he tall troll stifled a yawn as he stretched his long limbs. He was overlooking the bay from atop a small hill close to the wharf. The first rays of the sun were tentatively breaking the cover of darkness and it promised to be another fine day. He scanned the horizon, looking for the first signs of the ritual that took place daily at the same time. And sure enough, far in the distance, he saw the first dots materializing and slowly growing larger as they moved ever closer to shore. "Hmm, so the ferryman will be in time again, will he?" Ari asked, startling Ratuk as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Ratuk looked at Ari while the little gnome gazed through one of his strange devices which allowed him to see over vast distances. "He’s more reliable than your little mechanical toys," Ratuk teased him good humoredly; chuckling as he remembered the steam-powered iron ship the gnome had devised to replace the aging ferryman. Ari grimaced. A lone funnel still marked the place out on the ocean where the iron ship had capsized, much to the dismay of the tinker.

With a grating noise, the boat came to a halt alongside the pier. A sailor tossed a rope to one of the ghouls who slowly tied it to a bollard. Even before the boat had come to a complete stop, a merry crowd of the strangest company Azeroth had ever seen assembled began to jump ashore: fleet-footed night elves, brawny, heavyset orcs, sturdy dwarves, regal humans, chattering gnomes and powerful taurens. The noisy crowd moved towards a large building and hailed the troll and the gnome as they passed the hill the two were standing atop.

"Alright, the day shift has arrived. Time to get moving," Ratuk said as he turned around and began to stroll down the hill. On his way towards the building, the undead of the night shift crossed his path as they were heading to their mouldy tombs where they would pass the daylight hours until it was time for them to rise again at night. Ratuk made his way through the main hall, which was now bustling with activity.

"Goooood morrrrrning!" the troll’s voice rang across the room, calling the wild bunch to attention. "Reports indicate no unusual activity. The zombies have done a good job during the night, everything has been going smoothly. We’ll take it from here; if there are any problems, you know what to do. Remember, everyone is counting on you. Don’t let them down!" he said as he handed out the day’s assignments.

The men and women of his team made their way to their workstations and began to operate the mysterious devices mounted to the tables. Ari's eyes gleamed as he watched all the machines coming to life and giving off a low, steady hum. He was obviously pleased with the way things were going and started to punch buttons on his own mysterious little machine. Ratuk did not entirely share Ari's faith in the machines, but he recognized progress when he saw it. These were truly the finest pieces of engineering he had ever seen.

Trusting Ari to ensure the smooth running of the devices, Ratuk retreated to his antechamber and began to check through the reports of mass brawls, petty larceny and drunken gnome punting, assigning tasks to various members of his team and checking in with his colleagues to discuss some of the important issues of the day. When the sun had risen high in the sky, he allowed himself a short break in his work and walked over to the window overlooking the small port.

Beyond the sea there were hundreds of thousands of adventurers, all doing their best to find their place in this world. Deep in thought, the troll scratched his tusks. A long time ago, he had been one of them, an honest soul always looking for the next adventure, always an encouraging word for his comrades on his lips and a deadly arrow on his bow. How long had it been since he had put his adventurer’s hat to rest and donned the robes of blue? It never failed to amaze Ratuk how quickly time passed on the island. Each day held a new challenge, and the troll loved challenges. Thinking back to his tribe, he couldn’t help but smile his typically crooked trollish smile. If they could see him now!

A knock on the door and the sound of bony feet on the wooden floor took Ratuk back to the real world. Erynshar, one of the few undead from the day shift, stood in the doorway, shifting from one foot to the other uneasily. He had arrived only recently on the island. "Yes, Eryshnar, what do you need?"

"It is really rather embarrassing, master Ratuk," he began, "there is a young elf, a druid in fact… she is having problems talking to her trainer for a class quest. She is doing everything right and I can’t locate the problem."
"Ah the young ones, still learning the ropes," Ratuk mused. "Don’t worry, these druid trainers sometimes don’t know their left from their right. We will have this druid back on track before you know it. Here, let me show you how it is done…"

A short while later Ari was merrily punching at all sorts of buttons on his machine when Ratuk approached him.
"Ari, I'm in trouble," he began. "I have a seemingly simple case but I just don't see what's wrong with it. All our attempts to resolve it have miserably failed so far."
"No worries, we'll get it fixed," Ari replied. "Let's take a look at the situation to find out why it is not working."
Already the lights on his machines were blinking and it was making strange noises. The world around Ratuk began to spin and only moments later, he found himself in Darnassus, seeing the world through the eyes of an elf.

Slightly dizzy from the experience, he realized what Ari had just done: he had magically transformed him into the elf. Not knowing how long this magic would last, Ratuk rushed up the stairs into the room where the trainer was located. A bright question mark was floating over her head. Relieved, he quickly approached her, explained the situation and, discovered that the spell the night elf needed required the mastery of a Talent which was not yet in his book. Quickly noting down this information on his handy travel parchment, he returned to the spot where he had first appeared.

Moments later, the world began to spin again and Ratuk was back in the familiar building.

"That was an interesting trip," he remarked, steadying himself against the doorframe "Well, looks like it was a new talent mastery spell, it seems our records are a little out of date and the Goblins will need to write up a new volume, but thanks for helping out on this one, Ari. Although I'd rather not make use of your little toys anytime soon again," Ratuk said, quenching a feeling of motion sickness that threatened to overcome him.

Behind him, Erynshar was poking him with his long bony finger.
"You see, there is this rogue…" he began.

Ratuk held back a sigh. This was going to be another busy shift.