The Nightflower Pact - Chapter 3

 Previously: a group of adventurers came together in an Inn by coincidence. Ownka, a half-orc woman was intending to take the job of escorting a delivery for the local brewery. Dagnal, the dwarven woman, was eager to speak with the leader of a certain gang in the town. Riven, supposedly a local resident, promised to show them around to help them with their business. They, as well as the wizard Andell of the West and an elven artist named Theiastra, soon witnessed an attempted and sloppy murder on the Inn's owner Akmenos. It became clear that these were somehow tied together. The owner of the Inn posted the job for an escort, but never recieved any help so he came into some trouble on the road. members of said gang helped him, but demanded an outrageous price. He couldn't pay and so they send their newest member, a young and foolish Tiefling in need of shelter, food and money, to kill Akmenos. The Tiefling then convinced the travellers that he didn't mean any harm and would like to be set free from his service to that gang. 

They decided to work together and talk to the gang leader about leaving Akmenos and Kairon, the Tiefling, alone. At night, Dagnal, Theiastra and Kairon managed to be led to him, turning out to be an orc named Boos. At the same time, Riven snuck into the fortress, followed by Andell and Ownka. They found a cellar with money and other interesting items. Riven accidentally killed a man, while Andell set another one on fire and also defeated a living treasure chest. They joined their comrades who were unable to convince the orc and now fighting him and some thugs. Kairon killed the orc boss and they found ominous pink dust and a prisoner. A young woman familiar to Dagnal - someone of her home town. They decided to get out of the fortress quickly - not without taking the belongings of the gang - and head back to the Inn before they got into trouble.

Power of the Night

A weary from battle, but happy to see an old friend, Dagnal comes around the corner, despite her short legs leading the group to a well deserved rest whilst talking with a human girl, about 17 or so, with matted brown hair. 

“You are so dirty, Beth, look at you”, the red-haired exclaims worried, “just what have you been through? You should take a bath first.”

“Oh Frau Bergfolk, I am so happy to see you again”, the girl cries out. Upon that, the Dwarf reaches to her hand, clutching it gently to say: “I am here now. We’ll get you home.”

Behind them are walking a self-assured half-orc woman, casually carrying her greataxe on her shoulder and holding a few items as trophies wrapped in some freshly cut cloth in her other hand. Next to her, a cloaked individual and an elven woman staring into the moon. 

“What is it?”

“I have always just… sang and told stories of adventures, you know”, she sighs, “this was the first time I have been in one!”

“I did think so”, the black haired woman agrees.

“You look like you have been through some adventures yourself, Ownka.”

“Just a bit, on the way here. Slaughtered wolves. But I didn’t want it… was… on accident” Ownka shares nervously.

The bard makes huge eyes at that, gasping. Then turns to the wizard: “What about you, Andell from the West? Your name utters Adventure and Mysteries!”

Andell looks at his feet. “No, not quite an adventure like this…”, he says very quietly.

A gloved hand punches him in the back. “Hey, you better not keep any loot from me! We said we would share!”

The cloaked man grabs into the cloth, revealing a huge leather bag, patting on it. “It is all in here.”

The other human man gives a suspicious look. “I’m gonna check that later.”

At the very last position, a red tiefling follows them slowly, looking very out of place. He is clutching a vial, pieces of paper and himself in his hands.

They arrive at the closed Tavern shortly, where they give a sign and are led into the empty room by the Inkeep, Akmenos.

“I have made sure the guests went home early today. I believed you might need some time to rest tonight.”

“Rest, and alcohol”, Riven sighs, patting his friend on the shoulder, giving his best smile.

“No, Riven, I won’t give you one for free this time. You are being paid by me, now you can afford your own drinks.”

“Yes! Let’s sit down and count our moneyyy”

“First”, Dagnal interrupts, “my friend would like a bath and a meal.”

Akmenos locks the front door and looks at the new girl, coyly hiding behind the woman who is just half her size.

“Friend? Of course, we have a small bathing room in the back. Would you like to pay with your favour, or your wage?”

“My own money should cover this.”

“Oh, it’s fine, I don’t” the girl tries to say, but Dagnal shushes her off.

“Yes, that would be one silver please.”

Dagnal hands it over.

“Wait, I’ll fetch the key and some towels”, then, upon closer look he adds: “and other toiletries you might need.” Akmenos goes off, returns with a basket full of stuff and leads her through the stairs into a hidden part of the building.

“Okay, let’s sit down and see what we got”, Riven suggests while going behind the bar, fetching a mug.

Dagnal has a keen eye on him. “What do you intend to do there?!”

Riven shrugs, pulls the lever of the beer and frowns “Whoops, now I am accidentally pouring some beer, what should I do? I can't let it all go to waste! Oh! I know! I’ll just catch it with this mug!”

“You can’t just do that”, Dagnal protests, “He will hear of this!”

