Knights, as well as the frenzied death knight whose attacks seemed to care little for friend or foe!

The ravenous attacks of the death knight forced Rae'liel backwards and kept her on the defensive. As one of her Blood Knights rushed forward to alleviate her from the constant barrage of attacks by attacking the death knight, it spun around with its blade to parry that of its new opponent! In a surprise change of fighting style however, the death knight instead channeled a dark kinetic spell, suddenly pulling the Blood Knight's weapon straight out of his hand! The Blood Knight barely had time to respond to the sudden loss of his armament before the death knight sweeped his blade around, and buried its Runeblade into his abdomen!

As the runeblade pierced through bone and flesh, submerging itself in the rivers of blood in the body of its victim, the blood red runes adorning the blade lit up even more!

An unnatural howl suddenly emanated from behind the mask of the death knight, as if the death knight was in as much pain as its victim. Violently twisting his runeblade around, he was about to pull it out from the Blood Knight, before Blood Knight suddenly exploded from the inside in a shower of blood and gore that flew in every direction! As blood rained down on him, the death knight let out yet another fiendish roar, partly of pain, part of maddening glee!

Turning back to Rae'liel and her last remaining Blood Knight, the death knight was now literally twitching sporadically rather than moving normally. The darkness that once had occupied his visors now played host to two burning globes of red light where his eyes were supposed to be, his haunted eyes focused solely on the remaining Blood Knights. Whatever power the runeblade bestowed upon its wielder, it seemed to make the unholy creature even more frantic and hysteric as well, its last kill having made him move even faster and erratically!

From further away, Sherpa followed the fight with a big smile on his lips as he paced around. It was quite clear that he found much entertainment in seeing his servant fight against the paladins.

"Impressive, is he not? Master swordsman in life, and now, an unbridled killing machine fueled by dark magic." Sherpa smirked as he looked at Rae'liel.
"But, I think that in death, you could make an even finer candidate than he."

[Feisty-Pants]

Rae'liel - The Not-so-Honored Guest

She was close, so terribly painstakingly close as the blade cut through the very air. Sherpa's blood was hers and hers alone, by her blade it would spill, by her blade his mortal coil would be severed unto a painful end. That was until a Runic weapon intersected her strike and drove her back.

A maddening flurry of strikes ruptured forth then, each swing of the blade against her screaming for her flesh and blood as shield and sword was used to parry each oncoming strike. With one solid blow sending her skidding back and away, one of her own Knights stepped into the fervor only to die at the hand of the howling abomination's blade.

Behind him, Rae'liel's grasp tightened upon her blade as Sherpa taunted maliciously from afar. Hiding behind the armor of the monstrosity that stood between them. Old wounds burned and ached, the familiar warmth of blood once again began to trace thin lines down her shoulder and abdomen. The two places where only recently she had been wounded. This monstrosity desperately needed to be stopped, and here in this moment only she was capable.

Accompanied by a clatter, her sword and shield fell onto the staircase as she reached behind her. With the barrier and slender blade, she could not hope to match this monstrosity's offense. The Blood Knight behind her attempted to speak in protest at first, but her hand cast to the side silenced him immediately.

Her first action was to remove her gauntlets so that she only had her beautifully slender fingertips and leather gloves to bear. This next action required the sacrifice of her flesh and blood.

"I hate to use this against you, you dull creature." The Blood Knight started quietly as the abomination turned to stare at her in all of its maniacal glee. "I hate to use this blade at all, but it is a necessary choice." Smoothly, a blade adorned in gold and silver slid from the hilt upon her back. Yet the moment that she touched the hilt with her mostly bare hands, the luminous emerald corruption in her eyes flickered and then brightened to a never before seen intensity.

"Apolyon has been waiting for a good challenger, now I can oblige it at last."

She only used this weapon in moments of desperation. Only once had Sharon even ever seen the blade, and at that time it was not in her possession.

The final edge of the weapon finally emerged, and with it came an ominous green glow. The flickering madness of fel-tainted energies. A Soul-Rending blade, that she had retrieved from the corpse of Kil'Jaeden herself, gifted to wield by her by the Matriarch of the Blood Knights. It was her final trump card, this blade, as she could feel the vile corruption from it coursing through her veins.

Within her body a battle was being fought. The purity of Light, and the horrors of Demonic Corruption.

Gripping the weapon with both of her slender hands and abandoning any pretense of defense, she dug her toes into the earth and with a maddening, almost seemingly possessed grin, the Paladin launched herself forward. Blurring by, the distance rapidly closed as the two unholy weapons clashed against one another. This time with such titanic might that the bearer of the Runic Weapon was forced back by her own maddening assault.

Whatever incredible speed she once had with just the shield more than doubled with a Two-Handed sword, after all as a natural practitioner of Retribution, she was back in her element. Whatever credible might she once possessed nearly tripled with the horrors of Fel Corruption.

Fel Energies burned her constantly, only to be embattled by the healing energies of Light Magic as with every breadth, she exhaled literal smoke. In a fight of agony and fury against agony and madness, fury held greater determination and she refused to relent. Each harrowing strike chipped away at the Runic Monster's ability to defend, until at long last an opportunity presented itself.

A desperate counterattack caused her to viciously parry, forcing his blade into the floor and she leapt off the buried flat, and before the monstrosity could even blink the Soul-Rending blade came crashing down towards his skull with the intention of cleaving him completely in two.

