Mission: Improbable

Somewhere in western Hillsbrad

A Gilnean spy name Thomas McDuff was captured about a day ago. He is being held at a tower north of Azurelode Mine, Murati had said.

Aiura peered through her spyglass at the large Forsaken structure that was barely visible through the mist. Murati had been wrong. It wasn't a tower, it was a full-size military outpost. I'll have to talk to him about specificity when I get back. There were plenty of towers alright. Most equipped with clockwork searchlights that tirelessly probed the mist with their pale beams. Just my luck.

She'd been prepared for this eventuality, but she'd rather have not had to slip into a enemy compound while dodging a dozen searchlights at the same time. She pondered the situation for several moments. Gradually, a plan began to coalesce in her mind. She lowered the spyglass, looking up at the sky. It was overcast, with heavier cloud cover rolling in from the west, tinged orange by the setting sun. Yes...her strategy just might work.

----------

The Forsaken watchman named Jones peered out into the mist. "Fog's getting thicker," he noted to his partner. The second watchman, whose name was Winston, frowned. It was his usual expression. "Hmph. Likely as not the lights'll stop working in this humidity." Jones crossed his arms and leaned on the rail of the watchtower. "It's not as if we ever spot anything anyway," he said amiably. Winston spat over the rail sourly. "Well then you can have all the fun of gettin' em working again." Jones rolled his eyes. Winston was always grumbling. Be it weather, food, pay, insects, you name it, Winston had grumbled about it at one point or another in his afterlife, and was likely to again. Jones looked up at the clouds. "Sky's pretty this evening," he commented. "Oh, shut up."

----------

Ten minutes later, the fog was thick enough that you couldn't see a dozen yards in front of your nose. The lights from the watchtowers did little good, their beams diffusing in the thick fog until the whole area was aglow with soft white light that pulsated gently as the lights oscillated back and forth in their clockwork mechanisms.

Aiura was able to move close enough to the compound that she could make out the locations of some of the individual lights. She unstrapped a silenced Gnomish sniper rifle from her back, loading a round into the chamber. She took a deep breath. Once she got started, she'd have to be fast. It would be a matter of minutes before the Forsaken caught on, at best.

She raised the rifle to her shoulder, sighting through the scope towards the nearest searchlight. She waited until it was at its brightest, indicating it was facing her direction, although it didn't really do much as far as illumination. She squeezed the trigger. A faint 'pwt' emanated from the rifle and the light went out with an audible shattering sound. A few seconds later, the second nearest light swiveled in her direction. She was ready for it, and it too went dark.

Confused mutterings from inside the compound morphed into raised voices as the Forsaken watchmen hollered at each other across towers, asking and confirming which lights were still operational. Aiura was now fully concealed in the engulfing fog, but her work was not done. There were still several lights left. Making her way quickly and quietly to a hill on the other side of the compound, Aiura set about dousing the remaining lights. Three in the main courtyard went dark, and with each one, the voices grew louder. By now, the Forsaken knew something was wrong. They would be on high alert.

But that didn't really matter. By the time they got their lights working again, Aiura -- and McDuff -- would be long gone.

((Now that was badass, Mur is going to send Aiura to go kill Deathwing next))