Feychild

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

"Auuugghhh...." Liaena groaned miserably into the floor, the cold snow doing its best to sooth her poor maimed nose. Raising her head slowly off the ground, she looked up at the struggling pair to see how the fight was coming along.

It was proving to be short, and to the point. Astrid might have had multiple knives and professional experience, but Serphia's sentinels tended to have a hundred years training in hand-to-hand as a bare minimum, and considerable strength and girth on account of their size on top of that. Liaena winced as Ashei laid a blow into the unfortunate rogues stomach and Astrid doubled over with a gasp. "...yeah, you should really have upped your dosage. Guess it didn't cater for Night-Elves"

-BANG-
-THUMP-

*splat*

Liaena was climbing slowly to her feet, using the wall of the building to steady her as Astrid collapsed into a crushed heap at Ashei's feet. The Night-Elf was polishing her bloody gauntlet thoughtfully as she looked over to Liaena. "Sorry, human. You all look the same to me"

"Mmh" Liaena said in response to that. Looking over at the rogue, Ashei followed her gaze. "...What're you going to do with her?"

"Weeell...I guess I'll keep it for now. Mistress did say she wanted another assassin, to replace that other one that got lost" Ashei said thoughtfully after a long pause. Scooping the assassin up, Astrid hung limply over one arm as she turned to go. "Come along human. It was this way, wasn't it?"

Liaena limped up behind her, quietly pulling out her dart gun to level it at the non - armoured small of her back. "Yes"

"Oh, goo...ooooooood"

"...sorry" Liaena told the Night Elf slightly apologetically as Ashei subsided into a snoring heap on the ground yet again, spilling Astrid out of her arms as she did so. Crouching down beside the rogue, Liaena started to search through the other womans clothes, discarding any daggers, guns, garrotes, or any otherwise violent and/or pointy things and putting them into a nice little heap next to the Night Elf. Any jars of powder, or vials, she put into her own satchel, for later. After she was done she pulled out a little vial of shrink potion, forcing it into Astrids mouth to shrink the woman to a tiny doll sized figure, putting her into the other sock of the pair and tying it off to place it in her pocket. Lastly, she pulled the unconscious Night Elf across the road to prop her against the wall of a nearby building and (mostly) out of the wind.

That done, she turned her face into the blizzard again as she set off into the snow. Her face was throbbing bitterly, and her head was ringing from the fight earlier, but it was not just her condition that made it even more important to get off the street and into cover, but the Night Elf repercussions that were now almost inevitable to occur.

"So much for a low profile..."

*

"Yes." Kathlin responded carefully, eyeing Rithrynn sitting opposite her as though the Night Elf was planning on lunging across the room to rip her throat at any moment, which did not appear to be that far from the truth. After a moments pause as she seemed to rethink the question, a crinkle appeared on her brow. "Well, no....that depends on what you define as, uh, "blown up". But she does have friends. Like...me"

"...."

"I work at the Cathedral" Kathlin volunteered helpfully after a pause, when it became obvious that Rithrynn had little interest in maintaining her end of the conversation, instead opting to stare at Kathlin like she was a vulture and the girl was a defenceless little baby rabbit. "That's how I know Li"

"She never mentioned you"

"...Okay" the girl said somewhat awkwardly in response to Rithrynn's cold remark. In the hopes of defrosting the situation somewhat, she opted to give the elf a tentative smile. "She did tell me all about you, though"

"Really? What did she say?"

It was at Rithrynn's question that Kathlin clearly realised the hole she had dug for herself and cheerfully walked into, as her cheeks reddened noticeably. "Uhhhhhhhh....she said you were...her friend"

"...."

"And that you were...large" Kathlin mumbled into the floor when it became clear that Rithrynn was not planning on letting her off the hook. "and that you meant well, sometimes, and look--"

Breaking off, the girl shook her head as she gave Rithrynn a resigned look: "--couldn't you just ask her this, when she gets back?"