[Sinerathin]

"Impressive." Sherpa muttered when he saw the blade that Rae'liel drew in her fight against the bloodied death knight. The death knight she was up against however did not seem to even register the new blade, it's focus and hunger being solely centered on Rae'liel before it!

The fight continued, and as Rae'liel broke through the death knight's defense to strike down against it, her blade sliced down onto its left shoulder armor; penetrating through the heavy metal alloy to carve downwards through its torso and solid metal chestplate. But the sword did not go further down than just below its chest, the creature having reached forward with its left hand to grab Rae'liel's hands.

An ominous growling could be heard from behind the death knight's mask as its red eyes glared at Rae'liel from his visors.

With a sudden erratic motion of its right arm, it brought its runeblade up and slashed it across Rae'liel's torso, cutting into her armor and leaving a deep cut across her upper abdomen that gushed out blood! The strike sent Rae'liel backwards, but the Soul-Rending blade still remained lodged within the body of the death knight. The strike would have killed any living creature, but the death knight was much more akin to a marionette to the foul energies haunting its decrepit corpse.

"Such a powerful weapon you brought. I have seen demons cleave through legions with similar weapons.. " Sherpa commented as the High Elf walked forward towards the ground where Rae'liel and the Death Knight had fought. Rae'liel currently lay on the floor, tending yet another wound, while the Death Knight walked around erratically, seemingly pained by the demonic corruption of the blade, before it fell to its knees.
" ... yet it's completely wasted on you. You fought as much with the blade as you did your opponent, never embracing the true potential of its corruption."

Sherpa paused, kneeling down next to the dead Captain. Placing a hand on his chest, an ominous, green light began to appear around his touch and entered the kinks and openings of the Captain's armor. As with some unholy miracle, the Captain suddenly began to move once more, his body animated by the necrotic energies that now flowed through his body.

As he stood up, his gaze moved to that of the Blood Knight who had been standing behind Rae'liel. But he was no longer standing, instead, he lay flat on the floor with a bolt entrenched in the back of his armor. Further up, in one of the towers, stood a hideous figure; an old man carrying a crossbow, missing one eye, while his other eye was abnormally large and tainted by a yellow color. As he stared down at the chaos below, he gestured towards Sherpa, who nodded in return.

"You know... " Sherpa said as he gazed out at the carnage around him and Rae'liel.
"I never realized how much I missed war until you came to visit. The confines of the office space and dull meetings have taken up too much of my time as of late. And so far that, I suppose I should thank you."

Sherpa said as he gestured towards Rae'liel lying on the ground before him. Behind him, the now undead Captain walked over to the staggered death knight, to help him draw the demonic blade out from his body.

"For that, I will not kill you... not now at least." Sherpa smiled, extending a hand towards Rae'liel. As he did, it could feel as if she was suddenly grasped by a series of ice cold, invisible hands all around her that rose her up into the air; causing her to hang in front of him.
"I understand my brother and his lackeys are still running free in my castle. I think you deserve to see them die before the end. Just to realize that this plan never really stood a chance in the first place."

Sherpa cocked his head as he studied Rae'liel.

"I hate to give false hope, you see."

[Feychild]

Liaena glowered after Serphia as the big Night Elf stepped away, the words 'degenerated midget' still ringing in the room. "Why don't you just go and - mmph!"

"Would don't you just go and shut up!"
Bella hissed into her ear after a large purple hand landed over Liaena's mouth, with Rithrynn nodding and smiling after her Captain. "Yes Mistress! Of course Mistress!"

"You might want to leave it" Liam added dubiously, also looking after Serphia nervously as he got up to brush himself off. "For a moment there, I thought that was going to get nasty"

"....."

"Fine..." Liaena grumbled through Rithrynn's hand. Giving the Night Elf a poke, Rithrynn gave her a warning glare of 'don't you dare!' in return as she finally released the girl and stepped away. "There's a Death Knight following me"

"....What?"

"That was a Death Knight!?"
Bella enquired suddenly from her shoulder. Liaena glanced briefly in her direction. "Probably. Undead as well. I think"

"Wonderful" Liam muttered faintly, trailing after the girl as she made a beeline for Serphia, looking up at Sharon where he sat on her shoulder. "These tombs are a maze, Sharon. Hester was helping me navigate, but she got cut by some sort of Giant Undead thing, with a Runeblade. I think I lost it back in the tunnels, but it's probably looking for us now"

"Got cut? Ow" Liam enquired as he reached for the small bird resting on top of her satchel, the owl rewarding him with a peck as he lifted her up to examine her severed feathers carefully. "...this is infected already, Liaena. It needs cleaning"

"I know. Hold her still, would you?" Liaena responded as she produced a small vial out of her bag, the owl giving her a clear 'don't you dare!' look as she started to try and struggle out of Liam's restraining hands. "Now don't be such a baby. It's for your own good"

[Rithy]

Squawks of fear and dread soon filled the otherwise dead silence of the catacombs they were in, as Hester was administered the potion by Liaena; all the while flapping her wings around and twisting and turning like a frenzied ball of feathers as she was being held by Liam, the latter making sure to hold his face a good way away from the rabid owl for obvious safety issues and concerns for his eyes!

"That thing was guiding you through this place? Rithrynn suddenly asked as she looked over Liaena's shoulder as she stood behind the girl, now donning a look of confusion as she looked down at Hester.
"How does that thing even knows where anything is in this castle!?"

