that is to come. As she does, the door knob starts to turn as slowly and silently as possible. Then, the door opens as slowly as possible. Zrak sees one man step inside the room, clearly dressed as an assassin, with tattoos of black tears under their eyes and something tattooed on their arm. They then see the massive form of Malkala next to them and let out a cry of surprise. Zrak has a moment to make a surprise attack.

There!

Zrak, who'd stuck his body to the wall like a glued statue, immediately steps out from behind the assassin. The ratfolk's sharp teeth barely visible among the dark room, not even needing his cloak in the shadows, while seeing the assassin's blade and armor through the monochrome darkvision of his eyes.

He has no words nor quip to someone trying to murder him in his sleep. All the assassin heard was the shrill and harsh cry of a creature behind him, swiftly moving to the side. The smaller-yet-ferocious ratfolk leaps up, and with grave, bone-piercing teeth, he opens wide to sink down into the foe's sword arm!

The assassin lets out a loud, high pitched cry of pain as Zrak's teeth dig deep into his arm. Zrak tastes his blood and feels his other hand instinctively bashes into his head, trying to push him away. However, while he is distracted, he manages to side step Malkala's dueling sword, the blade leaving a woosh of air sliding by Zrak's ear. But, Malkala does not hesitate before she shouts, "Rip it, Zrak!"

Zrak feels the need to instinctively follow Malkala's order, and seems to immediately understand what she is asking of him to do. With a growl, Zrak tightens his grip on the assassin's arm and jerks. Zrak isn't exactly sure what happened, only tasting and seeing blood. When he lets go of whatever was left in his mouth and looks up, he sees the assassin collapse, the boney remains of his arm barely holding together. The assassin no longer moves, almost dead, if not already dead.

The second assassin hesitates, clearly frightened of what happened to his partner. However, with an invigorating scream, he charges forward toward Zrak. His dagger flashes in what light comes in from the hall as it slices twice at Zrak's head. But the ratfolk warrior ducks and sidestep each strike, confident in his skills despite only being awake for a couple of minutes.

The taste and tang of copper tingles in Zrak's mouth as he looks at his dismembered foe. One of the many things he learned throughout his battles is that enemies underestimate people from Numeria all the time. One does not understand the sheer brutality that those foster from the harsh territory. The ratfolk tore the limb off like it was nothing, far from the first time he's done so.

For any sane person, that should have been their cue to leave.

Zrak's fast movement keeps him weaving and stepping around the dagger, backing off and leaping to the other end of the room. He did so, pulling the chained ball and dagger from his back, grabbing the rough hilt of the bladed end with one hand and chain with the other. With only darkness to see, the assassin hears the swish of a heavy object, suspended by a swinging chain.

And before the assassin realizes it, Zrak uses the swinging momentum to toss the extraordinarily heavy metal ball outward, launching it straight at the enemy's head!

CRUSH

A vile sound of crushing bone echoes across the room. Zrak's metal ball collides directly at the assassin, powering into and through his face as if it was made of flimsy wood.

Zrak pulls his chain back as the assassin falls over from the impact. The metal ball is covered in a mix of red blood, tiny jagged bits of bone, and some tissue matter from within the assassin's body. He gives a small smirk, impressed with his kill, before stepping over and admiring his 'handiwork,' on the second assassin. There isn't much left of his head, half-caved in to a bloody mess with blood, bone and brain matter spewed across the formerly-regal floor.

"Well that's a damn pain of them to come at us tonight," he mutters to Malkala, tasting the blood still stuck to his sharp incisors. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Zrak appears relaxed, rather happy that his attackers were woefully inadequate. "We'd better check the others," he insists later, looking down the hallway. "I doubt we're the only ones who got attacked here."

Malkala does not seem to hesitate as she nods and pokes her head out into the hall. Before she can look long, though, the manor starts to vibrate slightly, and a metalic grinding noise echoes throughout the building. Then, a bunch of booming slams could be heard up and down the manor.