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“Please, keep your voice down” Kathlin implored the Night Elf, suspended as she was several feet above the floor as her feet dangled freely. Glancing around nervously, the girl saw a drunk Night Elf peek into the room that they had just crashed through, visibly shrug at the sight, and wander off clutching a bottle.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HER!?”

“…Nothing!” Kathlin protested quickly. The girl noticed an eyetwitch from the Night Elf that strongly suggested that something extremely painful was inbound very soon, and raised her hands in a placating gesture. “I’m just….trying to help. I’m a friend of hers too”

In the small lull that this comment afforded her, Kathlin chewed on her lip worriedly as she considered the situation, before pointing a finger up at the Night Elf. “You’re Rithrynn, right? So if Liaena was….theoretically off doing something she didn’t want anyone else to know about, then it wouldn’t be too bad for you to know as well? And you wouldn’t tell anyone else? Theoretically”

“……”

“…Could you just shut the door?” Kathlin suggested cautiously into the silence that greeted this pronouncement, pointing over Rithrynn’s shoulder at the entirely open doorway, door swinging open, for anyone to walk in and overhear the conversation. “…Then, I’ll explain. Promise”

*

Liaena gave a yelp of surprise and pain as Ashei collapsed right on top of her, the little girl failing to step back quickly enough to avoid the falling elf. Pinned underneath the Night Elf, Liaena struggled to push the elf off, free herself and get to her satchel. “This could be bad. Really, really bad. I didn’t thought she’d go that far!”

About to levitate the elf off her, and probably throw her at Astrid, Liaena hesitated at the last moment.

“….”

“How much do I want to stay in character?”

*CLONK*

That moment of indecision had cost her dearly, as Astrid, having started to run after them the moment Ashei had hit the floor, had jumped over the Night Elf and walloped the little girl solidly around the back of the head with the blackjack. Liaena immediately crumpled into the snow as Astrid put all her strength into shoving the snoring Night Elf away with a grunt of pain, before leaning over to grab the unconscious girl by the collar.

As Astrids fingers closed around her clothes Liaena suddenly leapt into life with a vengeance; latching onto the woman’s arm to pull herself to her feet as she tore herself free. The pain in her head was intense, but it didn’t stop her hitting out with all her strength for Astrids bad shoulder while the woman was still stepping back in shock at the unexpected assault.

The resulting scream from Astrid was beautiful as Liaena gouged her fingers into the half-healed cut through the layer of bandages. The girl scratched, hit, kicked and punched at the other for all that she was worth as she bore down on the woman, hoping to overpower the rogue under the initial surprise attack of blows!

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Kathlin eyed the root that was being waved expectantly in front of her face gingerly. “Uhhhh…No. I’d rather not, thank you”

“…..”

Vashi toyed the root in her hand, looking somewhat confused, before taking a purposeful step towards the girl. “Aww Rithrynn. I thought you said your human ate anything”

“W-wait! What I mean is….that’s probably not a very good idea” Kathlin bolted out of her chair hurriedly to back away from the elf that was advancing upon her “This thing, is for an experiment right?”

“….Yes?”

“Right. Right. Then using me as a test subject is a terrible idea” Kathlin said hastily. Gradually working her way toward the door, she held out a remonstrating hand toward Vashi, who at the very least seemed to be listening somewhat.
“Li…that is, I take so many potions that any results you get are going to be completely different from what you’d get from anyone else. Ideally, um…what you’d want is a person, who’d only taken one potion, y’know as a control measure. And that’s not me. Not me at…all”

Pausing in front of the door, Kathlin gave Vashi a weak smile as she backed into it. “I, uh, got to go”

“Wut?”

The swinging empty door greeted Vashi in return as she gave it a confused look. Out in the hallway, Kathlin headed up the stairs quickly, throwing several anxious looks behind her. “…pretty sure I was done with the living room, anyways…”

*

“Where are you going?”

“…..”

“This…could be better”

Liaena thought as she studied Ashei dubiously. Assassin or Night Elf? When it came to which she liked more, it was fairly close, but Ashei did attain an extremely narrow victory.

