Oct 21 - Adopting an Assassin

With the young man stable, and the possible assassin stopped - we rejoin the chaos:
 
Vera hears an odd noise around the corner, and is concerned as that's where Komaria went. She rushes out w/ Zintris and Melech. Seb tells Marya to back down the alley with
 
Someone suddenly attacks Seb, and then disappears back into the crowds on the main street. Seb feels the poison set in.
 
Vera and Zintris catch up to the street where Komaria stands, in time to see the person attempt to poison-stab her.
 
Melech manages to see the attack on Seb, and reverses course to persue/assist
 
Komaria knocks the person prone
 
Vera, despite the defenseless posture and having the element of surprise on her side, fails to stab the attacker...
 
Melech casts hellish rebuke at his target, and is hit in return.
 
Vera is pierced with a poisoned blade, and collapses... unconscious.
 
Still poisoned, Seb arcs a cone of fire from burning hands, up into the air, trying to get people to disperse. "Scatter!!" Chaos erupts. He goes into a rage.
 
Suddenly, a beam of light erupts from his chest, arcing over the crowd with the flame.
 
Vera's unmoving body is at the end of the alley that Marya and Luca have retreated to - Luca's eyes go wide seeing her stabbed and fall.
 
Komaria gives chase to the retreating attacker, asking if Zintris can heal Vera.
 
The crowd begins to thin, thanks to the flaming Seb. Melech ducks behind Seb for cover, and heals himself. "Not yet, Matron..."
 
Melech heals the poison and tells Seb "Gettim!"
 
The attacker targets Melech, before vanishing into the remaining crowd again. Melech manages to not have the poison set in, but takes heavy damage.
 
Seb grabs Melech and retreats to cover, before taking a healing potion.
 
Komaria is poisoned and drops to the ground.
 
Vera, deciding not to continue persuit, retreats back down the alley towards Marya. Yells down the alley: "Things are not going well!"
 
Zintris heals Komaria and has a brief moment of flashback to a similar moment with Lenistra.
 
Melech tries to chase down the attacker near them, but they manage to hide in the retreating crowds.
 
Together, they continue to give chase. Komaria yells to "Stop that person!" and a citizen attempts to grab them, but the assassin slips away.
 
Komaria tries to use her breath weapon
 
Zintris brings out her bow, lets loose, and gravely injures them.
 
Komaria catches up, to find their flesh burning and a bright light emitting from their armor. She tells them to stop if they want to live.
 
As the assassin ducks down an alley, moving slower than before, there is a burst of flame and they collapse.
 
Komaria manages to pull the armor off, taking some damage from the heat in the process. They toss it down the alley, where it shortly engulfs in flame.
 
She can see the prone figure is covered in Draconic writing freshly burned into their skin - a word repeated that means roughly "someone deserving death".
 
Zintris catches up. Komaria manages to pick a nearby door lock as the guards close in - and the two find themselves hiding in a storage room. They have a cloaked, but topless, assassin with them.
 
We come back to Seb and Melech. Seb's rage starts to fade, and he clasps a hand to the wound where the dart still sits.
 
Vera turns to Luca, and says "I don't know what you were told about us, but _we_ aren't the ones who tried to kill you. I need to know what you know."
 
Before Vera can get answers, Seb comes back down the alley and says they have to clear out, as the fighting has attracted the guards.
 
The group - Marya, Seb, Melech, Vera, and Luca - attempt to blend in to the crowd and head back to the Inn of the Dancing Goat to hide.
 
Zintris and Komaria have an unconscious attacker to deal with. Neither are capable of carrying the body away, and discuss options. There is a smell of food cooking closeby, and looking about, can see dry goods and plates.
 
Zintris gives a small boost to the woman, and she awakens with a gasp. Seeing the leg armor still equipped, she frantically removes them. She wordlessly agrees to escape with them, peacefully. They make a rough top out of a burlap bag as temporary clothing.
 
Hearing the guards starting to check the alley, they attempt to cut further into the building to head out the front.
 
Komaria attempts the "farmer disquise" and says to just walk through confidently and all will be fine.
 
With confidence no one will care! To the woman: "If you had assassinated us with confidence, we wouldn't be here right now."
 
They also decide the Inn is the best place to go. As they burst into the kitchen muttering about supplies, no one is fooled but they just keep moving as Komaria shows her wounded abdomen and they pivot to "there was an explosion, we need a healer!".
 
Back at the Inn...
 
Melech removes the lingering poison from Vera.
 
Luca confirms, Archie sent him. Thought it was just a normal apprenticeship, but then realized patients were paying under the table. Info gathering was requested. People he got info on, would end up dead. By the time he put the pieces together he didn't know how to leave.
 
Komaria, Zintris and the still unidentified woman arrive, ducking into a separate room.
 
After some discussion, it is understood that she cannot speak. Zintris realizes the mask likely has something to do with it. Vera inspects it and finds it has been trapped to prevent removal:
 
2 straps -
1 has an injection mechanism of some vials
1 of the straps has a trapped tension design, cannot tell what it does
 
Vera gets a pen and paper and has the woman start writing answers to their questions:
 
What is your name? - Silver
Who sent you after us? - My instructor
Do they have a name you can give us? - No
Do you have family? - No (scratches it out, then) I don't know
 
Vera thinks for a moment after that adjusted response, and then asks, pointedly:
How long have you been bound to them? - 14 years (DM: she looks in her 20s. The whole group takes a moment to take in the implication...)
Is there a name your group goes by? - Yes
Vera smirks a little.
 
Ok, smartass. What is it? - Light in the Darkness
What lang. does your group speak? - The group speaks several languages, primarily Draconic
 
Offers to take the mask off - even knowing Silver may not survive, would she like for them to try? After a long pause, yes.
 
As Komaria, Zintris, and Vera discuss the possibility of removing the mask, and decide to wait until morning so more healing is available if something goes wrong.
 
Silver suddenly writes - They will kill you. We were just trainees...
Komaria asks: What made you take the chance? (To stop, to trust us)
Silver writes: I was not ready to face death. We are taught to die for our brothers and sisters. I failed. I do not know why I failed.
 
As the group decides what to do - Silver writes:
"You do not have long before they will send more."
 
How long? - Within a day.
Komaria updates Melech and Seb.
 
Vera tells Silver: "I think you failed, because someone has a different path for you." But doesn't elaborate.
 
Komaria destroys the paper Silver was writing on with the last of her breath weapon.
 
Bomba shows up! He is in the farmer gettup and clearly has been running the "exotic wine" scam.
 
Seb proceeds to explain the target and intention.
 
We work out rooms and shifts
Zintris/Komaria/Vera stay with Silver
Melech, Marya, Seb stay with Luca