"Kavell? Everything alright?" she asks, instinct telling her that quiet was probably a good idea. She peers through the window trying to see what he was looking at.
"No! figures in black moving for Ameiko's Window! Go wake the others!"
He began running for the room not waiting to knock he just lowered his shoulder and tried to break in the door.
As Kavell, turns to race towards Ameiko and Valeria's room, Kasha focuses on the paladin's back for a moment, sending forth a wave of primal animal fury to inspire him.
With that done she races back down the hall shouting as she bangs on first one door then the other, of their group staying in the inn. "We're under attack! Ninjas at Ameiko's window!" Bursting back into her room she heads toward the window.
"Hmm? Shit. Get your bow." Friday sends to Zaiobe before hopping out of bed and moving for just spear, he didn't have time for anything else. With that he'll march into the hallway and head for Ameiko's room.
The loud slam against their door draws Valeria's attention away from her... current diversion. She was out of the bed in an instant, grabbing a light robe that she quickly threw on (not even bothering to put her tail through the hole she'd made for it) before grabbing her staff and component pouch, using the former to pull the chair out from the door. She had left the lock open because she figured that the chair would suffice as a replacement, and so that she wouldn't have to fumble with it in the case of an emergency.
Hearing Kasha's call, she turned to face the window, ready to blast the first person to poke their heads in with her wand of scorching ray.
The window starts to rattle as the black-clad figures start working on it...
...only for a *SNAP* to be heard as the lockpick they're using ends up jammed in the lock. There's a bout of muffled cursing, then one of them draws a blunt weapon and swings it at the window.
The first strike cracks the window.
Another one does the same thing.
The second hit breaks the window wide open, sending glass showering into the room and a cold wind through the hole.
A fourth ninja attempts to leap in through the broken window...
...and sticks the landing in time to be staring down the wrong end of Valeria's wand of scorching ray.
A fifth one tries to get in as well.
And deftly succeeds.
Kavell's foot bangs against the door, but it doesn't budge.
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As the fifth ninja entered the room, Valeria realised that defence would be rather useful right now. Drawing on the light in the room and reshaping it, several duplicates of Valeria appeared, emerging from her momentarily-blurred form, making it difficult to tell which was the original.
"Guys; door's unlocked and cleared, get in here!"
As Valeria called out Friday moved up next to Kavell to throw open the door after his charge failed.
Once she's alerted everyone, Kasha races back towards Ameiko and Valeria's room ready for a fight.
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"Oh light that stung."
He mostly complained to himself after bouncing off the door. He was prepared the moment Friday opened the door he charged forward shield leading the way.
Kavell charges into the room, causing the ninja in his way to jump and swing something blunt at his head...
...and manages to offset his momentum enough that he's not immediately thrown out the now broken window. Unfortunately for his team, he's now blocking the window, keeping his accomplices outside in the cold.
Ameiko rolls out of bed and takes cover!
The two ninjas in the room hiss and start trying to strike at the party. The burned one leaps at Valeria's mirror-imaged form with a knife!
His knife strikes true--shattering an image of the tiefling mage, and otherwise failing to harm her.
Kavell's target tries a feat of acrobatics to get past him, twisting and contorting his body to get between the paladin's legs...
...but as hard as he tries, all he succeeds in doing is leaving himself open for Kavell's attack.
The remaining ninjas are crowded outside the window. One is trying to squeeze through while the other two hang back and try to not lose their grip on the edge.
The third ninja manages to squeeze his way into the window and right next to his buddy. And immediately starts trying to get past Kavell.
...unfortunately, he completely fails, and is trapped between the windowsill and his flailing companion, impeding the both of them.
The room was too crowded for him to properly get his glaive into play, with a slight grunt of annoyance he dropped the sacred weapon instead drawing out his mace and trying to smash the pressed together ninja in the window.
At the errant nature of his swing he cursed in a very unpaladin like manner.
Running to the room, Kasha comes to a stop in the doorway, quickly taking in the situation. Focusing on Valeria's target first, the shamaness makes a twisting gesture with her hands as vines erupt, seemingly from nowhere beginning to wrap around the ninja.
This had to end quickly. Valeria concentrated on the formula behind her bracelet. Even though she wasn't wearing it, it was more of a convenience than a necessity and could still alter the spell appropriately.
A trio of missiles flew from her outstretched hand, each one striking a different ninja and hopefully knocking them to the ground.
Moving into the room Friday lunges at the Ninja going after Valeria and Ameiko.
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As leafy vines erupt from the floor, Valeria's ninja nimbly hops aside, escaping their grasp. He gets knocked a bit off-kilter by one of her magic missiles, but it's not enough to knock him down. The other two ninjas get smacked by missiles of force, with one of them getting hit so hard in a confined space that he's knocked out of the window!
