Feychild

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

"So, ye are sayin' that somethin' happened at the house of that Aflidious guy?"

“Something like that” Liaena said grimly as she headed towards the door, Fran trailing along behind. The girl evidently shared none of the dwarfs confidence as she picked up speed, raised voices audibly emenating from the carriage outside. “Hold that thought. One sec!”

*

“False idols…? …”

Marshall stared at Rithrynn as if he could not believe his ears, as a dark flush of anger slowly crawled up his neck. “How dare you blaspheme in the heart of this city? Wretched harpy”

Clutching the diary in one bony hand and his staff in the other, Marshall lurched to his feet, carriage shuddering as he waved his staff in the Night Elfs face. The end of the knarled stick was starting to glow noticeably in the gloom of the carriage as he shook it at her. “Your worship of demons keeps evil alive in this world, Keldorei! Repent, and cleanse your soul, or I will purge it –“

-BANG-

With a sudden squeal of hinges, the carriage door was yanked open again to reveal a Liaena and Fran, the former looking much too cheerful to be allowed under the circumstances. “High Priest Marshall! Could anything possibly be troubling you!?”

“Brat!” Marshall rounded upon the new target, stabbing a finger at the aforementioned Rithrynn. “This creature is a mockery against our faith, a sin against our world and is getting on my nerves!”

“She didn’t mean it, Father. She’s just very stupid”

“…Hmmph” Marshall grumbled after a brief pause, apparently slightly mollified by this. Meanwhile, Liaena shot looks at Rithrynn that promised her subsequent shrinking and stuffing in uncomfortable places if she decided to open her mouth. “I will not have her here! Foolish brat. Why did you even bring her!?”

“Ohh…” Liaena said evasively as she clambered into the carriage, tugging Fran along behind her and poking Rithrynn to move over. “But Father, she requested to learn more about the true faith. Surely we, are bound to try and save all souls, no matter how damned?”

“…….”

A silence fell with the old man ruminating upon this, allowing Liaena to carefully lean forward and disentangle his hands from the diary. As she closed the door behind them in the now full carriage, Ragnold whistled to his horses and they started to move again.

“We’re going to the Cathedral of Light”

Looking up, Liaena caught Frans eye, who was now sitting opposite her and looking quite rightfully confused at the situation. Having been affecting a cheery demeanour throughout her interactions with Priest Marshall, the girl now looked tired and grim again. “I got you to come along because something happened at Lord Alficious’ mansion and you’ve got one of your people in there as well. This afternoon, my owl brought me this”

Giving Fran a couple of seconds to digest this, Liaena held up Alficious’ diary, the book looking deceptively small and irrelevant given the weight that was being placed upon it. Thumbing through the pages to open it at the juiciest points regarding the White Hand, she passed it over for the dwarf to read. “This is the murdered nobles diary. You can look at all of it if you want but it’s more than enough for an investigation on the White Hand – Kathlin was supposed to meet me back at Sharon’s house this afternoon but she sent me this instead. And then there’s this”

Turning the page over to reveal the scrawled note, Liaena waited the dwarf to read it before raising her eyebrows darkly as he looked up at her again. “Something’s happened”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Sorry guys. Christmas has sort of crept up on me and gone: SUPRISE! This is a very long 30 seconds, I don't think there's going to be anything left of that carriage at this rate.

I will have a free evening tomorrow but after that I suspect I will be booked up for quite a while :-/. Christmas hiatus might need to be a thing. My relatives demand my attention.

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“Do you know where the Red Vanguards HQ is?” Liaena enquired conversationally where she sat next to him, having just observed another carriage slide past them just a few inches from her nose. Ragnold looked momentarily nonplussed, before recognition appeared on his face. “Right you are milady – RIGHT! TURNING RIGHT! GET OFFA THE ROAD!”

As they jinked right with a sweeping turn that sent pedestrians scurrying for cover and sent the carriage onto its two outside wheels yet again, with a few more frenzied twists and turns and driving that would cause any self-respecting cabbie to be barred for life, they squealed to a halt outside the inn with the newly built front door, the horses panting and wheels shaking.

