The very top of Sunfury Spire!
From outside, the building looked sharply tapered, suggesting that its interior would feel cramped!
The reality was quite the opposite! It was a spacious hall with a transparent ceiling that let bright sunlight flood every corner... Along either side, several Magic Brooms swept on their own, while two enormous Arcane Constructs stood at the entrance, seemingly calculating something!
An elf sat in the very center of the hall. His face seemed untouched by the passage of time. One might have taken him for a young elf who had yet to live his first century, or sensed that he had already weathered thousands of years...
Had Karin been there, he might easily have recognized that familiar face from the game!
Kane Sunfury, Highlord of the Illidari, one of the most powerful Demon Hunters, whose catchphrase was "The Illidari cannot be defeated"... Of course, that was decades in the future, after the destruction of Silvermoon City!
For now, Kane was still the head of the Sunfury family, a powerful elven mage... The gray mage robes he wore revealed his standing: a Gray Robe, an Eighth Ring mage!
A flash of light flickered at the entrance, and a blue figure appeared in the hall.
Because her Teleportation Spell had been cast in some haste, the figure in blue staggered... But an invisible force caught her!
"Chief Tiffany, what happened? Why the rush?" Kane raised his head and asked calmly.
The visitor was none other than Tiffany, chief of the Sunfury Library. She was no longer wearing the low-cut casual outfit she had worn before Karin, but had changed into formal blue mage robes!
"Master Kane!" Tiffany said respectfully. "I found something valuable on the library's Arcane Exchange Wall, so I came expressly to report it to you!"
"The exchange wall?" Kane paused in surprise. "Nothing worth noticing has appeared there in decades, has it?"
"Yes, but this time is different!" Tiffany handed him a magic scroll.
Kane took the scroll and began reading it closely!
"Melf's Acid Arrow? What a strange name!" the gray-robed mage murmured as he looked through the scroll. "A very simple Second Ring spell, fundamentally a flexible application of a Teleportation Spell... But I see nothing of value here... The spell's offensive power is weak, and an opponent could interrupt its casting quite easily!"
As he spoke, Kane suddenly froze!
He fell silent for a few minutes before finally raising his head.
"Have you tested its suppressive effect on troll regeneration?"
"Master Kane, I don't have the authority to requisition troll prisoners from the council... So I could only conduct animal tests using a few lynxes!" Tiffany answered earnestly. "The results differed little from the description. The lynxes exposed to the poison could only be cleansed by a priest using divine magic of the sixth level or higher, and our estimates indicate that troll regeneration does not reach the level of sixth-level divine magic!"
Kane's expression grew grave. "I'll write to the council and request ten troll prisoners. Prepare ground Rhubarb Tree leaves and adder stomach sacs for me as well. I'll conduct the tests on them myself!"
As he spoke, excitement crept into the Gray Robe mage's voice. "If the findings prove true, this 'Melf's Acid Arrow' will be a great discovery. We'll have a fearsome trump card against the trolls!"
"Of course, Master Kane!" Tiffany nodded. "I'll prepare everything for you at once!"
"Oh, wait!" Kane stopped the blue-robed mage. "Who was the mage who devised this Second Ring spell?"
"His name is Karin... A young mage in the family who only reached the First Ring a few days ago. A very interesting young man!" Tiffany answered truthfully.
"Karin..." Kane remembered the name.
He walked slowly to the balcony... He recalled sending the young man a letter a few days earlier, and still had a vague recollection of its contents!
"Perhaps a century from now, you really might stand beside me on this high platform, looking down over all of Silvermoon City!" Gray Robe Kane murmured to himself.
His gaze swept downward, taking in almost the entirety of Silvermoon City!
"Tiffany!"
"Is there anything else, Master Kane?"
"Look after this young man, Karin. He has real promise!"
The Morningwind family was an alchemical family based in Sunsail Anchorage, with a modest reputation throughout Quel'Thalas.
A priest emerged from a small courtyard on the western side of the family estate, regret written across his face. "I'm very sorry, Mr. Duen, but I have no way to cleanse this poison. Perhaps you could find a higher-ranking priest. Divine magic above the Sixth Ring might be able to cleanse it!"
With that, the priest left!
Dune Morningwind returned to the room with a dark expression. Every member of the family was gathered in the little room.
One of them, of course, was lying on the bed.
Young Thorin Morningwind asked cautiously, "Father, is there really no way to dispel the poison afflicting Brother Enclair?"
Enclair lay on the bed like a dead pig. Karin's earlier attack had not killed him, but it had done considerable damage... The poison had eaten away his entire face and half his chest, and the slightest movement brought excruciating pain!
Duen shook his head irritably. He simply could not understand how a duel between two First Ring mages could involve such a bizarre spell that even a priest from Sunsail Anchorage Cathedral was helpless against the poison clinging to Enclair...
As for hiring a higher-ranking priest, that was entirely out of the question... He was only a Third Ring mage, and even the head of the entire Morningwind family was merely a Fifth Ring mage. Hiring a priest capable of casting divine magic above the Sixth Ring would cost more than they could possibly afford!
"Thorin, tell me what happened again!" Duen said irritably.
Thorin Morningwind stepped forward and, stammering, recounted the duel between Karin and Enclair that day once more!
"Karin Sunfury! I need to find that bastard. Since he cast the spell, he must know how to undo it!" With that, Duen picked up a Staff beside the bed.
"Wait..." His wife stopped him. "Don't act rashly. Karin is a member of the Sunfury family..."
"A First Ring mage, nothing more than an outer member of the lowest rank!" Duen said impatiently. "Besides, I'm only going to ask him for the antidote. Surely the Sunfury family won't come after us over such a nobody!"
With that, he stormed out.