hire mercenaries for illegal actions themselves."

"Malkala!" Linzi calls, "I need your help here!"

Malkala rushes into the northern room at her call.

While less keen on the survival of other adventurers, Zrak gives a pensive frown as Linzi runs to the corner of the room. Damn, he is lucky to avoid a giant that's truly alive and healthy. It's a wonder where one got more than one of those monsters and how they afforded the cost of all these assassins.

According to Malkala, they likely won't know who hired them. Zrak grumbles between his sharp, bloodied teeth as he thinks that over, tasting bits of copper with each movement of his mouth.

He looks up again to Amiri. "Well it's good you're alive," he says with a tiny smile across his ratty head. "We could use more swords tonight." With that, he walks over to the corner where Linzi and Malkala are. The halfling mentioned a... Sheylin. Did they meet at the feast hall? He can't remember; he only remembers the flood of food and mead back then.

Zrak walks into the northern room to find Malkala and Linzi kneeling around two familiar forms: Valerie and Harrim. They, like Amiri, are beaten to Hell and back, unconscious, but stable. Malkala has pulled her Healer's Tools out and has started working on Valerie, who had seemingly taken more of a beating than Harrim.

Amiri follows Zrak and observes with him, "I almost had him too." Her voice is sullen, dissapointed. Zrak sees her look down at her massive sword, with its bloodstain that covers nearly all of its oversized blade. Zrak has a sudden thought, and imagines how the giant received his nearly fatal wound near his heart.

A sudden growl and curse from Malkala grabs his attention again, though. He watches as something Malkala did seemed to start causing more bleeding, "If I don't get this fixed soon, she'll die. Linzi, I need the sutures!"

The halfling did not hesitate as she fished in the toolbag for needle and thread. Zrak assumed that she was going to stitch the gaping wound closed, but the dragonborne instead goes into the wound and starts stitching. With quick motions, Malkala manages to stop the bleeding, and then proceeds to close the wound. Only when she was done, did she start breathing normally again, "That was close, but she'll be fine."

She then scootches over to Harrim and starts working on the dwarf. After a few minutes, she growls again, "I'm not going to be able to fix his wounds with my tools." Her hand enters her bag and roots a bit, "I don't want to use one of my few elixirs left, but I also don't want to carry dead weight." Opening his bearded mouth, she practically shoves the vial of reddish liquid down his throat.

Within a few moments, the dwarf started waking up, grumbling. Valerie is not far behind him, groaning from pain not magically healed.

Damn.

Zrak shook his ratty head at the sight of the other adventurers. Damn. Harrim and Valerie must have had it worse than the other adventurers. The ysoki wonders whether the assassins and giants attacked this side of the manor for a reason, or perhaps this is a simple matter of chance.

"You all look like hell," he says bluntly, kneeling on his fur-covered legs. He nods to Malkala and Linzi, as the two are better than him at stitching and healing wounds. "Are you two able to stand?" he asks Hallim and Valerie. The scent of blood on the two is a familiar smell to Zrak, which surely pollutes the entire manor through all this bloodshed. The sight of their damaged body and armor indicates that they shouldn't try to fight again.

At least there is a moment for questions. "So what do you all remember? We fought assassins on the way here but we never saw godsdamned giants!"

Both of their eyes are glazed with pain and confusion. Valerie shakes her head lightly, "I don't remember much. I was on watch in our room when I saw a shadow slip into the manor from outside. We left the room to investigate, and made our way here. There was a giant..." she trails off, her gauntleted hand rubbing the back of her head, "And I don't remember much else."

"Ha!" Amiri barks with a massive grin, "I'll tell ya what happened! You managed to block the giant's spear and fists with that tiny shield of yours! It was impressive!"

A wobbly grin appears on Valerie's face, "I guess that's why my arms are so heavy."

Harrim seems silent, only lightly muttering something under his breath. Listening closer, Zrak can hear prayers and mentions of 'not quite my end.'