Unfortunately for him, despite his best efforts, he can't catch himself and plummets, screaming, 30 feet to the street below.
There's a soft *thump* followed by a cry of pain. It appears the ninja survived the fall.
The same cannot be said for Valeria's target, who promptly gets skewered by Friday.
The remaining ninjas see they're overmatched & their cover is completely blown, and the one facing Kavell tries to escape out the window!
The ninja is up and out of the window, scampering across the rooftops like a demon was chasing him. The other two ninjas give up and bolt, with one throwing some sort of egg-shaped object at their feet before running off. It erupts into a burst of smoke.
Moving over to grab a sheet Friday will fan the smoke towards the window to air out the room.
When the smoke disperses, the only trace of ninjas are the corpse in the room and the broken glass strewn about.
"I tire of these annoyances." Friday comments to no one in particular.
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As the ninja escape, Valeria's face was a mask of raw fury, an expression that shows her fangs quite prominently and making some of the stories about tieflings seem much more believable.
"Forget scouting the fortress," Valeria growled, "we're going after them tomorrow!"
She turns to the others, a distant corner of her mind thankful that she'd been able to tie the sash on her robe before the ninja had entered.
"Start buying supplies in the morning, anything and everything we might need, we leave for Ravenscraeg in the afternoon. Now all of you; get out so Ameiko can stop hiding under the bed. And take that dead ninja with you."
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Ameiko peeks out from the bundle of sheets at the side of the bed. "And once you're done with THAT, we're going to find another inn to stay in when morning comes around." Her voice is shaking.
Friday turns and bows apologetically to the two women before moving over to grab the corpse by the leg and drag it out and downstairs.
Despite the nature of their sudden fracas, Kavell... blushed when he suddenly realized why Amieko and Valeria were hastily tightening robes and surrounded by sheets. He kept his eyes up... torwards the ceiling.
"Instead of barring the door, perhaps blocking the window would work better... but you two should perhaps sleep in the room that I was sharing with."
He coughed and blushed suddenly. Sure they knew that he and Kelda were well on intimate terms but he had never once in his life so freely spoken of such things.
"If we congregate into two or three rooms I can patrol a smaller safer space tonight, though i doubt they will return so soon, when we are ready for them."
Valeria adjusted her robe to make sure she was reasonably covered. "Sounds good, Kavell, give us a minute, though?"
Once they were alone, Valeria quickly cleared away the blood trail from where Friday had dragged the corpse. "I should've listened to you. Find us a new inn tonight rather than waiting. I'm sorry."
"Especially when you consider the question, how did they know which room was Ameiko's?" Kasha adds with a frown.
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Ameiko closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and sighs. "...let's at least find a new room to sleep in. I don't feel safe in this one anymore."
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The night passes uneasily. The Hunting Serpent Inn was once a place of revelry and amusement, of rest and relaxation... a place of safety. Now, with the realization that the party's enemy knows where they sleep, that illusion of safety has been decisively shattered. Ameiko & Valeria are able to get a new room, but it does little to soothe the frightened bardess.
The hobgoblin, Ishgha, more or less refuses to sleep after news of the attack reaches him. He spends his time patrolling the hallways outside the party's rooms with a single-minded focus, his eyes hardened and alert. If fatigue ever creeps into his gait, he does a good job of not showing it. His blade is sharpened and never far from his side. Those few patrons still awake at the late hour give him a wide berth.
Shalelu feels much the same. Despite her misgivings about patrolling with a hobgoblin, it takes very little to get her to take up her bow and stand guard. Haru keeps her company.
Koya & Sandru take the news quite poorly--in fact, Koya has a few choice words for the ninjas who made the attempt on Ameiko's life. Mostly invectives unsuitable for print. Spivey makes a show of taking it in stride, but her expression makes her worries clear. Helgarval, the angelic helmet recovered from the burning funeral ship, remains stoic and resolute, not offering words but providing comfort with his holy presence.
Zaiobe is rather amused at the sight of Friday dragging a dead ninja down the halls of the Hunting Serpent Inn, but gracious enough to offer assistance in disposing of it.
And Lia? When news of the ninja attack reaches her ears, she point-blank refuses to sleep anywhere but next to Kasha.
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Sunday, 28th of Desnus, 4715 AR
The dawn greets the party with a light fog off the harbour and a glint of sunshine through the clouds.
Awakening to find Lia curled up in her arms, Kasha can't help smiling. Removing her arm from around her, she slow gently nudges her. "Lia, it's morning. Do you still want to join me communing with the spirits today, sleepyhead?"