“Well then, let him hear of this. I will be rich in a moment anyway.”

Theiastra laughs. “Rich?”

They are all sitting down around a table, Kairon still standing weirdly by the door.

Akmenos returns, notices the beer in Rivens hand and demands: “You’ll pay for this, you cunning bastard!”

Riven rolls his eyes. “I love you, too”

Then he goes behind the bar, opens a secret door and takes out a chest full of money. He joins the party at the table and waves the other tiefling to come over as well.

“Come on boy, get your money.”

He hesitantly sits down, head kept down.

“thirty three gold pieces for everyone! And a favour, as we said.”

Dagnal counts the money before putting it away. “Do we get that on paper?”

Akmenos grins. “Oh, you get something better!” he reaches to his little purse on the belt and draws six tiny vials from it, one white flake in each of them. He holds them up like a divine item. “This, this is the one and only, beautiful”-

“I only got 32!” Riven exclaims after counting as well.

Akmenos gives him a dark look for interrupting him. “That is for all the beer you ever stole from me. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

A very faint chuckle arises around the table, like school kids after someone was caught cheating. 

“Back to this! These flowers are very special. It takes a great deal for them to bloom, and they only do so for one night. Epiphyllum Oxypetalum, the Queen of the Night. I have but two of these flowers conserved through very strong alcohol. To each of you one petal. Don’t lose it. Whenever you need anything that is in my power, you can give me your petal and I will grant it to you. This is far more than a name on a paper for a druid.”

He hands them out very carefully. 

Theiastra is admiring it. “It is beautiful! I would love to see the full flower”

“And I see you have found some wondrous items on your adventure!”

“yeah, let’s look at them! I found a bunch of gold pieces, silver pieces… two daggers which I will keep, two small packages with this weird pink dust… a set of real nice looking clothes, soap and a random crystal knob of a door, which I would sell, probably. Oh also the Orc boss had so much stuff on him, too! Ownka carried that for me in a bit of cloth.”

Ownka puts it on the table.

“was that cut from his cloak?”, Dagnal asks.

“Well… A cloak… Let’s see… woow so much gold! A potion, and again a packet with that dust. Do you guys think it’s some sort of drug?”

“You should know” Dagnal sasses.

“I have never seen it.”

“Let’s divide the stuff from the Orc between us all, since we all fought him. The other stuff you found on your own. But let’s keep the dust for now… I want to see what it is”, Andell suggests.

“I am very fine with that.”

“But the gold from the big chest in the room? We should all get something from that”, Theiastra protests.

Riven growls.”I only found 100 Gold in there”, he lies.

Noone notices his lie. “Okay.”

“So that would make 100 plus 500, so 600 devided by 6 is 100 Gold pieces for each of us”, he grins and counts the money. And Andell, you get all the pink dust you want.”

“And I found 3 Daggers, one shortsword and 3 leather armors which look all pretty simple and worn out to me… also I killed this living chest thing and found 900 Gold pieces, 2 (greater Healing) Potions, 1 Armor set, an(cient) arrow (of elven design), 11 teeth of unknown beast, 2 enormous scales, perhaps from a dragon or so.”

“oookay..”

“Sounds like you came across a mimic”, Akmenos smiles, “Well done! And you aquired some healing potions as well.”

“That arrow looks so pretty! Looks like it was made by elves. It looks very ancient though. it looks so pretty and cool, I wish I could learn how to shoot arrows like these.”

“You know what, you fought that Chest. You can keep the stuff, let’s divide the money between us three”, Riven points to him and Ownka.

Theia seems hurt. “Why only you?”

“Cause we were the only ones in that vault. We found it.”

Andell shrugs. “That was what we agreed on in there, sorry. But you can have everything else, i can only make use of the teeth and scales.” then he touches his arm, making a grimace of pain. “Maybe leave me the potion too. I am not that tough…”

They agree on the terms and each takes what they want of the items.

Ownka takes out a small thing from her belt pouch. Theia glances over couriously. It reveals itself to be a tiny, fluffy ball. 

"Whats this?" 

"Hamster" Ownka says, opening her palm. 

"No way! You carried that around all day?!" riven can't believe it. 

"yeah why not?" Ownka proceeds to give the golden hamster some dry fruits and nuts. "you do that with pets, no?" 

"well…" Riven cringes

Theia is super happy and starts to pet it "it is sooo cute oh my muse!" 

"what is his name? Or hers?" dagnal engages in the conversation easily. 

"hamster." 

Everyone takes a breath in, as if understanding, at the same time. "ahh" 

Riven can't help but burst into laughter "hahahahahaa i just can't" wiping away a tear from his eye, barely catching his breath, "you are funny haha.. Haaahh" 

Ownka doesn't understand "but… its a hamster"

At this point, a clean human girl reenters the bar room coyly.

