World of Warcraft®

Both girls planned the same next move: EB rolled down onto the ground with Phen, attempting to pin her under her weight, while Phenelopy simultaneously pushed to topple EB over.

The elf went down too easily, Phenelopy realized, like she was prepared for that move. So she scrambled, trying to slide across the floor and away from under the elf. But she scrambled right into Trenetir, who had moved to intercept, grabbing the goblin roughly by the arm, "Play time is over."

She cried to the folks behind the bar, "Hey!"

Trenetir held on to her arm while admonishing his compatriots, "You two are rather disappointing." He motioned for one of them to tie her up.

Finally deciding to earn his pay, the undead clapped his hands together and watched frost rush towards Phenelopy's hands in an effort to shackle them.

Unaware of the incoming shackling, Phenelopy tried to yank her arm free from Tren. Tried.

Again she scanned the room for any friendly, helpful face, but there were only spectators. She hollered hollers across the bar to the working staff, "This wouldn't of happened at the Pittstop, ya know."

Meanwhile EB had gained her feet, clearly ticked off, and approached Phen with a balled up right fist. She threw a punch at Phenelopy's face when she got close enough.

Phenelopy ducked, towards Trenetir, barely missing the fist. Getting good leverage from Trenetir's grip, Phenelopy kicked back at the elf. The elf dudette stumbled backwards, not expecting the kick.

Encouraged by the kick's success, Phenelopy jerked mightily to free her hands of the ice shackles and her arm of Trenetir's grip. But with no success. She glared at the undead while squirming to keep an eye on EB too.

EB removed her shield from her back and rushed forward to shield bash Phen, as Trenetir, apparently deciding fun time was over, "Just pick her up and be done with it." In response to EB's charge, Phenelopy shifted aside, holding out her leg hoping EB won't see the trip coming. EB looked at the obvious foot in her way, rolled her eyes and physically attempted to pick up Phen.

Impatiently, Trenetir commanded, "Vile, the drugs." To Phenelopy he said, "Your Happiness was in excess, now you will know the pain that I have known."

Phenelopy started to yell, trying to get anyone to deliver a message since none will come to her aid, otherwise.

Vileone, the undead, sighed, letting Trenetir know he'd rather be scorching a batallion to bits. He drew a small vile from a pouch in his cloak, holding it ready in hand. He interrupted Phenelopy's yell. "Are you going to behave now, Goblin? Or am I going to start burning your flesh until you scream. It will be much easier to poison you with that mouth agape in terror."

She turned to Trenetir to see if he knew what the undead was spouting off about. With Phenelopy's attention diverted, EB took advantage and head butted Phen, who exclaimed, "Ow!"

Vileone snapped with his right hand and a steady flame erupted several inches from his index finger, while he held the unknown vial in his left hand.

Phenelopy started waving her shackled hands around desperately, between her 3 captors, overwhelmed, dazed from the head butt.

Trenetir inclined his head to Vile, "Go ahead." He looked to EB, "Perhaps some work in the yard?"

Vileone attempted to force the heavy sedative into the Goblin's mouth. Phenelopy choked while swallowing the vile vial contents of Vile's. She swallowed most of the contents but had a little left to spit at the undead. Her eyes began to blink slower.

Trenetir reached down to aid the gobiln as she'd fell back. Can't damage the packaging.

She looked up at Trenetir, the elf's face fuzzing out of focus and pleaded, "Please let Anthel know I'm here," as she slumped back into Trenetir's arms.

EB laughed at the goblin dropping to the floor, and took a cheap shot and kicked her.

Vileone addressed Trentir, "I trust you'll now help with the Grand Matron and her Conclave, Trenetir."

Laying the goblin on the floor, Trenetir growled low at Vile, "A deal was a deal." He then looked to EB, "Be a dear and get this one." He motioned to the now sedate goblin.

EB kicked Phen again to make sure she was out for good, then picked her up.