“Oh. I’m going to Mister Dal’diebs house too” Liaena explained innocently. Holding her satchel up, she shook it around for evidence, making the unfortunate Donald inside feel even more ill. “I got asked to do shopping, but…then I got lost in the snow. That’s why I was asking my friend here the way”

Walking casually away from Astrid, Liaena moved closer to Ashei as she started carefully walking in the same direction as the Night Elf. Turning back to look at the assassin, she gave Astrid a sweet smile. “Thanks so much. Um…were you going this way?”

“Wanna play Night-Elf-Chicken with me?”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“Uh, no….” Liaena said uneasily as she shuffled through the snow. Something about the rogues tone told her that claiming riches would be an extremely bad idea indeed, under the circumstances. “My mom works at the Suckling Pig in the trade district. My dad went to war and never came back – ow!”

Stumbling, the girl ‘accidentally’ swung her satchel into the ground – hard – as she fell to her hands and knees in the snowy ground. A few well placed punches followed under the guise of scrambling to her feet, just in case. “S-sorry. My knee hurts”

“Hey!”

Liaena froze in the midst of getting up, as did the woman behind her, as they both looked up at the large Night Elf that loomed over them. The elf in question looked cold, tired, and above all, pissed. “You. I’m looking for a house belonging to a Sindorei Mage that’s round here somewhere. Do you know where that is?”

“…….”

Not taking her eyes off the Night Elf, Liaena carefully edged forward. The startled woman behind her did not move, and neither did the dagger. “…would that be where Serphia Dei is?”

“YES!” Ashei’s gaze sharpened instantly with interest, as the chance for finally getting out of the wintery hell that surrounded her appeared. “You know her, human!?”

“No, sorry….but my friend does” Liaena said sweetly as she stepped out of the way between Ashei and Astrid, gesturing with all cheerful innocence towards the latter. “She was just telling me about how she just came from that house, so you should probably talk to her”

*

“Okay” Kathlin said meekly as the vial was thrust at her. A moment passed where Rithrynn shook the vial at the tiny girl impatiently, before finally realising the obvious size problems inherent in the situation and started to uncork it, grumbling quietly to herself.

Tipping it up so the liquid trembled on the rim, Kathlin managed to open her mouth and catch a drop as Rithrynn lowered it towards her. A moment later, she was her correct size again, landing hard on the floor as the Night Elf promptly dropped her. “Uh, thanks. Again, I guess”

“I’m not even sure what I’m supposed to do now. Hopefully, Li won’t be too long”

For lack of anything better to do, Kathlin bent down to right a chair that had been thrown across the floor, and then sat down on it. Reaching into the bag she was carrying (Rithrynn’s eyes widened perceptibly) she produced – a book. Licking a finger before opening it at a marked page, she glanced carefully up at Rithrynn again. “…I have a question”

“….yeah?”

Glancing quickly at the exit that Naliyah had just left by, Kathlin looked up at Rithrynn again. “what were the planks for?”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“Nice to meet you” Kathlin responded politely to the beaming Naliyah. Glancing up and down, her eyes strayed over the odd garb the elf was wearing. “That’s a nice…outfit”

“Awww, thaaaanks!” Naliyah said happily, before her attention immediately refocused back upon Rithrynn. “Do you like it, Rithy? I got it from this little hummie shop next to the canal. So quaint! You should come with me next time….”

“Uh, maaaybe, Nali…”

Kathlin winced slightly as she received a very pointed glare from Rithrynn for not holding up her end of the conversation properly, as Naliyah started to edge closer towards her again. “So…have you been in the city…long?”

“Ohh, no. Not that long” Naliyah responded, momentarily sidetracked by the question. “Only so long as Rithy, and Mistress was soooo angry when she ran away. It’s a funny place though, and everything’s so small. Like you.”

“Uh-huh. Right.” Kathlin said cautiously as she looked up at the elf. “That’s probably why the clothes are so…”

Naliyah grinned down at her, showing a glint of teeth. The bulging human blouse that was held on her bust by one singular button was threatening any moment to burst its stitches. “so what?”

“….never mind”

*

“…You assassins are like cockroaches”

Liaena thought as she studied Astrid closely. She did recognise the blond woman, but her last memory of her had left her in relative certainty of her death. Clearly, that assumption would have to be revised somewhat.