Dagnal immediately jumps from the chair. “Oh Beth, honey. Should we perhaps rest first, and speak in the morning? I have a room here, you can stay with me.”

They all agree to rest for the night, because it is already well past 1 in the morning. Ownka and Andell return to their rooms upstairs as well, Kai and Riven take the luxury and acquire one of their own, while Theiastra bids farewell and returns to her housing for respectable women, promising to return the next day for an epic performance.

In the night Dagnal has a vision, while Kai and Riven have nightmares, forcing Kai to wake up a couple of times through the night. Ownka has a sad dream of faint memories and Theia awakes with the rising of the sun, being more inspired as she ever has. For Andell, who read in a book he purchased for the last of his coin before the adventure and came across and interesting new spell, the night passes without any occurence.

In her vision, Dagnal senses a higher power. The one that also called out to her a few months ago. It is a warm, comforting presence but it is also stern and powerful. It is still very faint, she doesn't see who is reaching out to her. But she hears an echoing voice. "Do you take my hand?" 

For a moment, Dagnal hesitates. 

"Do you wanna walk a path of righteousness, of glory, of justice in the Name of Ilmater? Do you pledge loyalty? Or do you want to set out to avenge your lost ones, kill the evil and bring an age of destruction?" 

Dagnal reaches forward with her hand, into the light. She feels its power giving her strength. Before she can grasp it, the god speaks again:" you will have to endure many pains on either path"

Dagnal grasps the light. "I pledge loyalty. I will bring justice and I will bring light. I will guide the lost souls like you guide me and I will act your judgement upon the evil." 

"and so it is sealed" 

And so, the light fades and her vision ends. When she wakes uo, she feels a new kind of power inside of her,and a stronger connection to the god ilmater and his powers. 

Kairons nightmares don't tell a story in particular. They are more like flashing pictures out of order for his inner eyes. But his other senses pick up things he wouldn't have noticed otherwise. The smell of oils and acetone. Bubbling noises, they are being boiled. Heat on his skin - no, under it. Something is injected into him. He hears a familiar voice talk about "Mutagens" and listing several herbs and alchemic supplies. Pain. 

A strong instinct pulls him out of the dream, sweating, before he will get to harm. He feels something strange flowing through him… Through his blood. His hand is shaking. The same hand he killed his first person with yesterday. He clutches it. "goddess of pain", he sighs. "Is this what it takes for the trial?" 

No answer. As usual. 

His instinct suspects that the kill and his first use of the crimson rite completed the first part of the ritual or trial to become a blood hunter, even though he didn't intend to. It is as if a door was unlocked in his mind, giving him access to an old knowledge of making your body stronger through modifications… 

Rivens nightmares are different. They are a single, everlasting darkness and coldness. Nothing ever happens in there. He can't wake up, he can't do anything. Just sit in there and wait until it is over. 

The dreams Ownka has are of memories. She remembers her hometown, a small settlement of Orcs and their Human spouses. Unlike other mergings of two races, Ownkas parents wanted to create an environment in which their half orc offsprings wouldn't feel out of place, in hooe of contributing to positive character development. But as everywhere, some children still mocked others. Ownka remembers everything the others ever insulted her as. And it comes back every night. 

As every morning, she begins with her daily ritual before sunrise. Washing her face, getting dresses, giving her hamster food and tucking it away safely in her pocket. Then she goes out to find a secluded, but open place to practice her strikes and footwork. This day, she finally masters a move she has been working on since she left her home… ItIt would make her father proud. If she could just tell him. To overcome the melancholy, she sits down in the now risen, golden morning sun and reads in her little book. 

When she returns to the Tavern, she is greeted by an enthusiastic Theiastra. 

"Ownka! Hi! It is so good to see you! I was just talking to Akmenos, I am working on a new show. The Adventure last night inspired me" she looks to the upper right corner. 

Akmenos is filling liquids in bottles behind the bar, smiling amusedly at the young elf. Behind him the barmaid, still shaken by the events of the day before. 

"how are you", Ownka asks politely.

“Better, thank you.”

“Ownka, let’s get breakfast”, Theiastra suggests.

While they eat their breakfast, Riven comes down the stairs, stretching.

“Uaah I had a terrible night!” He sits down by the girls and picks at Ownkas food absentmindedly.

“Excuse me”, Theiastra protests strongly.

Riven flicks a potato in his mouth. “Umm… you are excused?”

The mouth of the elven bard stands wide open, as do her eyes.

Ownka doesn’t seem to mind, but the elf snaps Rivens hand away from the plate as he goes for a third snack.

“Ownka, would you stop him. He has earned enough money to stop being such a beggar!”

Now, Riven seems to be offended, finally. “Beggar?! Akmenos”, he shouts up and prepares some gold pieces, “your finest breakfast plate, please! For each of us.” Then he winks at Theia and blows her a kiss.

“A beggar or a show-off, have you no normal state of being?”

