Save Sven!: Round 1 concluded
Red emerges from behind a few discarded barrels and rushes at Silver Sven with a short curved blade. Unfortunately, the cobblestones are a bit slick with some kind of fluid, and his thrust goes wild as he loses his balance for a few seconds on approaching the beggar.
Pink begins to see images of his own doom shortly after being soundly clocked in the head. His lower lip quivers under the fabric of his face mask as his breathing begins to increase rapidly in panic. He suddenly turns and tries to flee.
Save Sven!: Round 2 begins
Green rushes forward to join Red and also tries to stab Silver Sven. The beggar cries out as the blade draws blood.
The man turns to run, and Shrike takes the chance to lash out with the sap as he goes, again aiming for what the denizens of the docks and Old Korvosa would call a "nap tap."
There is a scream from ahead where more of the masked men disappeared. Finding the beggar they're looking for will have to wait. Whether they've stumbled into a mugging or a murder, this can't stand. Shrike hustles forward, still taking care to be as quiet as possible, and sees the one who signaled his two brethren to attack Audria, along with another two masked figures, menacing two unarmored men. Considerate of them to mark themselves out. She drops the sap, raises the crossbow and pulls the trigger, taking care to pick a moment and angle such that her bolt can't hit the man being attacked.
Dal dared a glance at the masked person who just appeared from around the corner. ”I told you that there were guards hanging around here,” Dal said. He dove to one side and, with a flick of the wrist, produced a scroll from up one sleeve as he came to his feet.
Save Sven!: Round 2 continues
Shrike's swift reflexes allow her to deliver a blow which sends Pink spinning into unconsciousness. The masked fellow crumples to the cobblestones with a goose egg growing almost visibly.
Purple's much too distracted to notice Shrike creeping up on him. The quarrel buries strikes the man hard and sends him sprawling onto the cobblestones. There's not a lot of blood visible, but he appears unconscious.
Red manages to see what Dal is up to and manages to duck only getting slightly singed, but having blocked Green's view, Green gets a face full of unexpected fire.
Part of Audria's mind gibbers madly at the sight of the blood and guts of the man she's most likely killed. The fact that he'd attacked her unprovoked is cold comfort, and she can hear Lamm's voice and see his sneer as he condemns her as a hypocrite.
She has no time for self-pity or doubt, however, and shoves the feelings away as she hears more sounds of fighting and Talanaliel's shrill cry of alarm coming around the bend. She rounds Shrike, staying clear of her line of fire, and continues on to the man she recognizes from the description she was given. She also sees the two attackers flailing about to put out the flames licking their clothing.
"I'd suggest surrendering," she says in a cold voice that sounds alien even to her. "I've little patience for hired blades and killers."
Pip uses his magic to start a joke that seems extra funny to an assailant (red}.
Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target one creature; see text
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
DESCRIPTION
This spell afflicts the subject with uncontrollable laughter. It collapses into gales of manic laughter, falling prone. The subject can take no actions while laughing, but is not considered helpless. After the spell ends, it can act normally. On the creature’s next turn, it may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect. This is a full round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. If this save is successful, the effect ends. If not, the creature continues laughing for the entire duration.
Abella yawns as she follows the others towards the remaining baddies.
Save Sven!: Round 2 concluded
Shrike & Dal
Abella, Pippip, & Audria
Red has never heard a pun so hilarious as the one Pippip offers. Red's laughter echoes off the buildings as the masked figure collapses to the ground while slapping their thighs.
Save Sven!: Round 3 begins
The fire under control, Green sees Purple on the ground unconscious and Red's fit of hilarity with frightened eyes. Green makes one more clumsy stab at Sven and then turns to run when he misses terribly. A stray bit of his waist sash still burns slightly. Sven quickly moves away clutching his bleeding side.
The gout of flame that emerges from around the corner where the second man disappeared is a surprise, but then her gaze falls to the strangely unafraid tawny tabby cat standing in the street and watching the chaos unfold. No cat she's ever met would tolerate large threatening strangers lunging around it like this, much less a cone of fire right next to it, without running away. Must be a frogmaker and his familiar.
