The Silent Foray

[Aeri`]

The trio, Suede, Jirai and Aeri were conversing at a table within the Dagger. Suede being who he was, was rather enjoying
himself in attempts to get either to blush or reach out to grope one of them without getting fingers cut off of course. In the
course of all things, two strangers entered.

It was quietly, the pair of them slipped within. A pair of nondescript gentlemen wearing travelling breeches, short blades
at their side, and one sporting a bow, with a quiver hung just at his side. Passive arrival, with blank expressions sliding over the folks gathered so far this evening. While the bowyer slid in the direction of the bar, the other gentleman started edging around the gatherings to look for, presumably, a suitable position to sit. He wasn't looking for one of those tables off in the corner. Unlike some, he didn't have a conversation he wanted to keep silent from extra ears.

Are the drinks ready yet? The swordsman called out to his companion. Aye, Just waiting on you. Was the response that
was earned from the bowyer, while two beverages were placed atop the bar. Everything seemed to be in order, and a table
was finally spotted by the swordsman that seemed appropriate. He started making his way towards it. It was as the swordsman drifted behind Aeri, that things took a sudden turn. The swordsman pivotted smoothly, and a dagger dropped into his palm. Free hand moving for Aeri's chin, aiming to grab hold and hoist it upwards, so that the knife might make a clean and swift sweep across the exposed neck. At the bar, the bowyer was setting up. An arrow being drawn back and nocked, ready to take the first person rushing to Aeri's aid down.

Suede managed to talk Aeri into dancing and she stands, taking
Suede's hand, only to be haulted by someone from behind. The flash of metal seen and she screams. Ah, but a dancer can move fluid when needed, and that dagger never made it to Aeri's neck, but rather Suede's extended hand. Fast eyes were needed in the market, and quick hands to borrow without asking. Thus the dagger slid along palm, not nape.

Jirai caught the action around Aeri, and the bowman too. And she didn't hesitate. A flick of her wrist send her last throwing dagger down into her grasp, another flick sending the blade flying at the bowman. After the weapon was launched
the drowess leaped to her feet, following after it.

The swordsman cursed and the blade shifted to simply make a quick effort to plunge into Aeri's back instead, before he'd backpedal far enough to draw the shortblade at his side. Dart flicking past admist the turmoil of the situation. The bowman's shot, was aimed towards the gathering of the three. Suede, Jirai, Aeri. It wasn't a true shot, as he was leaning to the side so that the blade mearly grazed his ribcage instead. A hiss of pain at that end, but fingers deftly going for another arrow.

Jirai had another, longer dagger in each hand by this point, as she launched herself at the bowman, one blade aimed in a
thrust at the man, its twin darting in an attempt to sever the bowstring.

Aeri struggled in the ones grip and turned at the blade struck home hitting closer to her shoulder. A scream made and she
crumbled into a heap upon the floor.

Suede's hand was bleeding rather nicely now. He was feeling oddly like a pincushion as said arrow grazed along his side. It didn't imbed, but cut. The arrow now sticking out from a nearby table.

The bow itself, good solid oak, whipped around towards Jirai's face. Another dagger slipping to cut a leg. The swordsman of course, left with a wailing Suede, and a struggling to maintain conscious Aeri, did what any good chap would do. Drew out a sword, and though keeping an eye on Suede, moved to skewer the healer. Keep her down.

The dragon named Corinth, who Aeri had befriended sensed something wrong and in his state of anger seemed to set the
tavern on fire. While some were attempting to put the flames out, others inside were trying to stop to chaos.

Jirai winced slightly as the arrow hit her shoulder, but the bowstring was cut, her immediate objective completed. Her
momentum carried her right into the bow, taking a good hit to her face that left her dizzy. Fighting the effects of the hit to
her head let the knife slice into her leg, even as she brought both of her daggers to bear once more, driving them in savagely, knowing how difficult a doge would be at this close range.

Self preservation told the elf to roll and so she did dispite the burning pain she felt in the back of her shoulder. The new
dress ruined now with blood sweeping upon it. Oh someone was gonna pay for this, if she survied that is. She rolled as the
blade came aiming for her and screamed again in pain. The smoke from the flames seeping inward and she started to
cough from it.

Suede decided to lunge at the man. The swordsman simply shifted slightly. He'd been prepared to finish off Aeri, but Suede's unarmed heroics have caused him to shift his attack. Blade swinging upwards, with the likely intent of cutting most of Suede wide open. The swordsman might not be the most proficient, but Suede wasn't armed. The bowman gurgled a bit, knowing he was hurting pretty bad. Another arrow drawn, since a knife would take too long, and this one simply moved to be shoved forth into Jirai's own stomach.

Well this was going to cause considerable pain. Suede may have been used to dodging blows from scary women or irrate
husbands, but not swords. A twist of feet in a vain attempt before said blade cut into flesh. Not as deep as the
swordman hoped, but enough to send red along the blade and make a vampire giddy in excitement before the tailor most
likely crashed into the wielder.