Rithrynn inquired, obviously not satisfied with the idea that Hester possessed some innate, magical clairvoyant powers! A more likely scenario in her mind would be that the cursed owl was obviously just following the trail of the scent of a chocolate bar dropped by one of the White Hand mercenaries.

"Feathered glutton!"

Serphia, wiping off a last smirk of delight; turned to look towards the entrance to the catacombs. For a couple of moments, she merely stared through the clearing clouds of mist and into the seemingly endless darkness of the catacombs.

"So... the dungeons are through the catacombs somewhere... " She muttered, her eyes shifting over to Liaena who was trying to heal a rather ungrateful owl!
" ... who obviously have more than two exits, considering that she came from them."

Serphia reasoned as she looked down at the smaller High Elf sitting on her shoulder. Motioning behind her with one hand, the sentinel Vashi suddenly stepped up besides her.

"Oh, anything you need, mistress?!" Vashi exclaimed, seemingly hyper at a chance of getting to prove her worth. Not answering her question verbally, Serphia instead pointed at the tenebrous catacombs in front of them. Soon realizing what she meant, Vashi summoned a magical sphere of light which she launched in a slow-moving pace through the air and into the catacombs ahead of them, illuminating their path and chasing away the shadows.

Although Serphia and her elves may have had a naturally superior night vision than that of the rest of the 'lesser races' in the group, the idea of friendly fire from the latter in case something spooked them in the catacombs did not fly well with her. And neither did the idea of Smokey trying to trail through the labyrinth ahead in complete blindness, fearing that if the dwarf simply fell he might prematurely detonate his explosive and wipe out the party there and then!

"By the way, next time you see a coffin or any woeful object come flying towards me, do try to do something other than just watching." Serphia finally added as she looked towards Sharon as she began to step towards the entrance to the catacombs.

[Sinerathin]

"A death knight?" Sharon responded to the recent information from Liaena.

"This is troubling news."

Indeed, Sharon had anticipated some undead and a Death Knight, but the Death Knight that he had anticipated was his brother, Sherpa only. Now there was another Death Knight it seemed! Fighting one would be bad enough, and if they ran into them both at the same time, the High Elf preferred to not even think about what would end up happening if they did.

"By the way, next time you see a coffin or any woeful object come flying towards me, do try to do something other than just watching."

Sharon had already fallen into deep contemplation where he sat in Serphia's cowl, until he suddenly heard the Captain addressing him.

"I thought Night Elves were supposed to be agile... " He muttered without thinking, too focused on the plan.

However, he soon realized what he had said, and looked up at the rather unimpressed face of Serphia that now glowered down on him.

" ... sorry, you have my spells at your disposal." He was quick to add, nodding apologetically back at her.
"But we need to move fast, the longer we tarry; the more time the White Hand has to regroup and mount a proper counterattack. I do not expect any resistance through the catacombs ahead."

Sharon explained, before a thought struck him.

" ... where is the White Hand response? You would think we'd have a whole platoon chasing after us by now!"

But as he contemplated on the lack of White Hand reinforcements, a distant tremor could be heard throughout the reef, emanating from the castle further up. What was causing the deep tremors, he did not know. Perhaps it was something that were keeping the White Hand preoccupied? That was only speculation. The thing he knew for real was that they couldn't linger.

"Let's go." Sharon said, as he motioned for Serphia and the rest of the party to venture through the catacombs up ahead.

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

The room shook from the deep vibrations coming from further up in the castle at the top of the reef, but none of the cultists seemed to pay any attention to it. They were all focused on the ritual at hand, their eyes now focused on Kathlin as the girl was being brought to the middle of the circle by Sevarian.

"Most people live cold, static lives." Sevarian said as he positioned Kathlin in the middle of the summoning circle. Taking a couple of steps back, she soon found her limbs being held in place by the magic of the cultists as they began to channel on the spell.

Up above, the darker cloud of spirits swirled ever closer around the air above Kathlin. Some amorphous eyes and faces could be seen forming in the spirit host, gazing down with baneful eyes at the people below them.

"But then they are touched by critical events, events that change their lives forever. Your life is about to change, and you will become a catalyst of change to that of many others as well." Sevarian explained with an eerie calm.

"All I need, is for you to relax, and open your mind..."

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

It was a quiet journey through the catacombs, the only sound accompanying them were their echoing footsteps and breathing which could be heard through the quiet corridors and hallways.

As they passed, there were nothing to stand in their way. There were no chevaliers whatsoever in the catacomb. The only significant presence came from morbid and henious statues built into the walls and columns, glaring down at them through their empty stone eyes, as well as the eerie quiet that surrounded the coffins located throughout the necropolis that they were now walking through.

Sharon had no idea where he was leading the group. For all he knew, he could be going the complete opposite way of the dungeons!

But his doubts were suddenly dispelled when further up ahead, he heard a set of voices; followed by two figures appearing around the next corner! Two chevaliers were standing outside a runic stone door around fifty feet away from the party, each carrying the corpse of a troll with them that they were dragging out from the room that they had come from. But they were also quick to see them in return!

"There, monkeys!" Sounded the late announcement of one of the sentinels. Sharon was quick to respond, raising his staff where he stood beside Serphia's head to fire out a bolt of lightning the nearest chevalier! The chevalier, however, was quick to drop the corpse that he was carrying and duck; the lightning bolt passing over his head and dissipating against the stone wall behind him! The second chevalier reacted as an arrow came flying through the air from the sentinels, acting by holding up the corpse of the troll that he was carrying to use it against a shield!

Thud, thud, thud!