She also hadn't known Pippip could bend minds like that. It's slightly disturbing watching his target appear to have a full-on hysterical breakdown over a bad joke, but certainly useful in this case.
The badly scorched final assailant left standing turns to run, and in the ordinary way of things she would have let him. But even though outnumbered and outmatched, before he flees, he takes another vicious stab at the same unarmed and unarmored victim, and Shrike sees that his blade is the one already darkened with blood. His target staggers back behind Audria against an abandoned costermonger's cart, a spreading stain on his ragged clothes — the source of the scream. Her eyes narrow behind the beaked mask. This one will predate again if he escapes.
She drops the crossbow and darts after him, brushing past Pippip and hurdling the unconscious man she shot without effort. She gets a look at the frogmaker — a youngish man, perhaps Varisian from the white streak in his dark hair, not dressed in the fancy-wear of the more fashionable impers — and then is past him, spinning the guisarme around into her grip as she goes.
The croak she directs at the fleeing man is as flat and harsh as usual as the polearm comes level across his path. "Give it up." Though he still has the dagger, and normally she would use her spear to keep it at a distance, she wants plenty of time to react and hook one of his ankles if he ignores her and tries to run.
Seeing Shrike run off after the escaping thug, Audria turns to Abella;
"Abella, can you see to Sven, here? I'm going to get the one that's laughing at Pip's joke," she says before rushing over to the laughing man to subdue him.
Putting his back to a wall had been more of a reflexive decision than a tactical one. Lightly armored foes with vicious short blades usually meant they would have a penchant for slipping a dagger in your back and into a kidney. But that had meant counting on Sven to put a little more pep in his step.
He still had a few good spells ready, but if they ganged up on him again, eventually one of them would land a lucky blow. None of the assailants had seemed particularly adept with their blades. Dal was probably on par with them, if not a little better. But Dal was not built for close-quarters combat. And he felt confident that their strikes might hurt more than his would.
Dal’s mind registered that Sven had ducked behind the girl with the sword as the nervous one turned to flee and the other doubled over in laughter. And just like that, the skirmish on the street had come to an end.
He started to move toward the one who had caught a bolt in the back. “I think that will put an end to-” Dal’s words and steps were clipped short as the masked one with the polearm dashed by to catch the nervous attacker. “Whoah!”
"I think that one has learned his lesson but there was another around here somewhere," Dal called after the masked person.
The girl called out to her comrades and she seemed more than capable of getting the hysterical man under control. Dal’s instincts told him to trust the group that had burst out of the alley like a stampeding herd of axe beaks and he knelt by the one on the ground. “Not seeing a lot of blood loss. Probably will be okay. Unless the blood loss is internal…”
Dal spoke a few words and gestured over the man. Then leaned him against the wall, careful to not put any pressure on the bolt. “Sorry I can’t take that out for you,” Dal muttered to the unconscious man, “I’m not much of a medic.”
Seeing Shrike run off after the escaping thug, Audria turns to Abella;
"Abella, can you see to Sven, here? I'm going to get the one that's laughing at Pip's joke," she says before rushing over to the laughing man to subdue him.
”I certainly can. But will I? That is the real question.” She then immediately answers the question by seeing to Sven.
Save Sven!: Round 3 continues
Shrike & Dal
This spell afflicts the subject with uncontrollable laughter. It collapses into gales of manic laughter, falling prone. The subject can take no actions while laughing, but is not considered helpless.
Abella is the first one aside from the man with the purple scarf to really get a good look at Silver Sven. Being homeless, Sven is as dirty as one would expect...or is it just him? It's almost difficult to tell as his oread blood is extremely evident. His skin appears to have the consistency of fine sand leaving one with the impression they could trace their fingers across the surface and leave a trail. Of course, most startling is the man's hair which looks like a master weaver who has spun silver into thread for an actor's (or perhaps eccentric noble's) wig. Metallic and reflective, Silver Sven's hair is straight and hangs like a sheet of shiny rain dripping from his head. It's certainly clear how Sven acquired his moniker.