“Okay. Just hold the carriage here for a moment, would you?” Liaena told Ragnold as she prepared to jump down into the slushy snow. Turning to look over her shoulder, she also squinted through the grille into the dusky inside of the carriage. “You two stay here. I’ll be right back”

Marshall glowered through the gloom back at her. His mood had clearly not improved, while looking distinctly unruffled by the frantic ride through the town. Having been studying Alficious’ diary, it was debatable whether he had even noticed it. “This is not our Cathedral of Light”

“No” Liaena allowed. “It’s not”

“Lying brat”

“We’ll be there soon, Father”

“And why is that thing with us!?” The old man wanted to know. A stab of his finger left no doubt about what ‘that thing’ was, Rithrynn having finally picked herself off the floor of the carriage.

“Because, Father, every time I’ve left the mansion in the last two days, something or someone has attacked me. And she’s good at dealing with that” Liaena said rather coldly. Avoiding the thought of exactly how much firewood the carriage could quite easily make and also avoiding catching Rithrynn’s eye, she jumped down into the slushy snow and made for the repaired door. “I’ll be right back. Do not kill each other!”

Stalking into the inn, there were several members of the Red Vanguard dotted around the interior, many seated at the trestle tables, a larger group clustered to the rear and talking in low voices. Liaena made a beeline for the latter, some of the men starting to look her way as she approached. “Fran!”

The dwarf stepped forward slightly, having previously apparently been talking to Darius, now looking confused. “…Liaena? What’s going on?”

Pausing in front of the group, Liaena glanced between the members of the Vanguard, before glancing at Darius and raising her eyebrows slightly. “Has the man you sent to Alficious’ come back yet?”

“……”

“…Right.” Liaena said grimly after the very telling pause. Looking at Fran, she jerked a thumb over her shoulder at the door to the inn, where as of yet no battle cries were emanating from. “We need to talk. There’s a carriage waiting outside and I’ve got about thirty seconds before somebody sets fire to it. Are you coming, or not?”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“How goes the negotiations?”

Liaena threw her a look that strongly suggested that a thought she couldn’t believe had just occurred to her, had just occurred to her. Eyeing the Night Elf up and down with a sizeable level of distaste, the girl finally sighed and rolled her eyes as a decision had been reached by her. “It’s fine. Get your stuff. We’re going out”

“What?”

“Going. Out. Now.” Liaena enunciated slowly and clearly. Marshall, for all his age had a remarkable level of stamina, sped up and Liaena had to increase her pace to catch up with him as she stabbed a finger back over her shoulder at Rithrynn. “Be at the gate in two minutes alright, or we’ll just go without you!”

*

“I have summoned a carriage to the house, Lady Rune. I estimate it will be here in under two minutes, allowing for the snow on the road of course. Your cloak?”

“Thanks Frederick”

“If I may, Lady Rune…” Frederick said politely, taking long careful strides to keep pace with Liaena as she jogged along. Brushing aside the curtain that still served as the front door – apparently carpenters and locksmiths resented being held at arrow-point while working – she jumped down the steps to the slushy, melted snow of the garden. “…Would you like me to take a message for you to Master Sharon?”

“Uhm…” Liaena muttered. Navigating the puddles of the garden path at that moment seemed more important than meeting Fredericks polite, but penetrating gaze. “Yes, I suppose so. Tell him…tell him something came up, but I’ve got it all under control…I…”

“Oh, excellent punctuality. I must write a letter of recommendation” Frederick said cheerfully as a carriage screeched to a halt at the gate, splattering water, muck and melted snow everywhere as well as onto the unfortunate Night Elf waiting at the gate. Liaena pushed the gate open after Marshall, ignoring the angry watcher and grabbing the door handle to the carriage. “Marshall. MARSHALL! We have a CAB! Come back!”

“Watch your tone, girl!”

“Of course…” Liaena muttered grumpily as she swung the door to the cab open for Marshall to climb in. Keeping a watchful eye on Alficious’ diary, still clutched in the deadlock that was the old mans hand, she slammed the door after him before turning to Frederick again. “Look. We need more allies that what we’ve got, okay, and I’m going to go deal with that. Tell Sharon I’ll be back before tonight, and the plan can still go ahead, I promise”

“So….where are we headed? You coming too, girl?”