The corpse of the troll catched all three of the arrows fired from the sentinels, before he dropped it and raced back into the room from which he had come from. The other chevalier was standing further away from the door, and decided to instead leg it the opposite direction, disappearing down a pathway to the right and leaving the fight behind!

"Trolls... what are trolls doing here?" Sharon asked as he threw the bodies lying further up ahead by the door a perplexed look.

[Saltwater Thief]

Icarias Leversol- Something Wicked This Way Comes...

"When it comes to harnessing magic," Icarias said to the moderately sized lecture hall the White Hand had insisted he use that was about half full of his students, "Restraint is everything. If you don't hone your ability to reign in and limit your spells, you'll never be able to control them. They won't go where you aim them, they'll strike friend and foe alike, and they'll create entirely unnecessary collateral damage that you'll be made to pay for. Trust me on that last one, I know."

A series of giggles resonated through the hall as most of the class chuckled at the joke. These were his "First Years," the ones who had newly come into the White Hand with some background in magic that were leaning to channel it into combat. Today's exercise was the creation and maintenance of orbs of elemental energy. A relatively simple and easy concept, but one that formed the core of many of the well-established spells in the world.

"Now, we've all proved able to conjure raw elements in our hands. What we do now is take it one step further," he continued as he held out his hand and generated a small orb of frost just above his palm, "The most important part is-"

A sudden pulse of magical energy from elsewhere in the fortress drew his attention and made him break off mid sentence. Several pulses of it, actually. One of the things Icarias had long discovered was his capacity to sense when magic of a certain degree was being used. He'd learned to ignore things like enchanter's spells and other cantrips, but what he was feeling now...

"Professor Leversol?" called a student, bringing his attention back to the orb, thankfully still intact.

"The most important part is the containment. Conjure up your raw element, and then visualize a spherical cage around it, made of your will, preventing its escape. That's it, very good..." he said as the class followed his instructions slowly. All the while, the pulses of spells being fired grew "louder," as it were. Some of them he didn't quite recognize, but many of them belonged to his Third Years, the ones who were able to actually handle themselves in a fight. He was called away from such thoughts, however, by a few small bursting orbs.

"Careful now! Don't fill your cage too quickly, or you'll be intimidated by the element and your containment will falter. Don't fear the elements- master them."

As the class dragged on, the pulses continued, but with each passing moment another one that he recognized was silenced. His worry began to overcome him. And then, a sudden pulse that dwarfed all the others came and sent dread racing down his spine. It was a dark, cold feeling, a chill entirely unlike Frost Magic. This was no natural spell being used, it did not spring from the life and soul of the caster. In fact, it was the opposite- it seemed to surge with the power of undeath itself. And it pulsed from the same direction as his students' magic had. For Icarias, who cared for his students like a second father, that tore it.

"One moment, please. I've something I must attend to. While I'm away, please study your books in silence. I'll be right back."

With that, the Magus for Hire was racing through the keep as fast as he could, occasionally aiding his travel with a Blink cast. He'd only ever felt a pulse of that sort of dark workings in one place- the Plaguelands, where he'd once spent a month offering assistance to Light's Hope. If what he presumed was occurring was true...

By the time he reached the area where the fighting had occurred, his rune inscribed battle staff in hand, the sounds of combat and the pulses had all died out. He moved into the room behind the various chevaliers, and beheld one of the Hand's upper staff holding a Sin'Dorei woman at his mercy. And all around him was the stench of both death and undeath alike. And the corpses of several of his students. It made Icarias sick, but he somehow managed to hold his lunch in the confines of his stomach. When he spoke, it was with a level tone that belied the storm of emotions he was feeling, and preluded by the sound of his staff striking the stone with an abnormally loud THUNK.

"And just what is the meaning of all this?"

[Feisty-Pants]

Rae'liel - The Light Fades

Apolyon bit hard, and it bit deeply as she almost succeeded in completely hewing the Death Knight in half. With her teeth grit in triumph, she applied further pressure to finish the job, but a flash of runic steel cut her short. The Paladin suddenly found it difficult to breathe as slick warmth washed over her midriff. She fell back and stumbled weakly, crashing to the ground at the same time as the abomination that she had hopefully struck down.

Her hands desperately went to the deep cut along her midsection, and channeled holy magic into the wound. Swiftly it came to a close, but it came at a cost, she had been exhausted. The Light within her had been battling not only the corruption of the Soul Render, but also desperately trying to slow the blood that she had already been losing. Gritting her teeth as it was an increasingly difficult labor to even try to lift herself to crawl, she still out of sheer will sought to take the blade she had taken with her after the reclamation of the Sunwell.

Yet the biting cold of chilling fingertips swinging her upward and holding her gravely wounded form suspended in midair denied her effort. A clattering to the floor behind her signified the loss of her last Blood Knight as she was helpless but to watch the revived Captain retrieve her weapon. Her head hung dejectedly in defeat, all she could do now was try to talk to delay Sherpa further from taking down his own brother.

"False hope? Y-You think I came here with any- agh!" Grunting in pain as the magic swung her slightly from the agony that wracked her entire body, the Paladin still steadfastly worked through her words. "Any intention of hope? I came here to die, killing you, an abomination."

However, her words were cut short by an interruption, and barely being able to tilt her head to see who had approached the group, the Paladin broke into an ironic smile as blood flowed from the corner of her lips.