Green sees Shrike appearing swooping in on his left. Above the fabric covering his face, his eyes go even wider in fear. He redoubles his efforts to escape by trying to run faster.
Audria sighs at Abella's quip. She wonders how the mage and Trinia would get along given their sharp wit for a moment before closing the distance on the laughing assailant and restraining him.
Meanwhile, Talanaliel flies over to Pip and lands on his shoulder.
"We should find some rope for the laughing one," she says. "I don't think he's going to be friendly once he's done laughing."
Shrike hadn't really expected the man to surrender, but he doesn't even pause to think about his options. His mistake. She sweeps low with the guisarme, feeling the backward-facing hook catch solidly on one of his ankles and send him tumbling. She spares a moment of gratitude for the Hunter's grace: so far, her hasty reinforcement of twine around the damaged shaft is holding.
"Stay down." Her voice is as flat and hard as the spearpoint that stills over his heart. "Or die. Up to you."
If he tries to get up or get away, she fully intends to pin him to the cobbles with it.
The frogmaker in the purple scarf said something about there being another attacker, but a quick scan of the surrounding buildings shows nothing. He'll reveal himself in time — or not, perhaps, if he judges discretion is the better part of valor.
Pip helps Audria capture the laughing man with his manacles.
The fight had ended quickly and he had not drawn blood. Maybe that was better, he hadn’t even drawn his trusty rapier.
Save Sven!: Round 3 concluded
Green looks up at Shrike, his eyes wild and frantic. "It's too late! Let me run!" he shrieks pleading desperately.
The humanoid in Audria's grasp struggles weakly against the her grip and the manacles Pip is locking around their wrists. Even then their body wracks with laughter sapping the energy from their movements. The dagger that blossoms from their eye makes the softest of squelching sounds, but the silence of their laughter is near deafening. A drop of blood splatters onto Pippip's face.
The downed figure near Dal blooms her own steel flower in her throat. The sickening sounds of the woman quickly choking on her own blood are disturbing to say the least.
The would-be assassin pleading before Shrike looks over his shoulder at the noise and panics. "Oh, gods! Achaekek, spare me!"
"You have failed the test. You know the consequence."
The deep male voice comes from above where a foreboding figure stands perched on the edge of a balcony overlooking the street. There is an air of incredible danger surrounding him despite the near costume of his appearance. A red mantis head on blood-red armor and bristling with weapons, the party is almost reminded of how imposing Shrike can appear in her bird helmet.
"This is bad, Audrie! Very bad!
Save Sven!: Combat Concluded(?)
If there is one thing that Abella understands, it’s when something is none of her damn business.
”Well, whatever is going on with beetleman seems like it doesn’t involve us, so why don’t we get you on out of here, Sven?” She offers him an arm if he needs the support, but otherwise tries to get away as far as she can.
Sven is willing to allow Abella to hustle him away which he will do rather docilely, but he doesn't specifically require Abella's assistance to remain locomotive and will keep moving even if she disengages.
It is the suddenness of it. While she is no stranger to violence, having grown up on the streets and witnessing several of her fellow orphans and castaways be killed by Lamm and his cronies, this is something else. Feeling Talanaliel's fear as it feeds into her own, Audria turns and grabs Pip before running for cover. She grabs anyone else she sees along the way, following Abella out of the alleys. Only when they've reached a place of relative safety does she relent and come to a stop.
She undoes the gorget under her chin and gulps down air as she slides against the wall, being mindful of Talanaliel hiding in her cloak. After a moment, she reaches up and gathers the little songbird and cups her hands around her.
"It's alright now. It's safe. We're safe, Tallyfeather," she says softly
Pip wipes the blood from his face and reluctantly puts the now useless manacles away.
He looks defiantly at the intimidating assassin and makes a sweeping bow.
”I am Pip, who are you?”
Shrike lifts her head enough to stare down the sixth thug, the mask expressionless as he turns and flees. Her legs and shoulders tense for a split second as she masters the urge to run him down too. A dog that chases two rats catches neither.