Shifting slightly, she realised that she had landed partially on her satchel. Donald, inside and stuffed inside a sock had no doubt had an even more uncomfortable landing than her, and was quite possibly halfway to dreamland yet again by this point. Liaena readjusted her weight so as to avoid smothering him completely. “Y-yes. I understand. Just let me up”

Astrid sneered as she studied her, before grabbing her roughly by the upper arm and pulling her to her feet. Liaena reached down to disentangle the bola from her legs, as she established that her kneecap was only bruised, nothing worse. Her mind was also rapidly racing through her options, as she tried to figure out what to do for the best.

Fighting would no doubt not be the best plan. While she might be able to easily blow Astrid up in a sneak attack, Liaena was not under any illusions about her own incompetency in a physical fight, and Astrid was no doubt well-versed in fisticuffs. The woman clearly hadn’t recognised her, and under the circumstances her best option seemed to be to bluff until Astrid gave her an opening….

In a sudden moment of horror, Liaena realised that Sharons necklace had fallen slightly out of her shirt when she had been thrown off her feet, and was now partially visible for someone who was looking in the right place. Reaching up to adjust her cloak strings quickly, she dropped the pendant down safely inside her clothes again under the pretext of drawing her cloak more closely around her and shivering. “Where…where are we going?”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Walking along the secret passage as her footsteps kicked up small clouds of dust, Liaena paused part of the way along it to check that Donald was still stuffed securely inside her sock and her bag, and to bring out a full vial, the liquid inside a distinct brownish-red hue. Taking a gulp, she braced herself against the wall with a gasp as she waited for the burning sensation spreading through her body to subside.

With a rattling of a rusty bolt and a few well-placed kicks, a trapdoor under a wicker mat in Sharon’s greenhouse swung open and a human girl with an oval face, blue eyes and long copper-coloured hair climbed out of it. The navy robes she was wearing were noticeably short in the arm as she slammed the hatch shut behind her and made for the door.

In the middle of winter, the greenhouse looked sad and neglected (while in impeccable condition thanks to Frederick) and stood alone and largely ignored behind the mansion under a blanket of melting snow. Trekking through the snow in the garden and keeping a sharp lookout for any Night Elves sentries or sabre-tooths, Liaena made it to the boundary wall to clamber up and swing her leg over the top after a few false starts. Pulling herself up and over to hastily drop down the other side and land on the cobbled pavement, she fled off down the street without stopping to check for anyone observing or following her.

*

“Yes. Alright” Kathlin said cautiously, looking up at the big Night Elf who was currently looking very sorry for herself indeed. Not only was it clearly not a good idea to argue with her, but sitting entirely unharmed in the palm of Rithrynn’s hand, the little girl tended to think that the Night Elf might have a point.

Getting up to climb out of her hand, Kathlin walked carefully along the length of Rithrynn’s arm to reach her head, the elf’s face still buried deeply in Sharons soft-pile carpet. Apparently considering poking her ear before thinking better of it, the girl ‘knocked’ awkwardly on her head before speaking. “Um. Thanks for looking out for me back there, by the way. You didn’t have to….and I probably would have had a bit of a problem if you hadn’t. I’m sorry about all of the trouble”

Taking a very hurried step back along her arm as the Night Elf reared her head back up; Kathlin had never felt less Li-ish as Rithrynn looked down at her. If felt like any moment like someone was going to point a finger at her and scream: ‘imposter!’, and with that came the strong suspicion that any conversations with this particular elf should be kept to an absolute minimum, before she inevitably failed to know something. “Soooo…were you going to help your friends look for that man?”

Gesturing vaguely at the elves all around them scouring the room, Kathlin looked back at Rithrynn to give her a nervous smile. “You know…the free food and drinks…sounded quite popular”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“Shut up” Liaena muttered as she walked quickly down the narrow corridor, checking frequently behind her for the sound of any pursuers. She wasn’t overly bothered by Donalds words however, as all appearances indicated that none of the Night Elves had even bothered to pursue her. This part of the house – aside from the distant crashes and screams that could still be heard faintly from the direction of the living room – was as silent as the grave.