Malkala shakes her head, "They aren't in great condition, but they should be able to walk with us. Maybe if we find others they can help us." She gives an apologetic look to Valerie and Harrim, "We are a bit low on healing resources, so we need to conserve until the manor is safe."

Valerie nods, "Of course. We will be alright." As if to confirm her statement, she slowly and carefully stands to her feet. Once stable, she helps get Harrim to his feet too. "Let's get going. We can talk and walk."

Assisting as much as possible, Zrak helps Valerie and Harrim up on their feet. The ysoki, however, isn't overly impressed with their current physical condition. The two shouldn't come in their wounded state if there are more assassins and giants. At the same time, Zrak and Malkala can use all the help they can get; everyone else no doubt thinks the same.

He shakes his head as he moves toward the feast hall door. "Well don't go overextending yourself. You can't do anything if you're dead." A funny line from someone that nearly died in the garden.

Skittering across the blood-stained floor, Zrak stands next to the door and waits for everyone to get into position. Having six people here will make ambushes more difficult. Although, he prefers having more willing blades than shadows to hide in. He looks to Amiri, Harrim, and Valerie and asks, "So how much of the manor have you seen since waking up?" The six of them together must have covered a lot of ground. Zrak is clueless about manor floor plans; he can only hope there isn't much left to explore.

Valerie shakes her head, "Not much. The giant blocked our way to the center of the manor, and the upstairs is blocked off." She takes a moment to catch her breath, as if just speaking that much exhausted her, "Until the giant died, we were essentially cut off from the rest of the manor."

Malkala steps to the other side of the door, "If I remember right, this will lead to the feast hall. If there is a fight, we will have a lot of space to work with." She turns to the others, "Keep back, and protect Linzi. We cannot afford to have you die."

With that, she slowly cracks open the door enough to see inside.

The Great Hall looks much different than it did hours ago during the feast. Three of the long tables have been turned on their sides and pushed against the large entry doors to the south to form a makeshift barricade. Dishes, broken goblets, and bloody stains mar the floor, while at least a dozen bodies lie against the east wall. Lady Jamandi's guards gather at the barricades and in front of the double doors leading into the west wing. These doors are sealed, and several tapestries have been torn from the walls and wedged into the gap between the floor and the door in a feeble attempt to keep smoke from flowing into the hall from an apparent fire in the manor's west wing.

One of the guards, a large man with closely cropped black hair, bushy eyebrows, and a thin mustache, is giving orders to the other guards. "Cut up those other tables and use their parts as reinforcement! Where are my buckets of water? That tapestry is burning! Grab another!"

What in the hells...?!

Zrak shakes his head at the Hall, witnessing the mess of tables and tapestries blocking off the doors as if under siege. He already knew things are quite bad, what with the assassins and giants around the building; clearly, it is worse than he imagined. Once more, he looks up at Malkala and repeats: "So is THIS sorta thing normal to nobles?" This time, his question is rhetorical.

As time isn't on their side, Zrak runs to the other end of the feast hall. The sparse smell of smoke irritates his nose, groaning under the guards' shouts and screams. The large one may not recognize Zrak with his cloak off, revealing the ysoki's weathered head in full. "What's going on?" he shouts, squeaking under the messy sight.

The man spins around, his hand on the hilt of his weapon, ready to strike. But, when he sees Zrak, then Malkala and the others trailing behind, he lets out a heavy, greatly relieved sigh, and lowers his hand.

"It is wonderful to see you all! I had feared the worst when none of my guards in the east wing returned, nor any of the other adventurers invited for the feast. Please, tell me what happened in the east wing. Who else remains? Is the giant still around?"

Malkala steps up, "We do not know about any of the guest rooms. We felt it safer to make our way straight here. But, all of the assassins we found are dead: two in the far hall, four in the garden, one giant in the library, and a frost giant in the scullery." Her face turns down slightly as she motions to the other adventurers with her head, "These are the only ones we found alive."

The man looks back at the group, seeing the condition they, Zrak, and Malkala are in, and frowns. It is easy to see the calculations running through his head, which he then shakes, "It is unfortunate, but we must move on."