But the fallen would-be killer does not display any of the reactions she expected — not even throwing the knife at her. He seems to fear something else far more than the immediate threat of her weapon. Who or what is Achaekek? She hesitates, nonplussed, when the disturbing sound of magic-forced laughter suddenly cuts off. Shrike spins on her heel just in time to see the second dagger appear in the throat of the one she shot and follow its path to the balcony both knives came from. The hairs on the back of her neck rise at the sight of the bug-headed warrior who snuck up on all of them. This one is dangerous.
Not only that, the man — Achaekek? — clearly put these people up to doing murder. It's not unheard of in gang initiations. Her hands flex on the shaft of the guisarme, longing for it to be an elf-made bow. But she only has the polearm and a single dagger, and he has the overwhelming advantage of position. It would be foolish to try to fight here and now. This one is a true predator, the kind of monster whose strength a hunter must respect if she wants to live long.
Abella and Audria are wisely melting away, taking the injured man with them. That's good. But she wants to know more, and they need time to retreat. The shrike mask jerks once in the direction the sixth thug disappeared. "Your last rat's getting away." She tenses, ready to dive behind the pavilion herself if the bug-masked man makes a move against her.
Pip shudders a bit after his encounter with the assassin. He was determined to be brave, and he suddenly felt exposed. Looking at his friends seemed to give him the reassurance he needed. A glance showed Shrike seemed to be respecting the assassin, and he would be ready to help out if needed. He called out defiantly.
"So that is your thing---killing your own minions!!"
”I am Pip, who are you?”
The red figure's mantis head turns towards the halfling bard. "I'm no one with whom to be trifled."
"Your last rat's getting away.
"The only rat who may have worth."
”So that is your thing---killing your own minions!!”
"The affairs of the Red Mantis are not your concern. Move along with your business before you become..." The figure suddenly stops speaking and his mantis head swivels to the side.
Another red figure drops down nearby to Shrike's position. This one also has a red mantis head, but the rest of the outfit appears very different. A smooth, shiny suit clings to the very evidently female form. Whatever the material is, there appears to be no seam and it molds itself to the female Red Mantis like it had been poured over her body. It's almost reminiscent of some of the outfits found at Von Heller's or worn by some Calistrian sacred prostitutes. Of course, the double sheathed swords forming an 'X' across her back belie the typical carnal pursuits associated with such a costume.
The male Red Mantis on the balcony says nothing but is clearly watching the female as she very slowly approaches Shrike her hands held splayed open at her sides indicating she bears no weapons...as if that's a reassurance.
The female Red Mantis will step inside your Reach unless you choose to threaten her or otherwise make it evident you will try to stop her. She will close the distance between you to stand next to you. Let me know how you would like to respond to this action.
As she calms down, Audria looks around at the others and notices two missing.
"Where did Pip and Shrike go? I thought they followed us," she asks while cradling Talanaliel in her hands.
"Th-they didn't stay, did they," Talanaliel asks, her voice still quivering with fear.
The bug-helmed gang leader can't be distracted by more mobile prey. From his words, perhaps that one will be allowed to live, since he escaped instead of being disabled by them in combat. A pity. But they know the name of the game now. Red Mantis. I'll remember you.
The shrike mask twitches sharply toward the second, female mantis-headed figure when it drops down from an even closer hidden position she had not noticed, the only outward sign of her alarm. She considers running, but if they had one hidden member, there are likely more; and anyway, the halfling is slower than she is, and she will not leave him behind. Silent and unmoving, Shrike watches narrowly as the woman approaches her.
Abella calls back but makes no move to head back. ”You bloody idiot! Those are the real deal! Professionals! Now is not the bloody time!”
Pip fought with his flight response, very concerned with the two figures in play. He was really good at hiding and very concerned for Shrike. He begins to retreat immediately moving to the shadows and keep an eye on Shrike. Abella's concern and advice broke through the temporary pull he felt to assess these threats as much as possible.
As Audria, Abella, and Sven flee back down the ally, they notice Pink groaning slightly as painful consciousness begins to return to the masked humanoid.