“That was suspiciously easy. They’re either a lot cleverer than I give them credit for…. or a lot stupider”

Climbing out of a door into the main part of the house once again, Liaena took a flight of stairs leading downwards, the air becoming noticeably cooler and damper as they progressed down into the cellars. Still, no noise could be heard from behind them. “….I’m going to go with ‘stupider’”

This part of the house was devoted to Sharons cellars and storage rooms, something that Frederick cherished and the Night Elves had taken great pains to empty. To that end when Liaena eased the door of one open to enter, the wine cellar looked notably depleted, with many racks standing empty which would otherwise have held bottles dating from decades ago, with many exotic labels. Far more importantly from Liaena’s perspective, the room was also empty of elves, drunk or otherwise.

Walking up to one of the wine barrels, instead of turning the tap to turn it on, Liaena took hold of the metal tap and twisted and pulled on it gently until it popped right out of the barrel itself. Reaching into the hole that it had left, she carefully fiddled with the mechanisms inside until she was rewarded with a faint creak and the front of the barrel swung out, allowing entry into a dark hole that was easily large enough for a high elf, or a human.

“I wonder if Frederick has got around to trapping these passages yet”

Liaena thought to herself as she unhooked a lantern from the wall, before giving a ‘meh’ shrug of her shoulders as she climbed into the hole, swinging the front of the barrel shut behind her. “Only one way to find out, I guess”

*

“hm…I think this one says ‘antidote’ on it”

Kathlin considered the label of one vial that looked promising, before letting out a sigh as she turned it upside down to study it again. “Or possibly ‘arsenic’”

*CRASH*

“Yaaargh!”

Spontaneously and entirely unexpectedly, the chair she was hiding under got ripped away to reveal two struggling Night Elves, entangled in and flailing at each other as one of them tripped over the aforementioned armchair. Kathlin stood rooted to the spot as they loomed over her, as a flashback to Janessas recent fate appeared very vividly in her mind.

Flinging out a hand, a faintly glowing sphere appeared around the tiny human just as a large purple foot crashed into her, shattering the shield with the force of the blow and also punting the girl across the room like a football, narrowly missing other struggling combatants before she finally collided with something soft.

“Sorry” Kathlin told the comatose elf she was sitting on, once she had got over checking her arms and legs to ensure that they were not pulverised. It was clearly not the safest place for either of them however, as the war Shani had inadvertently created raged around them. The elf that had become her refuge was herself in great risk of being picked up to be used as a battering ram or slung across the room as the girl scampered across her body, stopping just behind her ear to look out at the room around her.

“LI! WHERE ARE YOU!? LI!”

“Here! Over here!” Kathlin cried out immediately in response. Leaning out of the purple waterfall that was the sleeping elfs hair, she waved frantically to try and catch the attention of Rithrynn, who was still crawling around on the floor in a slightly different part of the room. “I’m here!!”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

Spying on the elves from the comparative safety of the servants passage, Liaena’s eyes lit up as she watched Shani’s epic fail, and the subsequent loss of Donald. Running along the passage to let herself out into the hall outside the noisy living room, she stole up to the door to lurk expectantly behind it.

And lurked.

And….lurked.

"Shani, I got him! You can stop now!"

“……”

“….DAMMIT, Rithrynn!”

There were many torrents of abuse that the small human would have liked to hurl at the well-meaning elf as she pondered what to do next. Turning the handle, Liaena crouched down to hide herself behind the door as she took a furtive peek inside. Thankfully, most elves in the room were more preoccupied at staring at mess that Shani had made of the dinner table, including Rithrynn, who was standing just inside the door with her back to her.

*

“Uhhhh….Hi” Kathlin said uneasily as she looked over at Donald, who was being held in a pincer grip between Rithrynn’s fingers, in a very similar position to herself. The hesitation was born out of a strong sense that she should say something, if only to remain in character, but a subsequent difficulty in finding common ground with a man she had recently observed getting eaten by a Night Elf.