"A-Ah. You get one rat of a mage to kill me. Nn!" She broke into ragged laughter, with droplets of blood scattering across the stone floor. "H-ow delightful. Come now you White Hand mutt, finish me off. Be quick about your business."

[Sinerathin]

"And just what is the meaning of all this?"

"We were attacked." Answered one of the Chevaliers standing next to Icarias, the man motioning with his eyes from behind his steel mask towards Rae'liel who was sitting on her knees before Sherpa.
"The attackers have been dealt with, but not before that vile harpy and her minions murdered many good men and women defending the fort!"

Further away from them, the Captain had managed to pull the demonic sword out of the peculiar chevalier and Death Knight. The death knight's body was now lying motionless on the stone floor, flies already having gathered across his festering wound which revealed flesh that had long been dead.

As the Captain picked up the body of the Death Knight to carry him away, another figure had appeared to the scene as well. It was someone Icarias knew, Sathrielle DeLuve, a battle mage, senior enchanter and ritual expert. With black hair running into a ponytail behind her back, and a slightly pale skin, she had always been rather silent when not teaching her students, and was commonly known as a night owl, preferring to host her sessions between dusk and dawn.

She was wearing the plate and lemellar armor that so often characterized the White Hand's chevaliers, alongside silk white cloak and tabard. The main thing that distinguished her from that of an ordinary chevalier in her uniform was the staff that she carried around, as well as some books, scrolls and potions hanging from her uniform.

Sathrielle seemed unconcerned with the destruction around her as she walked across the battlements, heading over to the scene where the Death Knight had fallen. Carrying a bunk of cloth, she reached down and began to collect Rae'liel's demonic blade, Apylon, alongside the runeblade left behind by the fallen Death Knight. Picking them up, she folded them into the blankets, which seemed to be doused in some liquid of sort. Whatever magical aura that they had emanated before, it ceased when they were tucked into the blankets.

Around them and across the fortress battlements, more chevaliers and servants had shown up to extinguish what fires remained and carry off the corpses as well as tend to the wounded. The chaos and smoke that had originally filled the fort was slowly dissipating as the inhabitants moved to return it to order.

"Over there, the white haired elf, that's Sherraine Silver-something." The chevalier then pointed at Sherpa for Icarias.
"He's an investor of some description and friend with the High Master. I don't know why he's here, but it's probably a good idea to give him a wide berth."

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

Outside of Honor's Watch, about to traverse the bridge connecting the rest of the harbor fortifications with that of Honor's Watch, a host of knights from Stormwind rode across! Wearing heavy polished gold trimmed and truesilver armor, they were donned in deep blue cloaks and tabards depicting the seal of Stormwind's order of knights.

But the host of knights all came to a stop as they were met by one of the White Hand watchmen who greeted them halfway across.

"What is the situation, soldier? Are we under attack?" Asked the knight commander leading the host as he looked down at the Chevalier who now stood in front of them on the bridge.

"Yes, we were. But the White Hand have dealt with the attacks." The Chevalier informed the knight commander and his knights before him.
"There was a strike team, but they are all dead or captured now. The fires are under control. We thank you for the help with those copters, but we require no further assistance."

The chevalier explained, and the knights exchanged looks between themselves.

"Stormwind Strategic Defense Headquarters and King Varian Wrynn will receive a full report of the attack within four hours, and the bodies of the attackers and their equipment will be handed over to your commander for autopsy, identification and inspection by tomorrow morning." The chevalier informed, speaking with a calm and confident voice.
"But, between you and me... thanks for showing up anyway. It's really good to see that we can count on the fine knights of Stormwind to help us should we ever need it."

The chevalier added with a smile, and the Knight Commander nodded in return.

"We are only doing our duty. It is good to hear that you have the situation under control. Do not hesitate to call us if you should require any further assistance." The Knight Commander answered, before he turned to the rest of the knights and they began to turn around on the bridge, heading back and away from Honor's Watch while the chevalier waved them off.

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

"I came here to die, killing you, an abomination."

"Well... that seemed to have worked." Sherpa answered sarcastically with a smug smirk, not withholding a small snicker as he gazed down at Rae'liel.

"But no. I will not give you the pleasure of dying so soon.... Sathrielle?" Sherpa then spoke, turning his attention to the black haired battle mage who had just collected the weapons and was carrying them under her arm. Turning to look at the High Elf, Sathrielle then moved a hand down to retrieve that looked like a pair of thorium handcuffs. Tossing them over, one of the chevaliers behind Rae'liel catched it, before locking her hands together behind her back.

"I miss the time just simple rope was enough. Apparently it isn't in your case." Sherpa commented as the chevalier locked the handcuffs tight, before pulling Rae'liel back up to her feet.

"I intend to say hello to my brother, who I hear have come for a visit. Care to join me, Rae'liel?" Sherpa asked with a smug grin as he extended a hand to the tied Blood Elf almost mockingly.

[Feychild]

“Stop him! He’ll bring others down here!” was Liaena’s input to the situation. Serphia threw the little girl a nasty look. “…Shut up. Get him, girls.”

Immediately two of the Night Elves bounded forward cheerfully, both eager and willing to carry out their mistresses orders as they zoomed straight past the runic door and after the disappearing chevalier. Serphia meanwhile, was striding swiftly forward towards the second mans bolt hole. “The rest of you, fall in”

*

"All I need, is for you to relax, and open your mind..."

“Nope, bad plan” Kathlin gasped back. Staring up at the cloud of spirits, one thing that was evident to the girl, was that Sevarian’s suggestion ranked extremely highly on the ‘nope. Nope, nope, no, no, no, no, nope’ list.