Jirai wrenched her body around, twisting out of the direct path of the arrow, the head grazing along her stomach, drawing a line of blood, but not skewering her. She turned the twist into more of a roll, to put some distance between herself in the bowman. She figured the man was pretty much set, and the amount of screaming and yelling from the other part of the
fight had her a bit worried.

Tackled downwards, though hardly injured from the impact, the swordsman twisted the short blade in another attempt to
drive it into Suede. And hopefully drive Suede off of him, so that he could regain his feet shortly. The bowman, clutching
his stomach, slowly slid down to a seat on the floor.

Jirai saw the position Suede was in and hissed a curse. Ignoring the arrow still protruding from her shoulder, she imped-ran towards the fight, bloodied daggers still in hand.

Aeri was still downed and coughing, attempting to focus and crawl away from the would be assassin. Her arms reaching out for a chair to pull her away.

Suede would roll away from the blade of course, the sword still piercing some, but not nearly as much as it could as the tailor thudded against the floor. He was beyong pain enough not to feel it at this point, and before he let himself lax would attempt to drive a hand into the man's crotch. Suede's fist met solid metal, while the swordsman grunted. Cup or no cup, a punch still hurt. On the other hand, it wouldn't give him much of a pause. Jirai was rushing in for the kill from the side, but sword slashed out towards her legs, intent of slicing across her kneecaps and driving her down to the ground. A struggle to regain his feet commenced, before Jirai could use those daggers.

Jirai leaped over the blade as it was swung towards her legs. Knees were a weak point for her, she wasn't about to let those get hit. One leg lanced out, launching a hard kick towards the swordsman's head.

And the last thing Suede saw before vision went black was Jirai flying... how'd she do that... have to ask
her later... a soft grunt as the tailor curled up into a fetal position, just bleeding and breathing.

The swordsman regained a portion of his feet, and managed to yank his head to the side, reducing the blow from one that'd knock him out completely to a heavy glancing one. Continuing to his feet, the blade continued its swing too, perhaps taking a slice out of a portion of Jirai's back, while weak legs were gained.

Jirai hissed as the blade drew a searing line across her back. She pivoted, spinning to send one of the daggers towards the man in a thrust, the other hanging back to ward against the sword. She would attempt to move closer, to render the advantage he gained with the larger blade useless - it would take too long to discard the daggers for her shortswords.

The swordsman jerked back, in some decided surprise at a dagger in his lung. That, was going to be fatal. Another couple of staggering steps, to draw him along the side, and his eyes swung about the place. A snarl curled on his lip, and he had one last move to pull. He tumbled downard, of that there was no doubt. With sword leading the way, as he collapsed towards where Aeri was just regaining her feet, blood dripping out of his lips as life fled this one too.

Aeri screamed again as the one fell on her. She was toppled over once again. Smoke causing her to cough and darkness took over. Jirai snarled yet another curse as the dying man fell on Aeri. The drowess lurched towards the elf, balance growing unsteadier by the moment as the hit to her head pushed its way past the adrenaline rush. Eye almost swollen shut by this point, she attempted to haul the now corpse off of Aeri. With the body lifted, it gave Aeri more room to breath but alas she had let the darkness overcome. Her breathing shallow from the inhaling of the smoke.Jirai left Aeri, ignoring her own wounds to search the corpse next to her, blinking rapidly.

Joker then found Aeri upon the floor and quickly took her out of the smoke filled tavern only to move to the Edificium. Suede and Jirai where also taken there to be treated for their nearly fatal wounds.

[Jirai]

Jirai woke up rather abruptly, moving to sit up before she thought better of the action. Pain lanced through her body, centered around her back and left shoulder. She fell back onto the cot with a muttered curse. Oh, that’s right. The fight last night. Memories flooded back, in bits and pieces as she turned her aching head this way and that, trying to sort out where, exactly she was. There was Aeri, the elven healer still unconscious, lying on the cot next to the one the dark elf currently occupied. “Edificium,” she muttered. “Has to be.” The thought was confirmed a moment later, as Gad Phuri’s voice echoed around the walls.

“It's the local hospital, madam. I'm here seeing if anyone I know was hurt in last night's attack on the inn.”

Jirai listened as the overweight councilor babbled on to someone else about falling in love. Not something she wanted to think about. She shuddered slightly, and set about the process of sitting up. Legs had just been swung over the side of the bed when the familiar flabby face was shoved into her room.

“Madam! Jirai!” Gad squinted at her from the doorway. “What are you doing in here?”

Jirai was in a rather poor mood by this point, between her injuries, Gad’s presence, and the fact that all she was wearing was a thin hospital gown, her own bloodied cloths were at the foot of the bed. So her response to the large councilor was heavily laced with sarcasm as she lurched to her feet.

“What does it look like I’m doing? Picking daisies?”