The two visible Red Mantis appear to have no interest in you since you remain functionally out of their way. Whether they ignore you out of disinterest or unawareness due to your attempts at stealth is unknown. It seems you should be able to slip away uncontested if you wish.
The female mantis stops once Shrike begins backing away. She lowers her hands to her sides and cocks her head slightly. If Shrike has ever seen an actual praying mantis, the movement is very similar to the head tilt the insect has when examining something.
"This little test of skill was entrance exam for possible membership. These fools may have failed," a small slow gesture towards the groveling Green, "but someone like you...could go far with Red Mantis. Some would not understand that our work could also be considered heroic. Sometimes...the difference between heroes and villains...is just a matter of resolve."
Dal jumped at the sudden appearance of the dagger in the woman’s throat. A perfectly natural reaction to such a startling occurrence. So what was Dal feeling such fear?
“Pockets!” Dal’s head swiveled around the increasingly cramped alley. “At least he’s clever enough to get out of sight,” he thought. He took a deep breath and blew it out through pursed lipase and forced his own nervousness away, replacing it with as much courage and pride as he could muster. Something easier said than done as Dal’s eyes locked on the masked figure standing above them. “C’mon, I need you to understand what I’m trying to tell you, bud,”
Boots hitting the street jerked his eyes to the crimson figure who had just appeared near the one with the polearm.
“This was supposed to be a quick chat with Sven,” Dal muttered as he fell into step a few paces behind the one in the “You helped me,” he addressed the one with the polearm, “but more importantly, Sven. I’ll help you if it comes to it.”
Dal glanced over his shoulder, “Besides, your allies already took off with my contact,” he thought.
Shrike stills when the Red Mantis woman does, just a bit too close for comfort. Chills crawl down her spine, as much from the caressing tone as from the confirmation that someone knows that the Old Fishery display was done by her instead of a wizard-demon. But the fear does not show in her harsh croak. "You see a lot. In some ways. But why would I want a mask that blinds me to the difference between Lamm and that beggar?"
She isn't fool enough to insult the woman or reflexively deny that she is anything like them. On the surface, killing is killing and a mask is a mask. She also has enough sense not to scoff at the idea of joining a gang that immediately executes its own members for failure. Though even the Sharkteeth in Bridgefront and the Dream Spiders in Old Dock show more loyalty than that. They take a finger or an ear first. And when they recruit, it's with promises of riches and protection and the family you never had, not with death. So who exactly does the Red Mantis think she's enticing, and what is it she thinks she's offering?
Her head turns slightly back toward the approaching footsteps without taking her eyes off the mantis-helmed woman in the uncomfortably tight-looking suit that nevertheless seems not to hinder her movement at all. The male voice matches that of the scarf-wearing man who had been attacked along with the beggar — Sven? Presumably the same Silver Sven they had been looking for. That's a piece of luck, at least. He is brave or foolish to stay — or perhaps reached the same conclusion as she already had about the senior gang members' capabilities. Both of them were watching us the entire time. If they'd wanted us dead, we would be. "Thanks. Don't think this'll be a long conversation."
After seeing the brutality the red masked and armored figures have shown, Audria has little doubt about what will befall this masked individual. Her street savvy wars with the integrity and honor that Brother Theolan, Bartholomew, and Talanaliel have nurtured the past two years. The fight is hardly fair, and she grabs the masked person to haul them to their feet. She turns to see if they have anyone pursuing, only to see that Shrike, Pip, and some newcomer were lagging behind.
Her shout cuts across the alley as she shoves the masked would-be assassin behind her.
"You see a lot. In some ways. But why would I want a mask that blinds me to the difference between Lamm and that beggar?"
Her head turns slightly back toward the approaching footsteps without taking her eyes off the mantis-helmed woman...
"Thanks. Don't think this'll be a long conversation."
The female mantis laughs. The sound is beautiful, entrancing even...which is disconcerting as there's no denying the air of lethality surrounding her. It somehow makes the tension worse.