It appeared Vileone was attempting a grin at Trenetir's response. A partially toothed opening of his mouth began to form, pieces of flesh still lodged in the gaps as the remaining muscles hugged his jaw and pulled up. "Good, I have other business Trenetir, until next time."

"Send your word and I will do what I can, I am nothing if not a man of my word." Trentir responded.

Vileone exhaled and lets his form mirror the elf dudette's. He then nodded to her. She glared back at him, and he replied civilly with, "A pleasure meeting you," and he departed.

EB, with Phenelopy slung over her shoulder, looked to Trenetir. "Where am I taking the trash?"

"My business in Silvermoon City. There are dungeons below."

EB nodded, walking through the exit of the inn making sure that Phenelopy's face smacked hard into the door frame on the way out.

Trenetir followed.

The old gnome paced quietly in his half of the dungeon cell wearing only a ragged pair of pants. His ragged shirt was instead wore wrapped around his head like a haphazard turbin. The voice in his head pestered him continually, dashing any hope of sleep, so he put himself to work in an effort to quiet the voice. It was only encouraged.

Below the old gnome's feet sprawled a few of the long schematic pages. A few more were propped open against the bars. A few more were scattered here and there each page in their own roll. The rest Cail held bunched up in his hands. He wrestled with them as carefully and quietly as possible, turning from one page to another, muttering silently to himself.

"Shhh...don't waken the beehive."
Don't worry about her, she's out cold. Wait! Turn back to that other page...

Cail wrestled with the crinkled pages.
You know, now would be an ideal time too...

"Noooo..." Cail hissed. "I already told you I won't. She's done nothing."
Done nothing YET. She could be a spy for all we know. You should kill her now while she sleeps.

"I said noooo...." He hissed again. "Ah, here it is." His voice sounding very pleased.
Right there. You see this? These lines double the kinetic flux outbursts which then pass through the resonation chamber. You can see here that if we but alter the current of, double stack the feedback...

"...and alter the formulae accelerations listed here...." Cail flips back a few pages. "a = ( V - v ) ) t = 0 and x = ½ ( V + v ) / t ) ( ½ ( V + v ) t."
Then our alternate retrofit power source will surely work! We just need to thoroughly test it.

The old gnome nods thoughtfully, pulling and twisting the ends of his mustache. "Yes. We will need several poultry."

Cail grabs the bars and begins yelling at the top of his lungs in an almost shrill voice .
"GATE KEEPAH! GATE KEEEEPAAH!"

From a dead sleep, Phenelopy simultaneously tried to jump out of her skin, rolled away from the screeching noise, pulled a shoe off, and threw it in the general direction of that awful racket. She slowly blinked her eyes trying to focus and wake up, and mumbled, "Where's the fire, Anthel?"

Her ribs still hurt from the beating she had taken at the hands and feet of EB (she hoped that EB had some big ole welts on her too); jerking awake like this didn't help them at all. She moaned and pressed her ribs in, as she looked over and recognized Cail. And therefore her situation.

"Sweetie! Shush, or you'll bring down the guards. Whatever's got into ya, kid?" She slowly got to her knees, then with a shallow breath and a lot of slow focused concentration, to her feet.

There was something wrong with this gnome, something more than just this cell, something . . . . brittle? Bruised? Fragile? She wasn't sure what but she knew it was there. She sure wished she had a few bottles of fire water and a dishrag; those were her usual tools for pulling lost souls back into the world.

Well, she had some schematics and . . . she took a look around the cell . . . well, she had some schematics. She'd just have to make do.

Yuuko couldn’t help but smile as she heard the yelling. She winced as she stood, the little brat had put up quite a fight, but in the end she wound up like beaten sack of potatoes. Yuuko was rather happy she had fought back; it always made it much more interesting. Picking up her snack she strode down to the cell. Upon entering she sneered at the two. She had only seen the gnome briefly when she had dumped the goblin. She regarded him with a raised brow, taking a bite out of her watermelon and proceeded to spit a few seeds at him.