“Well, you aren’t quite pushing them up,” the Councilor snorted, “so be grateful. Now get back to bed.” With that, to the small drow’s pleasure, sir Phuri made his exit. It was nearly lunchtime, after all. Jirai tottered over towards the door, her steps growing more sure as she moved. Across the hall she went, into the room she had seen a winged girl entering. Apparently that was who Gad Phuri had been talking to. Anyway, it turned out that she’d chosen the right room, finding Suede lying on a cot. Right over to the unconscious tailor she marched, and hit him lightly on the head. The man wasn’t going to be allowed to laze about there, dreaming, when she had to talk to him. Poor Suede jerked awake, causing himself more pain as he pulled against the bandages wrapped around his torso.

“You need to learn how to fight,” she informed the man curtly, and settled down to answering his questions. Where was he? The Edificium. How was she, how was Aeri? Fine. Unconscious. And then finally, the question she had been awaiting. Why did those two attack last night?

“Going for Aeri. I got some things off of the swordsman. They’re in the other room though. A note and some coins.”

“Hmm…What kind of coins? What did the note say?”

Jirai closed her eyes, trying to think past the pounding in her head. “I didn’t recognize the coins. And the note…something about a tongueless elf.” Aeri, obviously. She growled a curse. “I should remember the rest…” But such were the effects of a concussion.

“If I saw the coins, I could probably tell ya where they came from.” And with that, the drowess was off once more, leaving the tailor to talk to Diona, whose presence she had entirely forgotten. Back across the hallway, she went, irritated by her inability to remember the wording of the note. She paused next to Aeri’s bed though – the elf had awakened, and offered her the same advice she had given Suede. “You need to learn how to fight. By the way, I haven’t had that much fun in years.” She grinned at the face the elf made in response to Jirai’s idea of ‘fun,’ and proceeded to the pile of her belongings. She returned to the elven healer’s side, holding a bag of coins and the note she had mentioned. Jirai pulled a handful of the coins out, holding them where the elf could easily see them. “Recognize them?” The coins were replaced at the shake of the mute elf’s head, pouch dropped to the bed as she unfolded the note and handed it to Aeri. “Me neither. Suede might, I think. Then there was this…”

The note was on cheap paper, with long flowing script, and expensive ink. "We have a problem. A tongueless elf in Myrken town. We want this problem fixed. Permanently. Double pay."

Aeri raised her head, reading the words over and over, then tore the letter from the dark elf’s grasp. She turned it over, one finger pointing towards the broken seal – green wax, with an imprint of a five point star. Terror filled her violet eyes.

“I take it you recognized that…” Always one for stating the obvious, Jirai was. She would have continued, but paused at the sound of Suede’s voice.

“Hey, Jirai, let me see those coins.” The tailor had managed to get himself out of bed and was now propped up in the doorway across the hall, grimacing.

“In here. I don’t want to shout across the damned hallway.” She watched as Suede hauled himself across the hall, then dropped down onto her own cot, blood loss getting the better of her. She rolled onto her stomach as the man chattered at the mute elf, waiting until Aeri had located her tablet and quill to speak. “Suede, the coins and the note are next to Aeri.”

“Ah, wonderful.” And he staggered across the room, dropping onto the elf’s cot. He searched out the coins and held one up, examining it. Meanwhile, Aeri had been writing quickly upon her tablet, and held the message up for the other two to read. "Look at the symbol upon the note. ‘Tis the same one the ones that took my tongue had on the palm of their hand when they cut out my tongue. We are all in danger now. They know I am here."

“Amasyian’s province…that’s useful too,” Suede said absently, dropping the coin back with the others as he read the mute elf’s note. “Hmm…Yeah, that’s the symbol. Funny, too. I’d heard from a ‘friend,’” here he glanced at Jirai, then continued, “that he saw someone with that tattoo to the west.”

Jirai nodded to the man as she read the note, then shifted her gaze to Aeri. “I’d been meaning to ask, do you know why they took your tongue in the first place?”

The elf took the tablet again from Suede's hand, giving him a look, then wrote down the term she had heard before. "Loose lips, sink ships? I took care of one from the estate it seemed. The man was sick and with his fevered state he told me things he should not have. These ones are ruthless and blackmailers. They intended to corrupt the government somewhere, if they have not already and others about I am sure."

Suede watched as she wrote and smirked at bit at the first comment. Ah it's a grand thing to be quoted as such, he thought. His brow furrowed then. “I'll talk to Canthag later, with that, the coins, and the note I'll see what I can find out. Considering they're trying what you say people should know something.”

From there, the conversation between the three injured devolved rapidly. Suede, convinced that Aeri was intending to leave because her two friends had been hurt defending her, set about convincing her to stay, until he fell asleep on top of her. The two females, amused by his antics, continued to talk, mostly in an effort to keep the dark elf awake. Sleeping with a concussion was not recommended, as both of them knew.

...Comes Reason.