Akmenos brings three plates of berries, cheese and butter, white sourdough bread, a cup of coffee and a piece of apple pie. “Oh, I do hope you will enjoy this luxury, Riven.”

At this point, Andell comes down as well with a light step, followed by Dagnal, talking to her friend and Kairon.

“Good morning, everyone”, Andell greets.

The barmaid hides behind Akmenos, as she sees the Tiefling creeping downwards.

“Would you mind getting some things from the shop for me, dearest? You can take your time.” Akmenos sends her off with a basket and a list, so that she doesn’t have to be in the same room as the Tiefling. She is very grateful for that.

“Might we join you”, Dagnal asks Theia and Ownka.

“Yes, of course! Sit down. Riven was just so kind to buy us three nice breakfast plates. You can have mine.”

“My too” Ownka pushes her new plate slightly before her.

“Mine”, Theiastra corrects.

“Let’s get another one of these and we can share”, Dagnal suggests.

They all enjoy their nice breakfasts. Theia suddenly speaks up. “So! I have this amazing idea for a new show, I got super inspired by our little adventure yesterday. I want to tell of a heroic group of people going through the most amazing adventures together, defeating dragons and rescuing poor children!”

Everyone looks at her weirdly. Her enthusiasm suddenly vanishes.

“I just need a name for it still.... Do you have any ideas? Something epic like… the epic adventures of…”

“The strong guys”, Ownka suggests.

The Elf sighs doubtfully. “Too basic. What do you say, Riven?”

“I don’t give a fuck”

The Bard looks obviously disappointed. “oh come on! If you give me a nice name, I’ll portray your character as the most handsome and cunning guy ever, a new prince charming. A thief charming!”

Riven sighs and rolls his eyes. “I am handsome. Well, then… The fucking handsome adventurer”

“Dagnal, help me out, please.”

“Path of justice!”

“Andell?”, Theia asks, but he seems to be in deep thought. “What about you, Kairon?”

Kairon looks up, astonished that he is spoken to. 

“We rescued you, how did we come across? How would you describe our adventuring strategy?”

He shrugs.

“Chaotic, I would say”, Akmenos says from behind the bar. “I heard you killed the boss of the gang yesterday, along with two others - at least - emptied their treasury and abducted … or rescued a girl. It is the news of the week!”

“Of course, we were awesome”, Riven thinks.

“People are not sure if you are the good guys or the bad guys, whoever you are”, the barkeep finishes.

Riven laughs. “That is even better!”

“They don’t know we did it yet”, Dagnal thinks out loud. “That is good. It shouldn’t have gone like that.”

All of a sudden, Andell speaks up: “An anagram of the first syllables of our names could form the phrases ‘a kind hero awaiting’ or ‘think again, weirdo’”

Riven laughs even harder at that.

“a kind hero awaiting... “ The bard tries to taste the phrase on her tongue. “But we are five heroes - six, if you count Kairon. And a whole phrase makes it harder to sell…”

“Well, then think again, weirdo”, Riven laughs.

“Maybe give it more time”, Dagnal puts her hand on Theias shoulder, “don’t force yourself to find a name.”

“By the way”, Andell chimes in, “what about your friend? How did she end up in this gang’s fortress?”

“I got into some trouble on the road”, the brown haired human girl explains and gives a weary smile, “I didn’t think I would see Dagnal ever again, after she left our town. Anyway, I was on the road to the town, I came from a big market. I had to set up camp halfway and saw two shady looking individuals talk to each other. I overheard just a little bit of their conversation. They were talking about exchanging goods and workforce. I wanted to keep my distance, set up camp somewhere else but they noticed me. First, the agressively asked me who I was, why I was there, if I was a spy and what I heard. I cried no, I dont know what you are talking about but they just knocked me out. I woke up on a cart with a few more people, those got transferred to another and I was brought there to be questioned. luckily, you guys arrived in time. They would have killed me!”

“There were some shady things going on in our town”, Dagnal confesses, “I wanted to find out if this was related to that.”

“What shady things?” Ownka wants to know.

“People were abducted, houses burnt down…”

“Yes”, Beth adds as she sees that it is hard for Dagnal to talk about that, “and noone knows who did it, where the people went or why.”

“How long ago was this?” Andell asks.

“A few months. Before that, people went missing from the road sometimes. But a few months ago they attacked our town.”

“Is that why you asked the Orc about it out of the blue?!” Theiastra pieces together.

“Yes. I thought this gang was powerful enough to do something like that. And now, they even took her. I am sure something is going on there.”

“I want to help you”, Ownka declares.

“I don’t think I could pay you or anything”, Dagnal confesses.

For the first time in conversation, the half orc seems very open and excited. “No need. I help you, then you help me. We be one team!”

“If you don’t mind”, andell says, “I would like to investigate as well. Especially about this pink dust”

Theiastras Eyes glitter for a moment. “Onto a new adventure! What do you guys think, Riven, kai. Should we venture forth together?”