Again the whisper, almost a sigh. "Yes, indeed. I would almost have been disappointed if you had accepted. I've heard about you and your little team of heroes. What a pleasant coincidence to find you here today: the bird of prey, the little champion, the cheerful singer, and the one who desires to control death. And regarding what I see..."
Without warning, the woman leaps into the air into a backflip twisting away from Shrike. As she passes over Green, there is a hiss and a flash of steel. She lands lightly on her feet, but now both her sawtooth sabres are drawn, blades held in reverse-grip with her hands down at her sides. Blood drips from their jagged edges. Almost in a delayed reaction, Green's head simply falls from his shoulders and his body slumps over.
"What I see is the beginning of something delicious."
With that said, she literally flies upwards and over the top of the buildings. The male red mantis makes an impossible leap across the alley and quickly scales the wall to vanish over the top as well. Other brief movements in the shadows suggest Shrike's instincts were correct, they were not alone.
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Shrike doesn't flinch or take her eyes off the female Red Mantis when she explodes into a blur of motion. The image of those strange serrated sabres crossed and dripping red to match the woman's armor freezes the breath in her chest. For a moment, she isn't sure if it's hers. Her gaze behind the unreadable mask follows the Mantis in flight — she's a frogmaker, on top of everything else? — then the man and the other flickers of motion as they depart with their leader.
Only when they have apparently left does she release her held breath. Her shoulders relax slightly, but the croaking voice is still grim as she turns away from the beheaded man without a backward glance and says, "Let's get out of here."
A quick look around shows her Pippip has disappeared, but that's probably a good sign that he retreated with the others. Shrike leaves as quickly as she can scoop up her dropped crossbow and sap from the ground, heading in the direction from which Abella and then Audria shouted at them to run. She notes with interest that the body of the thug she first knocked out is gone.
Shrike comes into view with her crossbow slung across her back again, her soft black boots eating up the distance at a swift loping pace that is not a trot but not quite a run. She has been checking each alley as she goes, and ducks into the one they have chosen without a word. Her shoulders move slightly with deep but quiet breaths under the loose dark gray clothing and blackened chain shirt, and she leans against the wall with a shudder, her hands flexing restlessly on the shaft of the guisarme held crosswise before her in a defensive position like a quarterstaff. The pale grey mask with black elf-angled eye patches tilts up toward the sky for a moment, making the darker marks down its cheeks appear even more like tear tracks — and briefly showing her mouth, usually hidden by the mask's small and slightly hooked black beak, silently mouthing words as though in prayer.
After a few moments she shakes her head like someone surfacing from a fall into deep water, sending waves of nearly white hair back over the long points of her ears. Her voice would be conversational if it was less flat. "New gang in town. And they're recruiting. Anyone want to be a Red Mantis?"
Dal stared into the lifeless eyes of the decapitated head. Hindsight told him that with the two red assassins watching the nervous man had been dead the moment he had turned to flee. Still…it was rare for those wrapped up with the city’s criminals to reach for a second chance at a better life and this one had tried.
"Let's get out of here."
Such a simple sentence. Yet it was all it took to shake Dal from the boy’s death stare. “Yeah…yeah, let’s go.” Dal turned and made two sharp clicking noises in rapid succession with his tongue, “Pockets! C’mon, bud.” Dal lingered a few paces behind the masked one until he was certain his feline friend had come out of hiding then picked up the pace to catch up.
A (some might say overweight) cat hopped onto a barrel in the alleyway. Pockets caught sight of the little bird and opened its mouth in an exaggerated yawn revealing the sharp canines. Moments later Dal ducked into the same shadows after daring one last glance over his shoulder.
“I’m sure I speak for Sven as well as myself when I say that your help was greatly appreciated,” Dal said. He pulled a crumpled sheet of parchment from an inside coat pocket. He slid the cat a few inches in one direction and used the top of the barrel as a table to smooth out the parchment. “I doubt we would’ve made it out of there without your timely intervention. Especially with those…Red Mantises?,” he continued. Dal sighed and rolled the parchment, pulled up one sleeve, then slid the scroll into an odd scroll case on his forearm. He fumbled with a crank and nodded as if to say "I guess that'll work."
