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As the group walked along, a large contingent of Duskwatch soldiers suddenly surrounded Deren and his companions.
"You outsiders! Suramar was perfectly fine before you came. But the moment you arrived, our Nightwell dried up, and our artifact, the Eye of Aman'Thul, vanished. Speak! Was this your doing?" Alysande emerged from the military formation.
Seeing this display, Deren knew they intended to take the hard approach. Thalyssra had tried the soft approach earlier, and when that yielded nothing, she had sent in her "big cousin" to get tough.
He laughed loudly. "Is this how Suramar treats its guests? Invite us in first, then surround us with soldiers? What comes next—drawing blades and resorting to torture?"
Azshara sternly questioned them with his words. Standing beside Deren, Thalyssra tried to play peacemaker. "Alysande, don't treat our guests like this. We can talk things over properly."
Onyxia immediately pulled Deren over to her side and stood apart from Thalyssra, preventing her from taking her man hostage.
Thalyssra merely glanced at them and pretended not to see.
Alysande shouted, "No matter what, so long as you outsiders obediently hand over the artifact, I guarantee that no harm will come to you. But if you refuse, we will have no choice but to swarm you. No matter how strong you are, can you really withstand an attack from so many Dusk Guards?"
"Heh, does having numbers make you arrogant?" Aegwynn, who had remained silent for a long while, stepped forward and stood before the overwhelming Duskwatch force. "Do you truly think you hold the advantage? What frogs at the bottom of a well. If you want a fight, then fight."
With a casting gesture from Aegwynn, and without any visible incantation, a flood of ordinary