Riven thinks for a second. Kai keeps quiet, too.

“We will bring forth the nightflower pact!” The elven woman stands up, throwing her arms in the air. “Not only as a symbol of debt from Akmenos, but also saying: we will help each other out! We won’t be alone and powerless in this cruel world anymore, we will be a strong team built upon friendship and trust!”

to be continued...

Chapter 2

 Last time: It was revealed that the Tiefling had been taking a job out of despair - killing Akmenos, who was in debt to a dangerous gang - and pledged that he did not want to work for the gang any longer. The group decided to help Akmenos, the Inkeep and went to a little fortress of the gang. They split up, Dagnal, Theiastra and Kairon walking to the front gate, being lead inside. Riven instead climbed up a roof and snuck in from the side, Ownka and Andell quickly decided to follow him. They took out two helpless thugs in a dark room, one of them, set afire, falling out the window on a roof, alerting the horses underneath.

Pink Dust

“My mother had been sleeping with the prince, even when my father was still alive! She kept it a secret for over half a century”, Theiastra exclaims theatrically.

Just then, they hear a sudden noise coming from the stables, a thump and startled horses.

“What is going on over there”, the thug asks and gestures towards two other guys walking around behind him in the yard. “Go check on the stables, guys!” And looking at the two new faces who haven’t stated their business yet, he adds: “carefully!”

The two middle aged men go looking, and see some movement on the roof, can’t make out that is in reality their slightly burning comrade falling out the window, so they figure that nothing is wrong.

“It’s a cat”, one of them shouts back.

The older thug nods and gives the intruders another look up and down. “Allright, I’ll get ya to Boos, the boss. He’ll decide what to do with ya” and gives a loud laugh, “Ha!”

And he leads the way towards the main building straight across the yard.

Ownka, Andell and Riven are finally making their way downstairs to see what the rest of the group is up to and possibly support them. The hall is empty so no one sees them. They descend the stairs and come upon another hallway with two doors, one leading into the stables they climbed on. They can hear the horses and smell them. 

Riven leans against the big door, making out the chattering of a handful people inside. He also sees a hidden door in the dead end next to them. 

"Hey, I think this is a hidden door right there" then he remembers to stealth, "oh, and also shhh". 

He finds the hidden mechanism easily and opens the door, revealing a staircase that leads into the cellar. 

Everyone curiously gathers, looking inside. Riven holds them back. 

"Looks like a vault. I better check for traps!" 

Andell lights up the first torch and gets it from the wall, lighting the way down. Both seem eager to go in. 

Ownka is not so sure yet. "Is not to help the others better?"

Riven shrugs. "Ah, they are fiiine. Let's go check this out!" His eyes are sparkling with anticipation. 

"Also", Andell adds, "we don't want to draw attention to us. We are still intruders, if we join them now, they'll be suspicious. We can wait until they need help and go here first. Who knows what treasures will lie here… Something magical, maybe?" 

Ownka grunts slightly and goes with them.

They slowly go down the stairs, Riven in the front, checking for traps, followed by curious Andell and sceptical Ownka. 

"Looks good", Riven declares, not seeing any traps. 

Andell doesn't believe that. No, there's definitely a trap there, he thinks and stays back but before he can warn him, Riven already stepped on the last step triggering it. A bunch of rocks is let loose from a net at the ceiling. Riven is too slow to evade the stones. 

“Owch! Fuckingshitygrr it tore my coat!!”

Andell looks alerted by the loud impact the stones made. "They must have heard this." 

"Yeah", Ownka agrees, "they come." 

"Let's prepare! But first" and Andell quickly steps of the stairs and skips into the vault, "i'm gonna see what is in there hihihi" 

Ownka goes to the foot of the stairs and readies herself in a fighting stance - in plain sight, prepared to strike whatever is coming down. 

Riven on the other hand feels more at home in the shadows. He hides behind the wall. 

"Hey", he whispers forcefully to the wizard, "but if there is treasure, I am helping you with this!" 

Andell turns around halfway. "Yes, you'll get some" Andell ensures him, then gets on with his exploring. "I am only interested in magical stuff and oddities anyway" 

Down in the cellar are two empty cells and two big chests. Andell notices that one of them has blood splatters around it and it moves as if it is "breathing?! No way!" 

Indeed, two people, a woman and a man with drawn bow are coming slowly creeping downwards. And stare at Ownka, standing in plain sight. 

Riven shoots out from the corner in an instant, throwing his dagger at the man's thigh, then immediately vanishes again, almost as if he never existed in the first place. The stinging blade causes the scout to scream out in pain, which might alert others to come...

Let’s see what Dagnal, Theiastra and Kairon have been up to while that happened...