The man’s lips seemed only to twist into a fleeting smile at her comment, before he diverted his attention to inspecting his underlings closely. “It was a suggestion for your benefit”

“So, what now…?”

Kathlin shook her head as she tried to collect herself and gather her thoughts, recalling a curriculum that had focused heavily on how to apply a band-aid, not to defend your mind against a hord of evil spirits. “I suppose it is a bit of a niche topic”

The amorphous cloud of spirits was descending visibly as the cultists chanted, a pair of gnarled hands and arms becoming visible in the mist to reach forward about to grab her by the head. Kathlin balled her fists by her side as she started to murmur the words of a simple prayer under her breath, over and over again.

As the hands grabbed her by the head, a jab of agony lanced through her brain even as the creature hissed as if in pain, recoiling but still hanging on tight. One of the cultists took the moment to give her a brief glare, as she struggled to maintain her own chant. “Stop that”

“M’lord! Lord Commander!” A new voice cut through the room as a chevalier backed into the room, slamming the door and locking it, before turning to Sevarian. “Hostiles, commander! Right outside!”

“Oh…good”
Kathlin thought faintly through the swirling storm that surrounded her. Clenching her fists, she struggled to choke out a word as she screamed. “LI!”

*

“LI!”

“KITTY!” Liaena and Liam screamed back almost in unison, as Bella stared at the door with wide eyes. “Damn.”

“Dammit gal! Leave this t’ tha professionals!”

Smokey grouched behind her as Liaena shoved several sticks of dynamite under the door, before slathering the hinges with some sort of gunk out of her bag that smelled terrible as she slapped it on with a complete lack of care and attention. “Get back”

“Yup. Sure” Rithrynn said cheerfully behind her, clearly more than a little genre-savvy about the imminent situation. Liam meanwhile was edging forward, murmuring something under his breath. About to rummage in her bag for a tinder box, Liaena was taken nearly unaware as a ball of fire emerged in his hands, before he stepped forward and launched it at the door now coated in flammable explosives.

-BOOOOOOOOM-

If there had been protective spells on the door, they failed before the combined efforts of magic and Large Explosion. Shards of stone and twisted metal flew everywhere, the former sharp enough to cut through flesh with ease. They fell harmlessly to the ground however where they impacted with the glimmering shields that had appeared around both Liaena and Liam.

Liaena meanwhile, was already moving forward. She barely had time to take in the scene; the cultists, the pentagram and Kathlin standing helplessly in the middle – before the corpse of a troll was flying through the air, impacting with the nearest cultist and throwing him out of the circle.

[Sinerathin]

Sevarian spun around as the door to the ritual chamber was blasted to smithereens, leaving rocks flying in every direction as both a cloud of dust and a wall of flame gushed into the room.

"They have breached the sanctum - aawwh!" One of the cultists exclaimed from behind his steel mask just before one of the tiny rocks ricocheting through the room hit him in his upper left leg, causing the man to crumble to the ground from the wound.

All the while, the spirit host that was circling up beneath the roof of the ritual chamber seemed to have become antagonized by the sudden disturbance and explosion. The shadows and apparitions now screeched and howled in a frigid fury as they moved more erratically through the air, whatever dark harmony that had guided them before seemingly having vanished completely! Now the disfigured shadowy humanoids descended down upon the people in the room, attacking every living being indiscriminately regardless of affiliation!

The cultists would soon find themselves having to fend off incoming wraiths and spirits with their spells and barriers, too preoccupied to neither attempt to continue the ritual or mount a proper counter attack against the new intruders. The lone chevalier who had escaped back into the room was running as he tried to get away from the enraged spirits, and because the Night Elves were blocking the only way in he was essentially only zig-zagging and running in circles!

But some of the spirits had also gotten their eyes for Sharon and his group, now eyeing the humans and Night Elves standing in the door way, and began to descend upon them like an unholy dark hail of wails and clawing hands!

The magic that was holding Kathlin in place had vanished, allowing her to move freely. But as she had barely taken a step forward from the ritual circle, a spirit from the host up above her, by far the largest and most menacing looking of the wraiths, seemed focused on her! With no warning, it descended with a chilling shriek down upon her from behind! As its claws latched onto Kathlin's arms and shoulders, it was as if the shadowy aberration melded around her, covering parts of her body with shadowy tendrils and lesser clouds! To Kathlin, it felt as if a thousand daggers stabbed simultaneously at her brain as she was dropped in a pool of ice water, her mind filled with angry, shrieking voices that deafened any thought her or noise around her! Her body became numb, and any movement became sluggish.

"You meddle in affairs beyond what your meager minds could ever comprehend!" Sounded the infuriated voice of Sevarian as the black haired dark mage had turned to face the intruders. The man was wearing his full set of silver polished steel plate armor adorned with a cloak and tabard of the White Hand.

Extending an arm out to the side, a staff suddenly flew forth from beneath one of the walls of the room, springing out from under a bolt of cloth. Snatching it as it came at him, Sevarian turned his arm to point his staff now at the entrance to the room where Liaena, Sharon and the rest of the group stood.

The base of the staff seemed to be made out of a pitch black metal - saronite, a notorious ore that was known as the blood of an old god. Multiple miniature bones adorned the shaft and head, holding a green plague crystal at the end that pulsated with a sickening and debilitating aura.