“Yes” Liaena responded, after a brief glance towards the house that as yet revealed no Rithrynn rushing towards them. The girl couldn’t help but feel rather relieved after all, as she placed a foot on the step to climb up on the driver’s seat beside the cabbie. “Cathedral of Light, asap please. We need to make a brief detour in the Trade District though. I’ll direct”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“Father. Marshall! WAIT! I haven’t told you everything yet!” Liaena cried as she chased after the unrelenting Marshall. Storming through the corridors they occasionally passed drunk Night Elves, some of whom looked curious enough to start meandering after them. The result was that the pair were starting to attract a most unwelcome audience as Liaena dodged around the old man to block a doorway he was about to pass through, holding up her hands in a placatory gesture.

“It’s a really, really bad idea to just run in there, okay? I get that you’re angry, I am too. But look…”

“Lady Rune? As you requested”

Arriving as always at the most appropriate moment, Frederick materialised beside them to politely present Alficious’s diary to Liaena. Liaena grabbed it quickly to find the pages with Alficious’ investigation of the White Hand, and hold it out to Marshall. “This is what a Lord learned about the White Hand, and he died for it. If – if these people or Sherpa realise that we are onto them, it’ll put Kitty in so much danger…”

Snatching the book off of her, Marshall flipped through it before arriving at the relevant pages. Scanning it, his eyes narrowed into angry slits at Liaena. “Stupid girl. You think that I would be rash enough to face this foe alone? Do you take me for a fool, brat!?”

“Uh…no” Liaena said doubtfully, tracking the book obsessively with her eyes. “Okay, good—“

“Which is why I’m reporting this to the Cathedral immediately”

“WHAT. Uh…Marshall” Liaena glanced desperately over her shoulder at the Night Elves that were starting to drift closer. “That-that might not be such the best idea. Remember, they did entrust this task to you—“

“I have the humility to know when something is beyond me, girl”

Marshall’s eyebrows had again furrowed into a deep line between his eyes as he glowered at the girl. “Who else would I ask to aid this cause of ours? Those wicked, shrieking, faithless harpies?”

“…..”

“Well…”

Losing interest, Marshall strode forward to push right past Liaena to start bulldozering down the corridor again, book in hand. Chasing after, Liaena found herself having to run at his side if only to maintain the conversation. “I don’t like them either Father, but they do have their uses. If we are going to sneak into this place…”

“The Light Of The World does not sneak”

“They do if their enemies are completely legitimate businessmen!” Liaena hissed furiously back.

“If the Light says they are not, then they are not. The king himself will know of this affront! This heresy!”

“…The King. Really.”

Still trying her best to keep up, Liaena gave Marshall a do-you-have-any-idea-what-you-sound-like look, before rolling her eyes at him. “This is urgent, Father. You want to wait six months until you get audience with him? …”

“He attends Mass tomorrow morning, brat. Which you would know if you ever paid deference”

“….”

Stalling in the corridor, Liaena watched Marshall stomp away from her, eyes wide. The entire ruckus had attracted quite a few Night Elves but the girl made no attempt to cool the situation, or follow the priest, instead thinking hard.

“Lady Rune?” Frederick enquired politely, having caught up to stand to attention next to the silent girl. “Shall I request Lady Dei intercept him at the gate?”

“Uh…No” Liaena said distantly after a long pause. Still tracking the old man with her eyes, she started to move forward again to follow him, before flapping a hand at Frederick. “Could you arrange a carriage instead? Thanks”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“So, this Sherman character…”

“Sherpa”

“…is actually a living death knight, and he wants to kill that Quel’dorei fellow downstairs because he defeated him in Dalaran”

“Uh, yes” Liaena muttered uncomfortably. Marshall glared at her for a moment longer, before fixing his gaze on a shelf on the wall behind her thoughtfully.

“I don’t believe it! Not a word!” The old man finally proclaimed loudly, stumping his walking stick onto the floor beside him to punctuate his words. Liaena ground her teeth together as he swung his head back to her looking pompous and smug. “Now if the Cathedral requested that I come here to assist that Quel’dorei, as you allege, I would have received a holy order ordaining my presence. And I didn’t. So you’re lying.”