"Lady Aldori just activated her defenses, I think." Malkala says, still looking down the hall, "We and the intruders are all trapped on the bottom floor."

She then looks down the opposite end of the hall, "There is a guard dead. He must have been the cry you heard. Otherwise, I don't see anything in the hall." Her eyes look back to Zrak, "Are we looking in each room? Or are we just moving down the hall?"

One mind in Zrak thought to pause, take refuge in the safety they've made, and simply wait out the night. If there were assassins wandering the place, then it was better for them to come here, thereby ambushing the dark prey. You always choose your battles in Numeria, and never pick more than what is necessary.

But something in Malkala's eyes indicated a harsh disagreement with her Ysoki partner. As far as he know, it was not like her to simply wait in the face of danger. And he was sure she'd be disappointed about missing the chance to prove herself in Lady Aldori's place.

And Zrak should look on the bright side, for assassins make easy prey and practice.

"We'll check down the hall," he responds, looking up at the fearsome dragonborne and reciting his plan as a reason. "Anyone else who's heard may wait in their room, antsy on their blade and ambushing who comes in. Once we're sure it's safe, we can check on the other adventurers."

With that, Zrak walks down the hall, teeth still wet with blood, as he stays on the lookout for more assassins.

Malkala follows, staying as close as she can and watching up and down the hall. As the pair approach the door at the end of the hall, they can start hearing the sounds of combat from the other side. However, they are not attacked as they make it to the door, which is closed. The pair remember what is immediately behind the door, as they had to walk through it to get to their room: a beautiful garden with a statue within.

Malkala leans up against the door and turns to look at Zrak, "Stealthy? Or assault?"

Kneeling down at the door, Zrak sniffs several times with his ratty snout; a force of habit, as if always picking up scents before a battle, even when its at the other side of a closed door. The blood on his teeth has almost washed off by his saliva, yet chattered in anticipation for more.

Quietly, he pulls out his chained weapon from his back, the dagger in his left bony hand, and the metal ball in his right. His eyes have an idle look towards the door, as if trying to figure out a plan. "We take every advantage we can," he responds to Malkala. "I'll sneak in and look to ambush whoever's still attacking this place. You..." He looks up at the scaly dragonborne; her posture, weapons, and appearance doesn't seem to lend to stealth, though perhaps she'll surprise him. "Do what you do best, I guess?"

He then slips through the door, hunched close to the ground, as if a wolf quietly finding its prey.

As Zrak prepares to enter the garden, he sees Malkala give him a raised eyebrow. Then, she shrugs, knowing that he is not wrong about her stealth ability.

Zrak enters into an indoor garden that resembles a tropical paradise. Lush plants and flowering vines hang from the walls, while a slow-moving stream of water cuts through the center of the room, flowing languidly from north to south through stone drains. Planters filled with colorful flowers line the stream. Two narrow wodden bridges arch over the water, allowing passage from one side to the other. Partially submerged in the stream to the north stands a life-sized marble statue depicting an armored half-elf woman holding a rose and wielding a shield.

Stepping as silently as possible, Zrak moves slowly into the room. As he does, he sees four more of the assassins by the door on the other side of the garden, the door which leads toward the feast hall. They each have hand crossbows in one hand, and stand alert and ready to attack the first person they see.

The ratfolk manages to get a few more feet into the room before one of them snaps their head toward his direction. Instinct forces Zrak to stop, trying to get low to the ground, hiding from the assassin. The assassin does not start moving toward him, but they backhand one of their companion's shoulder and whispers, motioning toward Zrak's location.

Surprisingly though, the assassins do not seem to notice Malkala, who is moving around the other side of the room from Zrak, as if trying to flank.