Dagnals group enters the hall. They see a big, rectangular room with some tables and benches in the front, and a big desk in the back. Over which hang a few banners and trophies. There is a back door to its right, and one door in each of the sides of the room. All are currently closed. 6 people are randomly sitting and standing around, breaking their chatter when they see the unfamiliar faces - and the newling- enter. The big orc behind the desk rises up, no doubt that he is the boss. 

He grunts. "Who are these? Kairon, where is my trophy?" 

The guard that lead them in, quickly rushes up to him and mumbles something. 

"What?!" the orc screams and slaps him. "We don't let strangers in here! They should state their names and business first, you useless shit piece of dumbness!" He kicks the man in his forties to the ground and kicks him again in the stomach. 

The man coughs in an almost unconscious state. 

Dagnals eyes go wide in shock. "Hey stop it!" approaches a bit, as the boss still doesn't stop and stamps her foot down. "STOP hitting him, it was not his fault! I decieved them!" 

The orc now glances over and downwards. "What do you want, small one?" 

"We want you to forget Akmenos' debt and leave him and Kairon alone! This boy will no longer work for you!"

The orc stares in disbelief for a moment, then laughs hysterically. When he regains his posture, he goes on: "He agreed to the terms. He was welcomed here, he knows us now. I will not let him leave." 

A sudden rumbling noise from behind the left door makes him alert. He signals two of his underlings to check. They exit into a hallway. 

"Did you ever have business in Everton?" Dagnal asks out of the blue. 

"Why should I tell you!" 

Eventhough the big, green coloured orc refuses to answer, Dagnal can see that this name is familiar to him by the defensive stance he takes while his eyes widened a bit upon mentioning her town.

Suddenly he starts to scream and spit at his people. “What is more important right now is the rules! We don't! let strangers! in here!” he kicks over his chair in anger and punches his fist into the table before him, pointing at the Tiefling with his other hand. “You! Newling! You had ONE job!”

In this moment, a sudden, shrill scream of pain echoes through the hall, coming from the left exitway. Dagnal immediately turns to the elven woman behind her, their eyes saying: “Oh no! Is it the others?”

Also the boss's attention fades now. He is looking confused. “You two! Go see what is going on there!”

“Hey! Our conversation isn’t done yet!”, Dagnal shouts, as they start getting going.

Theiastra tries to charm the orc by making pretty eyes at him. She is sort of channeling her inner Aphrodite to wink and wave at him cartoon-style. “Hey, muscles”, she utters in a lovely voice.

Unfortunately, she herself is not that flirty and unpracticed and can’t pull it off as nicely as she wanted. The Orc grunts confused, but unaffected by her thin figure. 

The elven bard begins to panic because she is out of her normal environment and just realizes the danger. “Oh god what am I doing?” She remembers a spell and in her panic Throws some green dust at the three thugs hasting towards the door in the blink of an eye. “Just fall asleep”, she whispers to herself, closing her eyes wishfully.

They all fall prone to the ground, snoring.

Then, the elven Bard positions herself behind the other two to hide from the action.

The Orc fletches his teeth and growls as he draws two daggers from his holsters at the sides of his torso. He throws them forcefully at the rude Dwarf, but she is wearing a shiny silver plate armor and matching shield which she uses to protect herself from the impact. the blades just fall off like rain and don’t even leave a scratch. With another, louder growl the Orc spits in her direction.

After this, Dagnal puts away her shield, reaches for Theia behind her and quickly creates a shiny glow around the squishy, unprotected bard while clutching her holy symbol in a respectful way. Then, with her tiny but heavy steps she rushes to the last awake thug on the other side of the hall, draws her lance from her back, gripping it firmly with both hands. She hits the unexpecting thug in the side, using her Lance as a bat. With unforeseen force, she shoves him into the wall behind him. He goes limp and falls to the ground just upon impact. He is now K.O.

Kai steps up to his boss, draws his longsword, reaches up to the blade with his palm and cuts a stream of blood into it. The crimson liquid runs into the center of the blade, filling out some carved-in symbols. He reaches to hit, but the table behind which the orc stands creates a distance the blade cannot fill.

“Your hospitality has been awful”, Theiastra throws in the room from a safe distance, taking an empowered stance, “And also, it stinks like piss in here!”

These words seem to take the Orc off guard, for a second she can see his eyes getting teary. But it vanishes quickly when he draws his scimitar, steps on the table and slashes the blade across Kai’s torso, leaving a cut in his armor. “You disobedient punk!” And another one, deepening the cut into Kairon’s skin. The Tiefling tumbles back, holding the wound with a shocked expression. “Aaugh” He tries to bite away the pain, clenching his teeth visibly.

Dagnal sees this and steps a bit closer to the boy, just so she can barely touch him on the shoulder, concentrates for a bit and releases a bit of golden glow into his wound, which begins to close up in the deepest parts. Kai draws a breath again, decides he is as good as new, even though his wound is still pretty deep, and charges at the Orc again, who is in reach now. He returns the favour, cutting across his unarmored chest. It is not as deep, but the blood from the blade runs into the Orc’s wound, burning him from the inside.