Summoning a spell, Sevarian slammed the bottom of his staff into the floor beneath him - causing a wave of necrotic energies to shoot out in every direction. As it touched the bodies of the slain trolls, the magic seemed to dissipate into them as they were reanimated. But while the animated corpses of the trolls who had been victim to the ritual began to rise, glowering around them with empty green eyes, Sevarian had already slung his staff around, firing plague bolts in the direction of the group!

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

"I will take your silence as a sign of consent." Sherpa concluded coldly as he looked down at the defeated Rae'liel. Motioning for the knight behind Rae'liel to take her with him, Sherpa began to walk across the battlements with Rae'liel and the Knight in tow. Along the way, he motioned for some more chevaliers to follow him, and soon the group that was lead by Sherpa would consist of an additional nine chevaliers and two battlemages.

Walking into the main fortifications, Sherpa lead the group as he walked in front, heading down a large flight of stairs taking them deeper down into the very core of the reef itself, all the while Rae'liel was pushed after him while surrounded by the chevaliers.

"Do try to keep up, my dear Sin'Dorei. I would hate to miss the party." Sherpa said as he walked down the stairs, slightly motioning towards Rae'liel with his head.

[Rithy]

Though explosions might have startled most in the group, given the time she had spent with Liaena, Rithrynn was not really anywhere near as surprised as that of her sisters when the human decided to blow up the door right in front of them!

What did manage to unnerve her however was the sight that waited them on the other side. Bloodied ritual chamber, cultists performing heinous magic and wraiths and spirits shrieking up above.

... and corpses to add to the atmosphere.

"Slay them all!" Was Serphia's command as she raised her swords, and Rithrynn soon found her first target as drew her first arrow; one of the cultists trying to fend off a wave of angry spirits that spiraled down towards him. Letting go off her arrow, she sent it flying through the room, passing through the occasional spirit on the way before finding its way into the man's side. The cultist let out a cry of pain, but before he could fall to the ground one of the spirits had swooped down and carried him away!

Serphia noticed the incoming bolts launched by Sevarian's staff, yet as she was about to step aside, Sharon had already cast a barrier spell from her shoulder that blocked the bolts mid-air, causing them to explode into poisonous gas.

"There's spirits... ghosts... LOTS OF THEM!"

Although she had seen them from the moment they breached the room, the presence of actual spirits was something that took Rithrynn's brain a few seconds to process. It was not until she noticed that none of her sisters had yet charged through the door and that the worried looks they were giving the wave of spirits now heading down towards them that Rithrynn realized that the spirits would take priority over the distressed cultist!

As she fired off yet another arrow however, Rithrynn's face started to become noticeably more pale when she saw her serrated arrow simply pass through the nearest incoming wraith's incorporeal and gaseous being as if it wasn't even there!

" ... not FAIR!"

After a moment of horror; slinging her bow over her shoulder, Rithrynn would move over before she picked up both Liam and Liaena(as well as Bella in her chest pocket), and haul them up as to hold them facing directly towards the floating mass of spirits speeding towards them at the entrance!

"There's a reason we dragged your light butts all the way with us - NOW DO SOMETHING!" Rithrynn cried to all three of the humans as she wielded them as though they were weapons themselves!

[Feychild]

“…Shoo…Shoo!” Kathlin gasped as she flapped her hands at the wraith clinging to her tightly. The shade emitted a sort of screechy-snarly noise as she batted at it, before sinking its claws deeper into her neck and shoulders. “Ow. Go on, get off. No completed rituals today, thank you”

*

“Who, me!?” Bella squeaked in a tone several steps higher than her usual octave as she tried to bury herself inside Liaena’s pocket. Liaena herself had gone extremely pale and somewhat glassy-eyed as she stared at the hordes of uncontrolled spirits, trying to form words that didn’t seem eager to come any time soon.

Also dangling from Rithrynn’s hands, Liam stiffened his back as he focused on the first wave of ghosts flooding down towards them. “Rest in peace, lost souls”

As the wraiths swooped towards the group, one of them immolated on the spot to leave nothing but a small cloud of mist as the others sped straight for Rithrynn, Sharon and the others. Of the ghast that was gunning for Rithrynn, it crashed into a hastily conjured shield as Liam rattled off frantic prayers under his breath, before also going up in a burst of flames.

“Haah…nice one, Gray. I told you we’d got this!” Bella said cheerfully as she poked her head up again from Liaena’s pocket. Glancing around as a conjured ball of fire appeared in her hand, she proceeded to lean forward and lob it across the room at a spirit menacing Vashi, which screamed with pain at the effrontery.

*

“I….I’m sorry for what happened to you. I really am” Kathlin told the wraith that was still trying to sink it’s claws into her eyes. The girl was still managing to stay upright and walking, albeit at a tortuously slow pace, and was entirely oblivious to the battle in the room beyond the one taking place in her mind. But now, you need to go – Light take you, and go!”

A glow of holy light emanated from the girl at her last word, causing the ghost to shriek in pain even as it clung on ever more stubbornly. Kathlin gritted her teeth as knives attacked her head again, and her knees buckled to land on the floor. “Whatever your god was…go to that. That’s where you belong, not here inside my head”

*

“Kitty!? KITTY! Hang on!”
Liam yelled as he tried to pull free of Rithrynn’s iron grip, the Night Elf apparently unwilling to let go of her literal human shields anytime soon. Fixating on the dark cloud enveloping the girl, the priest muttered the frantic words of a prayer just as Kathlin reached up again to try and yank the wraith from her head; the ghost producing yet another horrible wail as it was lit up with holy fire.