“I think…” Liaena muttered finally, having swallowed about her first seven responses to that comment “…that your assistant would have had that letter”

“What assistant?”

If looks could kill, Marshal would be an oozing puddle on the floor. “The one that’s gone missing”

“….”

A long silence fell, as Marshall stared at the little girl. Finally he leaned forward, craggy white beard and eyebrows jutting out with his eyes fixed on her. “You mean to tell me that my assistant, a sworn member of this holy order, has gone missing?”

“…Yeeees?”

“To these unholy powers!? How dare they!!” Marshall bellowed, getting to his feet and kicking his chair aside to start kicking clothes and boxes about. Liaena stayed glued to her seat, hardly daring to move least it precipitate another random shift in attitude. The old man rounded on her, eyes glinting furiously. “Sloth is the most wicked of sins, girl, why didn’t you tell me about this immediately!?”

“I – you – “ Liaena opened her mouth furiously, before making a heroic effort at controlling her temper. “….I’m sorry Father”

“Ring the bells! Rouse the Paladins! These foul creatures will feel our strength, by the Light!” Marshall roared as he made for the shattered door, stick in hand. Liaena chased after him, frantically trying to pull him back. “No! Nonono! You can’t do that!”

Having reached the doorway, Marshall swung around to glower down at her. “Oh? And why not, exactly?”

“….”

Momentarily stalling, Liaena had to recollect her scrambled thoughts before she could formulate an answer to that question. “…It’s a stealth mission? Father, these guys are legit as far as the law is concerned. We can’t just…attack them”

Looming over her, Marshall stared down, eyes glinting. “The Light of the World is our law, girl. And it does not skulk in the shadows. It’s time you remembered that”

And with that the old man swung around to stomp off down the corridor, robes billowing around him. Liaena chased after him, still attempting to get a word in edgeways and calling out to Frederick, who was according to form, standing peacefully just outside the door. “Father – Marshall – wait! It’s not that simple…Frederick, go to Sharon’s study and get the book on his desk, would you? Tell him – just tell him it’s all under control!”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“I don’t even know why I bothered. Of all the people to send, why HIM?”

Liaena breathed in heavily through her nose as she glowered at Marshall. The old man proceeded to give her a narrow stare in return through his spectacles, then return to inspecting the book as he made a shooing gesture with one hand. “Now go away. I’m extremely busy, girl”

Standing in the doorway, Liaena debated the ethics and/or practicalities of leaving at that point and tossing in a grenade over her shoulder. Instead, she walked forward to stand in front of the priests desk, Marshall very pointedly ignoring her. “Father, there is a death knight in this city. He has his own army, with ghosts and undead and Light knows what else”

“….”

“Does it say what a death knight is in your book, father?” Liaena enquired nastily, temper rising again in the petulant silence that followed. Marshall turned a page. “It’s only a servant of the scourge, enemy of the –“

“I know what a death knight is, brat” Marshall snapped out. The old man had looked up this, glaring up at Liaena. “Enough of this foolishness! You mean to tell me that a relic of a defeated enemy, the crawling scum of this world, could infiltrate the finest of our cities, the bastion of our Light, under the very nose of our church and nobody would even notice!?”

“Yes”

Raising an eyebrow, Marshall gave her a long speculative look, before snorting. “Hmph. Well, they are blind idiots. But you’re also a nasty manipulative brat. So you’re probably lying”

“THAT’S WHY YOU’RE HERE! THEY SENT YOU!” Liaena screamed back. Having lost every fraction of her temper, she could easily have strangled the old man in front of her. “To HELP US! Now Kitty’s MISSING, and you won’t even get off your useless ass to go help her! You’re a relic! A has been! A – STOP READING THAT BOOK!”

Sweeping out with an arm, book, papers, quill and ink went flying off the desk to scatter all over the floor.

There was a very long silence. Then, Marshall slowly climbed to his feet to loom to his full height, which was in this case about half Liaena’s height again. The man might be old, but he was naturally broad of shoulder. “Pick that up”

“You—“

“Pick. That. Up.”

Liaena picked that up, as Marshall seated himself again still glaring at the girl the entire time. “Can you prove any of this, girl?”