Huddling behind a large planter, Zrak curses his own position. He should be better than this, not suspected like a fool and and soon to be flanked. The bone-like toes of his feet curl up, almost scratching the soft grass that make up most of the garden's floor. What is he to do? He looks down at the chained ball and dagger in his hands. He could swing at the one flanking him and then dash away, but a crossbow fires much faster than his weapon. Perhaps he should cause a distraction. No, no, that'll send the other assassins on alert and make it worse for Malkala who.

...

Where IS she anyway?

It's hard for him to believe that she avoided the assassins, but that seems to be the case. Perhaps he makes the perfect distraction for her, which is a rather ironic turn of events.

He looks around and sees a series of bushes and large plants. Taking his opportunity, Zrak dashes out of cover, blending as a moving shadow in the darkness and using the sound of the water stream to cover his footsteps.

Despite their heightened awareness, they do not seem to notice Zrak as he rushes across the garden toward a corner to hide. The assassins keep looking out toward the stream, though, and Zrak notices Malkala has moved up as well, standing near the edge of the stream, using the bridge to hide.

After about a minute of scanning the room, the assassins shrug at each other and become more relaxed, seeming to think that they were just imagining things.

Relief washes over Zrak as he sees the assassins lose track of him. He's extremely fortunate, as one cannot expect to simply disappear when they've caught on to them. Hidden under the shadows, Zrak considers what to do. There's no way to rely on the other adventurers, if they're still alive or in the mansion. At least he can trust Malkala, who probably placed herself on the opposite flank of the garden; she always appears to have a plan, and one that even Zrak knows is to surround the foe before you ambush them.

His keen green eyes caught the assassins within tones of white and black, only needing to see their figures and not their details. Once more, he begins spinning the chain in his hand, letting the metal ball gain momentum.

And his mind imagines the brutality of his weapons, how his teeth will tear limb from limb and his weapon will crush them into a smear. Instinct takes over his mind as he recedes into the darkness with a vile look in his eyes.

The assassins continue to suspect nothing, up until the northmost one sees a metal object tearing the air apart to reach him!

Zrak is twenty feet away from his target, but even so, he can hear bones crunch and crack as his weapon breaks the assassin's ribs. The only reason they still stand is because their companion holds them up and steady. However, the assassin's breathing is very weak and wheezing. They stand up and all four turn to prepare to fight the ratfolk.

And that is when Malkala strikes.

The water splashing is the only thing that gives her away as she launches at the nearest assassin to her and swings down. Unfortunately, the water was enough for the assassin to be able to dodge her strike. Zrak is not sure if the miss was enough to anger her, or if it was some kind of plan, but he can see acid start drooling down her mouth.

"Don't get close to me, Zrak!" She yells, and inside her mouth, the ratfolk can see acid start building more and more at the back. In a couple of seconds, it is going to be too much, and she will have to spit it out.

Meanwhile, there is a bit of hesitation as the assassins are surprised by the flanking ambush. That only lasts a second, though, as they wordlessly split off into pairs. The assassin that nearly died by Zrak's hands charge at him, yelling angrily as he draws his dagger and starts wildly swinging. The blade glances off of Zrak's armor harmlessly, which only enrages the assassin further. His partner moves forward, but not all the way to the ratfolk, takes aim with his crossbow, and fires. The bolt digs deep into Zrak's arm, embedding itself.

Meanwhile, the other two assassins approach Malkala and strike the dragonborne with drawn daggers. The first assassin swings twice, the first slicing at her shoulder shallowly, the other glancing off of Malkala's blade via parry. After parrying the second dagger strike, the dragonborne quickly pivots with the balls of her foot and hits the other assassin's wrist with the flat of her dueling sword, sending their attack aside.

A small, painful squeak echoes from Zrak as the arrow stays stuck in his right arm. One bloody line streams down, reaching the apex of his bony fingers, and drips onto the once-pristine grass. The pain pounds through his body, resulting in his arm releasing the chain even as the metal dagger stays held with his left.

The assassin in front of him sees a change in the ysoki. Slow breathing became hefty breaths, and his green eyes