Her attention turned to the goblin and she smiled wickedly, her voice dripping with sarcasm “How is my little pistachio? I do hope you love your new home.” She came within an arm’s length of the bars and threw her rind at her. She pulled out a napkin and carefully wiped off her hands and dabbed her lips. Sighing dramatically she turned back to leave and spoke over her shoulder “I look forward to the day when you are no longer an asset to the master” Yuuko turned her head to look at the gnome and then back to the goblin. Her expression turned gentle “I assure you I will make it fun, for both of you”

She began walking briskly away and chuckled “Shout louder, maybe the gate keeper will come.”

The old gnome briskly picked up a few of the seeds from the floor and popped them into his own mouth, passing a wickedly-sly wink to the goblin as he worked. He yelled at her as the elf walked away.

"RETURN FIRE!"

Cail puckered his lips and gave it his best shot, launching a few seeds at the back of the blood elfs' head as she walked away. Hoping he got her attention again he grasped hold of the bars like a little crazed monkey, hopping up and down, side to side, chanting.

"We need poultry! We need poultry! We need poultry! ..."

Tucked into the back waistband of his ragged trousers was the chewed watermelon rind. The devious voice had plans to use it in case his aim was true, and the blood elf retaliated. Cail didn't know what its use would be, but the voice knew.

As soon as the seeds struck Yuuko, she turned sharply on her heels and rushed the bars. Unholstering her axe she slammed the flat of the blade against the bars causing a loud clang. “Poultry!” she yelled. “You want poultry? I will give you poultry!”

Yuuko turned her head from the gnome to the goblin, sneering “I think your little friend there would look great tarred and feathered.” She swung her head back to the gnome smirking “Yes I think that is what I will do.

She laughed as she backed away “Stay right there. This will be fun”

The racket from the basement permeated the lower levels of the building. It was only a matter of time before it could no longer be ignored. Trenetir looked around his office, cursing beneath his breath, "Damnit Dellis." He cursed his servant, in spite of the fact that his absence was a necessary one.

Trenetir's gaze lingered not on the usual linen orders and bills of lading, but instead on plans for celebration: a map of Nagrand, cake orders and measurements. It would all have to wait, there was business to attend to.

He descended into the dungeons, surveying the scene before him. His sharp gaze flicked from Caileanmor to Phenelopy to Yuuko.... to the mess of seeds, the spread out schematics and in a moment any semblance of joy that had filled his thoughts was quickly replaced by ire and rage: the volcano roiled, threatening to explode at any second.

"Yuuko this is not your playground. If you are in need of one to torture we shall acquire someone but it is not these two."

The frustration was evident as he spoke to Cail and Phenelopy. "Materials will be delivered tomorrow. Once they are you have three days. After that time if it is not complete there will be no further use of either your services or your lives. I suggest you start making better choices if you have any intention of leaving with your lives."

Fearing broken fingers, the old gnome pulled his hands away from the bars as the irate elf slammed her axe against the cage. The loud clang jolted the gnome and he stepped back wide eyed.

As she turned from threatening to tar and feather the goblin Cail pulled the chewed rind from his waistband. A strange alien growl murmured from his thick whiskers. "Just try it you shrew."

At seeing Trenetir's brimming rage the voice began howling with laughter. Fear stricken, Cail fought to keep the laughter contained. His lips bitten together he nodded until the elf finished.

"I still need lots of chickens." He asked timidly.

Yuuko turned once again to face the gnome, her lips curled in disgust, she had every intention of ending him right here and now had it not been for the apparent ire of Trenetir has he came into view. She attempted to shrink into the shadows as he chastised her. She glared at the gnome menacingly before turning towards the stairs.

She remarked as her foot hit the first step “Better make it two”, she let her boots hit the steps heavily as she departed from view.

Trenetir watched as the materials were carried carefully down the steps to the dungeons. Dellis stood nearby, making marks on a clipboard as each crate passed beneath his gaze. "That looks like the last of it sir." He stated quickly to Trenetir.

The master of the estate viewed the gnome and goblin with obvious distaste as the materials were brought in. Two elves, obviously guards took up posts outside the cells. "Time is ticking little ones. Three days."