“…..No”

“…..”

Having received his book back, Marshall inspected it for damage and ink stains. Finding several, he gave Liaena a long, nasty glare as he pointed at a stool in the corner. “Sit. Explain to me all of your ridiculous claims, and then I’ll decide how much trouble you’re in”

“But we don’t have the—“

“SIT!”

Liaena sat, as Marshall returned to attending to his book as if a parent to their first born child. Glancing back at the girl, he stabbed a stiff finger at her. “And no lies. The Light guides me to sniffing out the deceit in your soul!”

Having just opened her mouth to begin, Liaena stared dubiously at the ceiling as she avoided Marshalls gaze. “Uhhhh sure. Anyway…”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

-double post-

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

-double post- =_=

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“That would require that we possess some form of divine magic to prevent our worst case scenario of becoming a woefully onesided encounter”

Liaena studied the wooden panelling of Sharons desk as she avoided the high elfs eyes carefully. The simple fact that he was right did not make her feel the slightest bit better about him pointing it out. “mmh”

"So... shall we get Captain Serphia now then? Before the hangover of tomorrow will be too great?"

“No” Liaena muttered distantly. Glancing back, she shook her head at the Night Elf who was now giving her a odd look. “I mean yes. You should do that. I need to go speak to a different asshole”

“I’m sorry?”

Rising out of her chair, Liaena merely gave Sharon a faint smile with no explanation, before heading for the door. “Where’s Marshall staying now, anyway?”

“…I gave Father Marshall the guest room in the east extension, Lady Rune” Frederick explained smoothly from right outside the door, the butler sliding it open a fraction to bow slightly to those inside. “…he felt more comfortable distancing himself from, ahem, our other guests. I believe he has barricaded the door shut”

“Oh, wonderful. Well I’m an expert with barricades. I expect we’ve got a lot to talk about” Liaena remarked acerbically. Waving the butler aside, she started down the corridor towards the eastern side of the house. “Just help Rithrynn with Serphia, Sharon. I’ve got this”

*

Reaching the guest room specified by Frederick in a quiet, mostly unused area of the house, Liaena rattled the doorknob, before hammering on the door as hard as she could. “MARSHALL? We need TO TALK! IT’S…uh, important!”

“……”

Stepping back for a moment, Liaena produced a small jar to scrape some of the greyish paste inside it onto her fingers and then into the keyhole of the door. Digging out a flint stone, she struck them together to send a spark flying onto the lock.

-BAM-

Swinging the door open, Liaena stepped into a dark room, curtains drawn, lit only by the lamp over the desk which was piled high with weighty tomes and papers. Behind the desk sat the old priest, poring over one of the largest and most boring-looking.

Stepping closer, Liaena coughed loudly. Upon receiving no response, she stepped forward to pick up a pencil and tap it on the book he was reading.

At this, the old man finally looked up. Initially gaining a look of surprise, it was immediately replaced by fury as he looked between her, and the door with the door handle hanging off it. “YOU! How dare you trespass in here! I will have you evicted from this Cathedral, you little brat!”

“…Sorry, but we’re not in the Cathedral, Father” Liaena explained extremely frostily to the glaring bushy eyebrows. “You agreed to help Sharon Dal’dieb with the threat from the scourge, remember?”

“Are you accusing me of senility, girl!?”

“….No”

The priests brows contracted together still further, as he tried to figure out whether she was being genuine or not. Rather than allow him to form the inevitable negative conclusion, Liaena moved to hurry the conversation on to a more profitable subject. “…Marshall, I think something’s happened to Kitty. She’s in danger –“

“Who?”

Liaena ground her teeth together as she steadily lost more and more of her temper. “Kathlin Lennox. YOUR ASSISTANT.”

“What? Assistant? I don’t have an assistant. They get under my feet, always trying to tidy my office up, it’s a miracle from the Light I can ever find anything…” Marshall mused, glaring around the small bedroom he had appropriated. It was indeed, a tip. “Although I did have this girl that was supposed to be my assistant. Was that you?”

“…Yes”

Marshall paused a moment, as his eyes narrowed further to the point it was wonder he could see at all. “…You’re lying. I would have remembered if they had sent me you. And I would have complained”