“Look on the bright side. It could have been the other end?”

What Donald would have said to that was unknown, as at that moment Rithrynn felt a hand unexpectedly grasp her ankle. Lying on her stomach outside the room, Liaena had reached into the room to coil her fingers around Rithrynn’s ankle, quietly lift her up and swing her foot around to send the Night Elf crashing to the floor with a squeal of surprise, mini-people flying everywhere with the incredibly inelegant landing.

Free, Kathlin found herself dazed and sitting on the floor, only a foot away from where Donald had landed. Glancing over at Donald as the brawl Shani had caused went on behind them and chaos reigned supreme, the pair exchanged a single glance as they clambered to their feet, before turning to flee in opposite directions.

For Donalds part, freedom was so very close. Racing towards the door, it had even been left open, a small gap between door and frame beckoning invitingly as if it had been left just for him, as he crawled through…

To be snatched up and stuffed into an empty stocking, shaken down into the end of the makeshift ‘sack’ as Liaena tied a knot in the open end. Dumping the now angrily kicking and shaking stocking into her satchel, she bolted for the servants passage as though all the hounds of hell were after her, which in a certain sense indeed they probably were, slamming the door behind her and ramming home the rusty bolt.
*

“Uh-oh” Kathlin mumbled to herself quietly as she edged around the leg of an armchair, which under the current circumstances seemed to be the safest place she could find for herself for the moment. Picking up the satchel that Liaena had so carelessly thrown at her, she hurriedly thumbed through the contents, squinting at each label as she tried to make out the chicken-scratch writing. “Shrink antidote, antidote….why do you never have antidotes, Li?”

“…..”

“….although I apparently have enough TNT to take the room with me, if it comes to that”

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

hey guys

Sorry about my sporadic-ness over the last few days. I have not been having a good week (to put it mildly), and it hasn't contributed well to my ability to write, particularly when I'm so tired and fed up in the evenings. I'm going away to visit family with my boyfriend for a few days, and will be back next wednesday. So to that end, I won't be able to post till next wednesday evening, but when I am back I should...hopefully....have recharged my batteries a bit and will be able to contribute better to the chaos that is rapidly escalating in the living room.

(And yes, Sharon that avatar is hilarious and made me laugh for several minutes. It is also highly appropriate)

"Shadows of the Past", a Warcraft Roleplay

“wh…what?” Kathlin gasped as she dangled upside down. The satchel dangled dangerously and she caught it just in time to stop several vials falling out of it and plummeting towards the floor.

Dumped back into the relative safety of the palm of Rithrynn’s hand, the girl gave a sigh of relief at being on solid-ish ground again. Looking up at her large captor, the Night Elf seemed to be waiting for an answer of some sort.

“…yes. You’re probably right. I should cut back”

“…..”

“….Really?”

“uhh…sure. Lets go with that” Kathlin mumbled. A hand was vaguely flapped at Rithrynn, who looked as if she was about to have considerably more to say on the matter. “talk to me about this later, okay?”

In the short lull in conversation that this remark afforded her, the girl managed to make her way to upright, clinging to Rithrynn’s thumb to retain her precarious balance. Around the room, Night Elves were engaging in the sort of festivities that told her that while not entirely stable, Rithrynn’s hand was probably the safest place to remain for now.

The one elf that wasn’t involved in a gang or a pair of some sort; Shani; who sat alone in a chair looking deeply aggrieved with the world around her, caught her eye. She was also wearing a black cloak and –

“BLAARGH!”

“Arghhhhhh!”

Kathlin watched, spellbound, as a small, tiny, shrieking human covered in mucus flew out of Shani’s mouth. Landing on her lap, he floundered around in the folds of her cloak as he desperately tried to escape.

“Night Elves….eat…humans?”

“………..”

“Okay, that’s a bit worrying”

Turning back round to Rithrynn, Kathlin suddenly realised she was far closer to her mouth and sharp white teeth than she could perhaps have wished for as she gestured over at Shani, wordlessly asking her to make sense of the situation. “…what is she doing?”