He turned to leave before recalling an earlier conversation, as it struck him he turned, "Oh, and learn to work quietly lest I change my mind about allowing you your life." And with that, Trenetir left the dungeons.

Yuuko walked quietly down the stairs carrying a small cage in which an unmistakable squeak could be heard. She nodded at the guards as she walked in to view of the two prisoners. A broad smile crossed her lips as she looked at them. Setting the cage down on a table far from the cells she spoke “This is Jade and sapphire, they are mischievous little critters that love to get out of things.”

She sighed as she spoke “I hear you have a time limit, so I will be quick.” She grinned at both the gnome and goblin. “If you don’t make your deadline we will play a little game.” She motioned to the cage, “While my little friends are sleeping I will cut both your bellies open and place my little friends inside of you.” Her tone turned to one of compassion “Oh don’t fret, I will be nice enough to stitch you back together. Then when my little friends wake up, we will place bets to see who eats their way out first.” She laughed as she started back to the stairs, “Sounds like fun doesn't it?”

The old gnome sat motionless on the floor of the cage, his ragged shirt still wrapped around his head. His eyes traced the comotion in the room, noting each crate as they were brought in and where they were placed. He counted each foot step of each elf as they crossed the room, noting also their gait. He listened intently to count each footstep up the stairs as far as he could hear them. He then glared at the two last elves, their would be keeper and his tempermental pet.

Pests.
His eyes watched. Focused. Each body gesture and speach nuance registered. Such focused attention required every ounce of will. He heard nothing, felt nothing. The world around him was a void. All that existed was that moment.

He will get his... and then...
The old gnome fixated on the she-elf. His vision looked past the small cage. All he could see was her.

Look at her smug little face. Irritating. We should melt it off.
The gnome watched as the two made their exit. When they were alone the world flooded back to Cail. He breathed deeply the stale dungeon air and nodded, whispering to himself.

"Melt..."

Dellis opened their cage. The old gnome watched as he brought his keys to bare and for that moment noted that particular key. He peered up with a wide friendly grin.

"Thank you gatekeeper!"

Standing, dusting off his ragged pants, the old gnome exited the cage and set to work opening each crate, labeling each part, and laying them out throughout the room in a particular order. All while muttering to himself, "Ooo, lookie what we have here. A part for every place, a place for every part. Lets see what we have next..." And so his cadance continued.

---------

Meanwhile, behind Cail's concious outwordly calm, the voice plotted. It schemed a varitable wonderland full of ways that this device could 'accidentally' go horribly wrong. It giggled maniacal glee.

Minutes melted into hours, and soon even those faded away. By the second day a machine was beginning to take shape. It would be difficult for the layman to see exactly 'what' it was, but to Cail (and the trained eye of an engineer) the device was beginning to take shape.

It was still just a skeleton. Tubes and wires crisscrossing each other. Switches, cogs, a few thin belts and what may appear to be a lever or some kind of arm apparatus extended out one end. In toll it lay in three separate pieces still, but Cail knew that when it was finished, calibrated and combined the result would be nothing short of spectacular.

Inside his head, the voice giggled.
Yes. My best work by far. Trenetir will get a blast out of this!

The old gnome looked fatigued. Me mumbled with a sly grin something incoherent.

The time for poultry calibration is nearly at hand.

Yuuko entered the dungeon with a look of disappointment. The work looked to be complete. She suppressed the urge to break it and blame it on the goblin or gnome. It had been too long since she had beaten anything.

She strode to the end of the room and picked up the cage that contained Jade and Sapphire. Making cooing noises that them she turned back to the goblin and gnome with a mischievous look in her eyes. Opening the cage she tapped it and watched the two rats scurry away across the room. In satisfaction she headed towards the stairs with the empty cage.

His steps echoed off the stairs that led him down to the dungeons. Time was up. A satisfied grin befell his lips as he surveyed the cell and the work that was done. His heart raced. It was months since he had embarked upon this path and now his hard work was finally going to payoff.