He stands at attention, "Ivenzi, lieutenant of Lady Jamandi Aldori's guards, at your service. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have."

The smell of smoke and sounds of shouting doesn't do anything to quell Zrak's concerns. The group of adventuers have little time for a question & answer session. Many of Zrak's questions, including the confusing life of a noble, can wait until the battle's over and the threat's done.

Provided they don't all wind up dead before then.

He leans his ratty snout behind and around Ivenzi, glancing at the rest of the hall behind him. "Well do you have any sort of healing?" He turns around and looks at both Valerie and Harrim. "And where else haven't you searched yet?" There's no way anyone is safe until every last assassin and giant is taken out; that is easier said than done in a place as big as this. Zrak may as well be a mouse in a violent maze.

He looks over again at the barricade and what seems to be a neighboring room on fire. "Hey, you all got this? Sure seems like your hands are full." The ysoki can't help but wonder if there's more waiting outside the manor. Just how many are attacking this place?

Ivenzi nods and calls, "Calton!"

Near the bodies along the east wall is a guard dressed more as a field medic rather than a warrior. His blonde ponytail is barely able to show itself under the blood, dirt, smoke, and burns, and what was probably an armored robe in Lady Jamandi's colors is now black and grey. He was slumped over and still, which made him look like another corpse, but he opens his eyes and slowly stands up.

Valerie, Harrim, and Amiri walk over to him and let him get to work to heal them. Whenever Zrak and Malkala look over, they can see that Calton is horribly tired and strained, but does not move slowly as he takes care of the injured. As he does, Valerie shakes her head, "Besides the guest rooms, there is not much to search. Just the rooms around the scullery, which we did not enter. And as you can see," she waves her hand at the barricaded door, "we don't really know what's going on in the west hall."

Malkala nods, "Right." She turns to Ivenzi, "What is going on?"

"Armed mercenaries, along with several giants, attacked the manor." Ivenzi starts, "Lady Jamandi rallied her guards in this room, and after some tought fighting, we drove them off, though it was a near thing. Some of the attackers fled to the east wing, but most fled to the west wing."

Malkala's eyes widen, "And Lady Jamandi?"

"She ordered me to hold the Great Hall, then took a squad of eight guards with her and went to clear out the West Wing. Her goal was to retake the Dueling Hall at the far end of the manor, so I'll wager you'll find her there."

Zrak turns his head over toward the West Wing, where Aldori and her eight guards disappeared to. She should be fine, right? A few adventurers wiped out the East Wing, so surely a noble and her best could take out plenty more. But then he looks back at the guards and see how thinly stretched they were. The guards called this a 'near thing' and it sure damn seems like it. Now the ysoki wonders if Lady Jamandi and her guards are in any condition to fight.

Sniffing the smoke again, Zrak opens his mouth, looking up towards Ivenzi. The smart decision is to wait, recover, and then mount an offensive on the trapped assassins and giants.

He turns his head, looking toward his dragonborne partner. What is going through her mind right now? She always seems to plan out their next actions; perhaps she already thought of how to infiltrate and find Aldori. The noble meant a lot to Malkala; what better time to repay the favor than now?

"Malkala, what do you think?" Zrak's grizzy voice belts out in the Grand Hall. "You wanna go find her?" Zrak sees some reason to find the noblewoman. The two could gain her favor by helping more than they already have. Or perhaps they could surprise the remaining assassins when they don't expect themselves hunted.

Before any decision is made, Zrak walks on his feet over to Valerie, Harrim and Amiri. "How much rest are you three gonna need?" He raises his sharp brows at them. "You all got it pretty bad back there."

Amiri gives Zrak a large smile, "I'm always ready for a fight! Just point me at 'em!"

Her voice cracks a bit as Calton pulls thread through one of her wounds, and she gives the man a scowl of annoyance. He, however, doesn't seem to notice or care as he cuts thread and moves on to the next gash.

Meanwhile, the other two have been stabilized, but not fully recovered yet. Valerie looks like she could fight, but Harrim is still