[Sinerathin]

The monstrous wraith that was trying to possess Kathlin howled with a deafening voice as its dark being was lit on fire by holy magic! It raised a shadowy arm, unnaturally long claws now extended and ready to strike as it aimed down at Kathlin, now seemingly more interested in outright killing her than possessing her.

Yet as it lounged forward to strike at Kathlin, the wraith dissipated in a cloud of darkness around Kathlin with a chilling howl that signaled its demise.

"No! You have ruined my work!" Sevarian growled as he saw his creation dissipate around a rather stunned Kathlin. Turning towards Vashi who was currently in the process of casting a spell, Sevarian enacted a sudden counter spell, causing the arcane energies summoned by Vashi to suddenly implode between her hands before violently shooting outwards in a shockwave that knocked both her and her nearby sisters into the surrounding floor and walls with breath-taking force!

But as he was about to cast another spell, an arcane bolt came towards him like a cannonball, fired by Sharon who was standing on Serphia's shoulder. Sevarian barely had time to raise his staff and block it, the arcane bolt exploding in a loud noise as it was deflected by his magical staff.

"We need to finish this before more reinforcements show up!" Sharon called out to Serphia's face beside him, urging her to bring an end to the fight.

The spirits that had previously occupied the room had now dwindled in number as some of them had been exorcised by the holy magic of Liaena's colleagues, but with the death of what seemed like the main apparition around Kathlin, their ethereal beings began to fade, and some outright disappeared in the air.

The reanimated trolls, and about four cultists, were still roaming about, now finally focusing their deadly claws and spells at the intruders now as the spirits began to disappear.

Alissah had left the main group and rushed forward to Kathlin, before pulling a pistol out of her pocket and aiming it directly at Kathlin!

Before Kathlin could say a word, Alissah had fired off a sanctified bullet from her flintlock pistol that snapped past Kathlin's cheek, before an audible growl emanated from behind her as one of the undead trolls that had been rushing towards her was struck down by Alissah's bullet, crumbling in a limp pile behind her!

"Come with me!" Alissah shouted as she extended an arm to grab Kathlin's hand and yanked the debilitated priestess apprentice with her, while simultaneously holstering her pistol and unsheathing a truesilver shortsword to meet the next threat that might come at them!

[Rithy]

As the number of evil spirits in the room began to dwindle, the threat image now changed from being gassy, ethereal angry spirits to marauding, bloodthirsty undead trolls that were now charging at them with their teeth and fangs!

Drawing the conclusion that Liaena and Liam, and especially Bella, would not be able to provide much in the way of protection or defense against the incoming trolls, Rithrynn decided to drop them all; letting them fall to the ground with a thud as the sentinel drew her bow and a handful of arrows in her right hand.

"Heads down!" She called out to Liam and Liaena currently lying flat on the floor in front of her as the Night Elf began to rapidly fire off arrows in quick succession at the incoming trolls, already holding a handful of arrows in her draw hand leading to a remarkably quick reload!

The first incoming undead troll roared as the first arrow penetrated its head, twisting its neck around with a crunch as the body slumped to the ground, legs tumbling through the air.

The second arrow found its way into the lower abdomen of the troll right behind it, slowing it down. It growled, before a third arrow struck it in the upper chest. Stunned for a brief moment, the troll became easy picking as another one of the sentinels, wielding a razor sharp curved blade with a long handle brought her blade to bear against the troll in a swooping strike that completely severed the troll's head from the rest of the body, causing it to collapse on the floor.

"Shield me, Vashi!" Serphia called out as she was about to charge, only to pause when she received no answer.

"Vashi?" She asked, turning to look around, only to notice Vashi alongside two other sentinels lying against the wall, all of them drifting in and out of conscience as the fight seemed to have been struck out of them for the time being.

"By Elune's divine ass, perfect timing to go down, Vashi... "

Glowering at Vashi who was now out of the fight, Serphia turned to look to the little High Elf sitting next to her on her shoulder.

"I'm putting too much trust in you! Don't let me down!" Serphia warned, before she rushed off towards Sevarian who was about to recover from Sharon's spell. Behind her she was accompanied by two of her sentinels, defending her flanks! One of the undead troll had spotted her and was charging towards her, but was hit and stunned by an arrow from Rithrynn before promptly being sliced in half by Serphia as the ferocious Night Elven Captain charged past it!

As the dark mage attempted to cast another spell, Serphia swiftly stepped forward and brought her right blade in a sweeping motion against the human, swiping his staff aside!

No later than as his arm was tossed aside with the staff had she already brought her left sword in a cutting motion against the less protected underside of Sevarian's arm, cutting through some of the ringmail and causing a wave of blood to gush forth! She came at him like a whirlwind of blades, interrupted only by sudden sharp thrusts with her swords at any openings she spotted in the man's armor.

"Let me show you the death you so much praise, Necromancer!"

Serphia called out as she more than remembered Sevarian from their earlier duel in the sewer, her eyes constantly watching his hands in case the dark mage would attempt any cheap shots like last time!

A murderous instinct had taken over the Night Elven Captain completely, her silver eyes preying on Sevarian as if he had been the only thing in the world! Her dual swords danced like lethal serpents through the air, and even a glancing blow was enough to leave a sizeable dent in his armor and push him back! It was no less than a millenia of swordsmanship that was now brought to bear against the lone human, by a Night Elf much larger than him who seemed to have had already decided his fate!