Trenetir spotted the rats running around and mused quietly about "Yuuko having Fel to pay." He motioned for the two elves who had been standing guard to step aside, fixing his gaze upon Caileanmor, "Well?"

The old gnome dangled a few feet off the ground. Gripped in his hands a rope that ran up to a pulley bolted to the ceiling. From there the rope threaded through a latticework of block and tackle which in turn suspended a large section of the device. It was a little larger than the gnome himself and apparently much heavier.

On the floor perched atop a tripod sat the other half of the device. Cail kicked back into a swing and with all his might lunged at the suspended half of the machine kicking it. The two halves came together with series of loud clicks.

The gnome dropped to the floor and held up one finger to Trenetir, asking him to wait. He lifted his wrench and worked in a flurry around the two connected halves tightening bolts as he went. At last he was finished. He stood proudly for a moment and gazed at the wondrous contraption he had built.

"It is finished!" He exclaimed holding his arms out. A wide grin curling his thick fuzzy mustache upward. He glanced at Trenetir and noticed that he was not amused.

"A test!" With an almost childlike glee he raced over to his work bench. Aside sat a large crate full of clucking chickens. He pulled up from that crate two, each bound across the wings by a leather strap. He laced a cord around the foot of one and tied it in place on one end of the machine. On the other end he tied that chicken in place atop a stool directly behind the machine.

"This is where the operator would stand, the point here aimed center mass. A little high in the chest or low in the stomach is fine but try and keep it in that center line. The operator would then grip these handles here on each side..." The old gnome paused looking at the chicken.

"...but for the purposes of this demonstration I'll wire some simple electrodes to the poultry." He worked furiously as he spoke, wrapping wire around each handle and stretching each end to the right and then left claw of the bird.

"You would then flip this switch here..." he flips a switch on one handle. "And then depress the button on the other handle like so." He presses the button. An initial flash temporarily blurs the vision of anyone not ready for it. The device hums as a beam of green energy emits from the other end. It bathes the chicken tied to the floor in light. The illumination within the room builds to an nearly blinding limit as the device's hum grows louder.

The light fades quickly when Cail finally releases the button. "A-HAH!" he yells, pointings at the far chicken tied to the floor. "Notice how it now just lays like a clump of feathers! The machine works!"

The gnome flailed his arms in the air and leaped excitedly as he ran toward the limp bird. He had shielded his eyes from the blinding light so that when he let go of the button he could glance quickly around the room while everyone else's eye readjusted. His hope was that the goblin had taken the opportunity to slip by everyone and escape up the stairs. He didn't see her initially but then again he was only able to capture a quick glance of the room. They hadn't planned this, but he still hoped that she had seized the moment. If he acted out enough, perhaps he could distract them long enough and keep them from noticing that she had (hopefully) escaped.

Cail lifted a limp wing. "You see! It worked. This poultry is completely drained of all vitality. I would wager it's meat is also worthless. Why I doubt even a dog would give a second thought to eating it." He sniffed the extended wing. The old gnome was growing stranger by the day.

He fixed on the other chicken and pointed, wandering slowly back toward the stool. "Oh but that bird. That bird right there would make a fine meal."

Cail nodded. "Yes indeed."

He paused to think a moment. "Imagine if we pushed the entire crate of fowl in place and drained them all!" His eyes grew wider at the thought.

The old gnome hopped over the the crate and began shoving it with his shoulder, budging it inch by inch ever closer to its mark. "A little hand would be welcomed!"

As he worked he eyed the complex control panel on the side of the device. The left side had a panel of flip switches, toggle switches, rocker switches, buttons that clicked in and out and even two small levers for good measure. On the other side of the device was a panel of nobs and dials. It was all very complex and intimidating for the layman and slightly confusing even for himself! Just as Cail intended it to be.

Hidden among those switches and dials was one in particular. A very special switch, with a built in counter measure of course because one can never be too careful, but when it was flipped activating the device could prove fatal to the operator.

...in theory at least.

The voice within grew dark and menacing as it chuckled.
Hehehe. Boom.