“Whoever they are, they seemed pretty interested in you lot. So, if you would excuse us, Sven was just about to fill me in on the whereabouts of some missing persons.”
Audria senses Talanaliel's fear spiking again as the cat hops onto the barrel the young paladin is sitting next to and covers her companion with her hands to help protect her from the feline. Seeing Shrike and Dal join them in the alley, she breaths a sigh of relief. It appears that most of them have the sense to run when something that dangerous turns up.
"Missing persons? Like children that ran from a now dead dirtbag," Audria asks as she stands up.
The lone remaining assassin comes to a stop with the rest of the party looking bewildered then squeezes his eyes shut with a groan and holds his head.
"Wha..what the blazes is going on? Is the test over? Who are you guys? Are you...out of your mantis armor now or something?"
In response to Dal, Silver Sven blinks slowly as if he didn't quite understand. He clutches his side where he was stabbed then looks at the blood on his hand with confusion.
When Audria mentions children, Sven perks up. "The children said the evil by the docks is all washed away. But I dreamt that Death comes down the river when the new moon and stars come out. The moon is dead, you know. It's really a giant skull looking the other way." He nods sagely. "Oh, and the queen is a dragon. But everyone knows that and burns the city. They're mad the dragon queen wants to steal the blood, but the Runelord needs it more."
Audira starts to say something to the assassin when Sven speaks. Indecision holds her for a moment before she decides that the man is too much of a threat to ignore. She draws her sword and moves to put herself between the assassin and the others before saying anything.
"The test is over, and you failed," Audria tells the man. "I'd start dropping any weapons you have if I were you, and then I'd start explaining why we shouldn't had you over to the guard for trying to kill a man in cold blood."
Talanaliel flits over to Abella's shoulder, staying well clear of Pockets' reach.
"Can you mend his wound," the thrush asks her, nodding towards Sven.
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Shrike slowly cocks her head to one side at the beggar's ravings. Up close, she can now see that he is not as old and dirty as she thought: it's just that his hair is metallic silver and his skin has a natural texture similar to fine sand. Unfortunately, he seems to be just as addled as many of the ordinary humans one might find on the street, like the man who tried to accost Abella while ranting about Groetus. There's been a lot of that going around. For isn't Groetus some kind of dead moon that hangs over the Boneyard? The actual moon has been a tiny but waxing sliver for the past few nights, so the next new moon isn't for almost a month. After that the words seem to blur together. She doesn't know what a Runelord is, and barring some kind of long-term magic transformation, the queen is certainly a human, not a dragon. Regardless, it doesn't seem likely they'll get anything concrete out of him about the children. Certainly not without a lot of effort.
Instead she turns to the thug Audria must have saved (for Abella certainly didn't) and is currently questioning. Depending on whether any of the Red Mantises followed them, which would clearly have been trivial for them to do, he might have limited time before that comes to an abrupt halt.
"He might be safer in jail. Might not. No point protecting them now either way." She looms behind the girl's shoulder, polearm in hand. "What'd they offer you? Why are they setting up here?" What is this, Tigerguts territory? Wonder if they've paid up to the Cerulean Society lately. Wouldn't put money on old Boule and all the canting crews he can call from High Bridge to the Narrows against these ones though.
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Abella looks over the new fellow who also wanted to talk to Sven. She assumes that his hesitancy with the words “Red Mantises” is because he is unsure of how to correctly conjugate the plural of “mantis.” ”Mantises is the correct plural. As is mantes. I prefer the latter, personally, as it has a better sound to my ears.” She does enjoy showing off, and she despite Cainabeth’s repeated insistences that correcting grammar just makes you sound like an ass, Abella insists upon doing it.
She stares blankly at Sven as he expounds on the state of the city. ”That is really quite fascinating. I shall have to go check out the other side of the moon sometime to see the skull. And here I thought it was cheese all this time.” She barely restrains the patronizing tone.