Boos looks very shocked at this trick which he obviously didn’t know his new Assassin could do.

Theiastra’s heart, after being protected from Dagnal and her hurting words, fills with heroism, steps up into reach and throws a dart at the Orc. It hits him in the right shoulder, piercing its muscle. “Yeah”, she cheers her new companion on, “Dagnal you got this! Women power!” Then she steps back into the doorframe, waiting what will happen next.

The big, muscular Orc is not impressed by the tiny dart leaving a piercing mark on his shoulder and he plucks it out like a thorn. He jumps off the table, getting close enough to Dagnal, who has been encouraged by Theiastras chant, and attempts to attack her. 

Because of all the anger and distractions he had to endure from the fragile looking elf he just swings his blade through the air next to the dwarf. But with his second strike he hits her between the ribs in a place where they are not protected by the armor. For a stout dwarven lady, this was but a pinch. 

Counterwise, she is going to swing at him too. For her lance to hit, she has to step a few feet back. Inspired, she rams it into his thigh, attempting to slow him down. The pointy weapon shoots through the thick flesh beside the bone. 

Kai tries to hit him at the same moment, but as he highers his arm the wound widens, sending pulsing pain through his body making his aim shaky. He misses again. 

Back in the vault, now that we have established that no one else who heard the scream is capable of running down. 

Ownka is waiting for one of the guys to walk down to her, readying her greataxe. The one Riven shot is still unable to move but the other one comes at her. Just as he gets close enough, Ownka swings her axe with the flat side down on his head, making a metal sound and knocking him out instantly. She seems impressed and happy by this fun game of hit the mole. 

Riven shoots out of his shadow again, throwing his second dagger in the other thigh of the elf currently holding the wound shut. This dagger doesn't cause a flesh wound like the other one though, it hits the main artery, completely cutting it in half. In just one moment the elf stood up, having removed the hindering first blade, got hit again, a fountain of blood shooting out of his other thigh now running down the stairs like a waterfall. The impact destabilizes him, causing him to tumble, slip in his own blood, falling down the stairs and on the last step turning weirdly and smashing his head on one of the edged stone walls. He is dead. 

"Nice", Ownka remarks lightly, as if such brutality was her everyday life. Riven immediately goes through the pockets of his kill, being a bit hesitant and disgusted by the blood around them. He gently opens the pocket with his shoe, glimpsing several gold pieces inside. Enough making him forget his squeamishness and digging in. He also finds a small diary, flips through it, can't read that language and throws it behind his shoulder with a shrug. 

Meanwhile Andell is attacking the weird chest with a firebolt twice, causing it to burst into flame and burn to ashes in an instant. He hears a faint whining and a screeching sound as the chest opens and vomits its insides. Upon a massive amount of gold pieces, several trinkets, weapons and loots from monsters. 

The other two gather around as well. "Ooh nice treasure", Riven whistles. 

Andell turns around and proudly declares: "I defeated a chest!" 

Ownka and riven look confused. "okayyy…"

Riven notices that the other chest at the wall is locked. But that is not an obstacle for someone with thieves tools and the proficiency in lockpicking. With just one hand motion it clicks open. 

His eyes reflect the sparkle of the gold pieces inside. "goodness gracious! I am rich, guys" 

"technically, we are. You said we should divide all this between us three", Andell reminds him. 

Riven begins to stuff his pockets, but they are full already. He quickly realizes that he can't just stealth away with the money now. 

Andell is so kind and stuffs everything in his bag. 

"We better go to the others now", Ownka pushes. 

They haste to the hall and notice noises of combat from the open door to the main hall, as they can now see, and inside their companions. They run inside, and notice two unconscious people lying on the floor, a guy slammed into the wall on the other side and Kairon and Dagnal fighting an orc while Theiastra just watches from the front door, unsure what to do. 

Theiastra eagerly begins to mumble something towards Dagnal, which should heal her. She then notices the others and rushes towards them, hoping to be protected. "Oh you guys!" 

The orc boss sees them too. 

"Get out of here this is my fortress! Either you leave or I have to shove you" he commands. He then strikes again at Dagnal to prove his point, and again. By the second hit into her already damaged armor, the dwarf falls to the ground unconscious . 

"Oh noooo", Theiastra whines, "we should get out of here!" 

Andell pushes through Riven and Ownka, currently blocking the doorway, and unleashes three magic missles towards the enemy. The first one pierces a hole through his stomach which the other two reinforce. Some blood spills out of his mouth as he grunts. He looks very rough. 

Seizing the opportunity, Kai strikes again, slashing his chest open. The orc barely stands now, a hole and a canyon gashing on his torso. While the orc was occupied getting slashed, Riven snuck up to him from behind and Threw a dagger in his right shoulder blade. The orc moans, eyes and teeth clenched, falls to his knees and then face-first to the ground, motionless. He looks dead. 