As morning rolled around, Valeria made sure to get Ameiko breakfast in bed - making sure to grab her favourite or at least the closest that the inn had. She still felt terrible about not heeding Ameiko's caution the previous day and wanted to make it up to her. She wasn't sure how to voice it but - whether she realised it or not - Ameiko was probably going to see that without much issue.
"I... I'm gonna talk to Snaevald, see if he knows where Ravenscraeg is and if he knows of somewhere we can stay that might be safer. Did... did you want to come with me or help the others with gearing up?"
Lia yawns and her eyes flutter open. There’s a bit of drool hanging from the corner of her mouth.
”I... I’d like that.”
—————————
Ameiko’s appetite isn’t like it was yesterday: the ninja attack from the night before seems to have put her off a bit.
”I’ll go with you to Snaevald’s, if you need me.” She starts slurping up a bit of the egg noodles you brought up. ”Do you think the others are in danger too?”
Valeria nodded at her saying she'd accompany her to Snaevald's.
"Not directly, I don't think," she said, answering her question, "they're more interested in you than the rest of us - they made a beeline for our room and didn't bother with the others. But they could try to use the others as leverage against you, which is why I'm wanting to deal with these guys now - they're not going to ease up on us while they have a power base in Kalsgard so we need to knock that out now. It's the only way to keep you safe. We'll head out to see him after breakfast while the others start stocking up on supplies and equipment."
He paced through the night, checking on the others pulling guard. As the sun rose he took a small moment to return to his room and pray, asking Shelyn to guide his actions that day. Once he was finished he paused stopping with Ishgha and Shalelu and Haru focusing for a moment and lightly touching them embewing them with the energy of the Eternal Rose.
Once the smells of breakfast wafted up he hurried down to grab a quick bite, so that those pulling guard all night would have a chance to eat while it was fresh.
Smiling Kasha impulsively caresses Lia's hair for a moment, before sitting up slowly and stretching. As she waits for Lia to fully wake up, Kasha
Smiling Kasha impulsively caresses Lia's hair for a moment, before sitting up slowly and stretching. As she waits for Lia to fully wake up, Kasha sets up her ritual circle in the middle of the floor adding a bit of natural earth, and her sickle to the center of the circle. Given what lay in store she would seek the aid of the spirit of battle as well today.
Once Lia is up she guides her over, sitting across from her and linking hands as Sly settles into her lap, the little weasel's eyes glowing. "Relax your breathing, clear your mind and just sort of feel the world around you. Reach out with your senses and you'll feel it."
All three patrolling caravaneers welcome your offer of restorative energy, burning away the fatigue they felt guarding Ameiko.
The breakfast special on offer today is a warm bowl of oatmeal with a side of garlic toast.
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"...right." Ameiko nods. "And once we've met with Snaevald, we'll have to make arrangements to meet at a different tavern. There was the Iron Hearth we dined in when we first arrived in town..."
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Lia blinks as you caress her short golden locks, and sits up as you begin to make your ritual circle. Koya and Spivey are sound asleep--or, perhaps, they're in communion with Desna. Neither of those two activities are mutually exclusive.
She follows your instructions, sitting cross-legged on the floor in the circle and trying to focus on the world around her.
Your sight begins to blur and shift in colours as your consciousness reaches out into the world around you, seeking an appropriate spirit to call to your side. You seek one of battle--and you are perhaps in the best possible city to find such a spirit...
Lia observes you as you go about your ritual, her eyes looking between Sly and your face. She looks like she has no real idea what she's trying to do.
"Might be easiest if we agree to meet up at the caravan at some point and then head for the Iron Hearth or the like, Snaevald might have some ideas. We should make sure that waiter from yesterday is cleared of the geas before we leave, though."
Valeria was quiet for a bit, thinking.
"About... about last night. I should've found us a new place to stay yesterday, or just done... something to throw them off our trail. You suggested as much and I - stupidly - thought they'd be too subtle to attack us here. I got cocky and that put you in danger and... I should be more aware of thinking like that - rakshasa and their ilk are known for arrogance and I keep thinking that somehow I'm different and... I'm not. Last night proved that to me and now I'm wondering if thinking I was somehow exempt from that was just more of that arrogance as well."
"Please; whatever happens between us in the future - if you ever think I'm getting too over-confident or making another mistake like last night; just remind me about this inn and just... somehow pull my head out of my own arse because I've probably gotten it wedged right up there."
"I'm sorry."
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Ameiko listens, her breathing shaking a bit and her hands folded in her lap. Her expression isn't that difficult to read--the way her eyes keep darting to the window before returning to you reveals quite a lot of justified anxiety about last night.
When you finish & apologize, she gets up from the bed and holds your head in her hands, her thumbs caressing the base of your horns. "...I will."