She sighs at the thrush’s request to heal the man. ”If you insist.“
Pip emerges from hiding and approaches the last minion.
"You must know something and need us to keep you alive. How about you tell us the information you know so you will no longer be as much as a target? Once you tell us, they won't have to kill you to stop you, as we will already know. But then, you have to tell us everything for this plan to work."
Pip thought his logic was sound.
Pink's eyes refocus on Audria and Shrike, and as he sees Silver Sven realization appears in his eyes.
"You're not the Mantis! Bloody bats! I'm screwed!" He frantically begins looking around at every shadow. "I have to get out of here!" His eyes come back to Audria's sword and Shrike's glaive, and a series of mental calculations begin to occur.
A slump of his shoulders indicates at what sums he arrives. "I don't know anything more about the Red Mantis than any other ganger. They're legends in the wet work fields, almost dismissed as a rumor. Until one night, right after I'd had to cut somebody for resisting the natural order of things, one of them mantis headed people was just suddenly there. Never heard or saw them. They just offered me a chance to test into the organization, and until then I didn't even believe they were more than a ghost story." Nervous sweat drips off his exposed forehead. "Look, whatever you're going to do with me, we really need to get as far away from here as we can. If even half of the rumors is true, running won't mean piss, but it's the only chance."
"You are not screwed!!" Pip says earnestly.
"I care for your life ten times more than they ever will. We can debrief you somewhere safe, but every clue you tell us can help. Since we do value life, we are much likelier to let you go. Especially since it seems that is best chance of thwarting their goals by prolonging your life."
Pip once again looked for any flaws in his logic and didn't see them.
He repeats a little quieter but still earnestly and intently: "You are not safe in jail, probably better in the wind if you tell us everything."
"Yeah, I just did that! Tell your buddies here to look less threatening, and you'll never see me again!"
"When'd this happen? How many did you ever see? How'd they contact you when it was time? What exactly was the test?" Wet-work — so the gang's main business was murder for hire. That tracked with the capabilities they'd shown. She'd never heard of the Red Mantises before, but the man seemed to think they were legendary to the point of mythical, which also tracked for magic assassins. Her concerns had always been more street-level and specific to her city, and she's confident they aren't native to Korvosa.
A gang is a gang, but this sounds like the kind of gang that could topple nations. In fact... could they even have killed the King? No, that made no sense; he had been sick for a long time. Yet it was strange that they should show up so close on the heels of a ruler's death that paralyzed the whole city.
Audria's eyes flash silver as she hears the man describe how the Red Mantis came to contact him. No, he hasn't told them everything she wants to know, not yet. She waits for him to answer Shrike's questions, a dark cloud hanging over her and blackening her mood. She needs to know where to find the children that had run after they'd gotten rid of Giggles, Hookshanks, and Yargin, but she also finds that she needs to know what this man has done, discover his character, and then figure out what to do with him.
She focuses on him, finding a sixth sense as yet untapped, and tries to peer into his soul and finds what lies there.
"I have some questions for you," she says after he and the others are finished, her voice as cold as an Irrisen winter. "What did you mean by the natural order of things?"
She waits, cold and patient for his answer before moving on to each question in turn.
"How many have you killed or cut up?"
"Who were your victims?"
"Who did you work for before?"
"Do you regret any of it?"
"Thank yo--" Talanaliel says to Abella before something cuts her off. She shivers as she looks from the mage to where Audria stands.
"Thank you," she says in a much more somber voice. "I think we may need to hold Audria back from doing something rash in a moment."
And Pip makes a clarifying point.
"To be clear, we are not judging you. BUT, we need details!!"
Well I am not.
As Shrike and Audria start firing off questions, Pink's eyes start to look more desperate and guarded.
"We don't have time for this! If they're coming, you won't even get the chance to hear me finish answering half of this before I'll drop dead mid-word. I'll tell you whatever you want to know right down to when I gave my first kiss if we just get out of here!"
Silver Sven thanks Abella for her healing touch and then grasps Dal's sleeve in concern. "You're not saying they are after the children are you?"