"What the hell just happened", Riven exclaims. 

"Oh shit. O nonono", Theia keeps on going, "I shouldn't have wasted all my spells! Dagnal is dead now!" 

"Not dead", Ownka corrects, "yet."

"Really? Maybe we can help, then." Together the two women rush next to their fallen comrade and check Dagnals pulse and try to stabilize her, but neither of them know what to do exactly to help. 

A quiet moan echoes through the hall from beside them. 

Quickly, a glow of hope hushes across the faces of the elf and half orc and quickly it fades again. Because it is not their comrade coming to consciousness but their foe pushing himself up on his knees again with the last bit of strength. 

Kai immediately puts his two swords on either side on his neck, crossing them in front like scissors. With his black eyes he stares into the black soul of the enemy. 

"Leave us be. Forget the debt" his intimidation attempt comes out as a polite suggestion at the very best. 

"You leave!" 

The tiefling lowers one blade so he can reach to his pouch, pulling out the letter. He clears his throat and declares without hesitation: I am terribly sorry to inform you that I’ll have to kill you now, since you have misused our trust and to complete my work. Furthermore I’ll need to behead you and will also take your heart and liver.”

Then he decapitates the head from the neck. 

“How can we save her?!" theias voice cracks a little shouting out. 

Riven loots through the desk and notices a bottle of potion with the tag: "healing potion. 100 GP" 

"here" while reaching it over, he accidentally knocks over an open vial, emptying its pink dusty content all over some book. 

Ownka grabs the potion and Theia tries to read the tag.

 "A healing potion!" she exclaims thankfully. 

Ownka opens it and fills it carefully in dagnals mouth. Her eyes blink and she draws a long breath again. 

"hhhwhat happened?" 

Riven licks his finger and dips it into the dust,then licks it again. He feels a prickly sensation as it dissolves on his tongue. 

"You were knocked out I am so sorry I was out of spells!" 

Riven flicks his tongue. "Kai killed the orc for us. Good job, kiddo." 

"Kairon", he corrects mumbling. 

"Oh my dear god, why?" dagnal stands up again, poking the lifeless green body carefully. "I go unconscious for six seconds and you kill someone?!" 

Kairon shrugs. "What was I supposed to do, he didn't listen. I asked him politely and he still played the big bad evil orc." 

Since it already happened and just because Dagnal couldn't prevent it, she inhales plenty. "I will try my best to overlook this. But you should try other conflict solving strategies in the future.'' She points at Riven, too. 

He doesn't see it, because he is already investigating the place with andell. 

There are two big locked chests behind the desk, which Riven lockpicks open super fast. They have gold in them, documents with seemingly random numbers and unknown script, blood samples and riven takes two daggers and two small packets with more pink dust. 

Andell sees an open closet next to the door, it contains weapons and armor. 

"Should we take everything?" 

"Yeah, yeah", Riven assures, "you can make money out of anything. We can divide it up later. Here, wrap it in this." 

He goes to a sleeping thug and cuts his cloak off with a dagger, then throws it to andell who wraps a nice bento out of the weapons and armor. 

Kairon quickly looks over the orc he killed. "I don't think he has anything" 

"that can't be", riven complains and assists, "he is the boss! Look, you didn't even go through his pockets!" 

Riven empties all nine pockets, even the hidden pocket in the pouch. 

"We should get out of here", the elf urges, "my sleep spell won't last longer than a few minutes!" 

Dagnals keen eyes hear a shout for help from the back room. “Help! Let me out, please!”

She goes up to the door to check. “Who are you?”

“They are holding me captive! Please help me!”

The kind hearted dwarf hears sincerity in the female voice and wants to help, but the door is locked.

Riven comes closer out of curiosity. “Oh hey”, he points to the door that has a sign on it. “They are holding a prisoner in the toilet, ha.”

Theiastra grows more impatient like a toddler needing to use the loo. “Guyyys”

While this is happening, Kairon looks for something specific in the pile of documents stashed in one of the chests Riven lockpicked. He finds a paper and a flask with his name on them, he takes both secretly.

Ownka stomps forward. “Let me do it quick”, and just kicks in the door. The broken wood reveals a scared, young human woman in dirty peasant clothes and shit in her hair. Je just barely stepped out of the way in the last possible moment. The dirt on her face is washed away by tears. Dagnal recognizes her, although the girl grew older.

“Oh god, Bethilda?!”

The young woman is happy to see the dwarf. “Dagnal, is it you?”

They hug each other like a long lost family.

“We have to leave, those guys are waking u-uup”, the elf nudges.

“Yes, let’s go”, Dagnal agrees, “we can go to a nice tavern and talk”

And so they return to the Hell’s Inn.

To be continued...