“You know I don’t think eating here is a good idea,” the gnome protested as the Dwarven priest settled down to eat a meal. “I mean this is one of the goblins’ arena, you know?”

“I know what this place is ye damn fool but the goblins are not using this for a couple of months,” the Dwarf answered angrily, as he settled down to make a fire and cook the meat he had.

“Why?”

“Something about a dragon problem lad,” the Dwarf answered, the fire now roaring in the empty arena.

The gnome looked worried at that statement and immediately began to take in his environment. His Dwarven companion had started the fire just before a large sprawling wooden bridge with two stone pillars on either side. Two larger towers loomed over the actual arena, burning pyres atop them and scattered across the arena’s floor were metal grid covered pits.

The sky above the pair appeared almost as if Blackrock Mountain had been mirrored into the abyss above them, which unsettled the gnome even more. “Why did we even come to Blade’s Edge anyway? I mean what jobs have we got from here, Rinar?” the gnome asked the now eating Dwarf.

“De elvfses wildl ave sum wrok fer us,” Rinar replied thickly through a mouthful of meat.

“What?”

“The Elves will have some work fer us, Tink,” the Dwarf repeated. “Now have some ale,” Riner said, pushing a flask of ale into Tink’s chest, causing the liquid to drench the gnome’s shirt. “Sorry bout that.”

“Now you gone and done it!” Tink roared. “That was my only shirt I have now because of your last incident back in Hellfire and now you gone and ruin this one too!” The gnome pulled his shirt off and laid it in a neat pile to be washed later as he took a swig from the remaining ale.

His drink however was cut short as a loud thud echoed across the empty arena, standing in the middle of the wooden bridge stood a tall and armoured Tauren. He looked half-mad with a pair of glowing blue goggles across his eyes and a large metallic nose ring. The hulking figure also had large and grand bronze armour and a deadly mace in his hands. Its handle looked to be like a Naaru weapon but felt more of a Horde design bathed in fire.

“Look! More meat for us!” Rinar roared getting to his feet, a leg of meat still in his hand. “This cow should keep us fed for a couple of weeks!”

“I don’t know…” Tink began nervously but was interrupted by Rinar.

“Shut it yer fool, you’re the rogue so you attack first. I’m just a priest, now go!”

Rinar grabbed Tink around the waist and threw him towards the Tauren. The gnome quickly unsheathed a dagger and brought it down upon a bronze armoured kneecap, the horrible screeching sound of metal upon metal heard as the dagger made impact. Tink brought up his dagger to strike again to realise that the small dagger was bent and destroyed while the Tauren’s armour suffered hardly a scratch.

“Bless my beard,” Tink heard Rinar muttered. “That’s a fine piece of armour,” the Dwarf continued as the Tauren swung the fiery mace at Tink’s small body.

The gnome closed his eyes for the impact and his death, but it never came. Tink opened his eyes to see a faint glow of purple shrouded around his body, a shield of the Light. Rinar stood behind hand raised to keep the shield up if the Tauren should strike again.

The attacker swung his mace once more at the gnome but did not make it past the golden glow, and Rinar fell to one knee as if he himself took the blow. Before the pair could react, the Tauren brought around the purple spiked handle and used it to strike out at the small gnome once more. This time the attack slipped past the shield of gold and found the gnome, Tink crumpling to the floor as the mace smashed the life from his body.

“Time to be leaving,” Rinar cried, rushing away from the Tauren and trying to reach the exit to the bridge and the arena.

The Tauren showed an agile side of himself, however, and burst into a thunderous sprint leaping over Rinar before the Dwarf could reach the end of the bridge.

“The Light give me strength,” Rinar muttered as the great mace came flying at him.

The spiked head of the mace landed hard into the Dwarf’s chest, throwing him right back across the bridge next to his gnomish friend, the leg of meat still in his hand. The Tauren walked up to the fallen pair and muttered a word to the Earth Mother to forgive the misguided souls as the sound of feet could be heard from one of the exits to the arena.

The Tauren known as Shoken brought his mace up once more and glanced towards the exit upon his right…