Chapter 108: Chapter 106: A Ranger plays on the rooftops.

Yesterday after they had left the guardhouse, they stopped by the Mission Guild. After they each joined up, getting a guild card to go with it, they took a look at the mission's that were available. Deciding it would be best for the moment to stick within the city, they found their choices to be limited. After some discussion, the three of them settled on taking three missions.

The mission Veronica chose to take was a direct one that simply required helping the Temple of Cagey with delivering food out in the slums of the city. Veronica managed to convince Jack to take her out to the temple, and help her deliver the food to the poor. Falaen would be helping them as well. Those three left early this morning to get the mission done so they could focus on the other two missions.

Telvin chose the second mission, as it looked interesting. At night several little creatures have been coming out and apparently taking apart carriages and other mechanical devices. Several people have attempted to stop them only to be accosted driving them to shelter for safety. They had a habit of jumping onto moving carriages and injuring them causing them to crash.

When they told Falaen of the mission last night before bed, she expressed her opinion that it sounded like a pack of gremlins that were common in the Empire. If that was the case they most likely hitched a ride in the Empires air ship that brought the Empire envoys to the city. Tonight they would be on the hunt for these little creeps while also working on the third mission they took.

For the third Mission, Riley took it, though to be honest it was more of an open mission to all guild members. Still if they managed to solve it, it would be quite the reward at nearly one hundred big gold coins. For the past month or so, women have been slain in a gruesome matter. The guard has failed to capture the culprit and has requested aid from the Guild.

As of today, fifteen women have been butchered by this madman. The first twelve women were killed in the slums, which is likely why the investigation was lacking. The fires were lit under the guards when the next three were killed in the main part of the city. This alarmed the nobles and upper-class greatly and they have begun to pressure the guard to catch the killer.

Frustratingly for the guard, Scrying has failed to produce much evidence they could use to catch the killer. The murderer appears to have been wearing a warding amulet against scrying when committing the crimes. Most of the early women that were killed were prostitutes, however it's suspected that the murderer simply targeted them as the murders took place past midnight when most women were already abed. The women who were not prostitutes were leaving work late.

Each of the women was assaulted out in the open, in such a way that it is astounding to Telvin that there have been no witnesses. Surely someone must have heard the screams of the woman, yet no such witness could be found. Each of the women had evidence of recent sexual assault, but lacked the seed of man in them. Besides the horrific injuries the murder did to the corpse of the woman. They took the big toe of each woman's right foot. The women were killed by having their throats slit, almost to the point of decapitation.

The spacing between the murders has been getting less and less, and a new one is suspected either tonight or tomorrow night. Riley decided to take this mission because it would be a good reason to explore the city at night. At the same time it would also give her a reason to get in contact with her step-sister. While Telvin didn't have a favourable impression of Natasha, he couldn't refuse Riley wanting to talk with her.

After Jack had gone with Veronica and Falaen to Cagey's temple, Riley began heading out to the meeting place where the paper the queen's messenger sent her. While Riley wanted Telvin to remain in the Inn to keep him safe from assassins and that Jack in an emergency could come and rescue her, Telvin refused and began to follow her carefully by jumping across the rooftops.

Despite the wide variety of buildings, they were built fairly close together, and it was simple for Telvin to follow Riley to the far corner of the city. Soon she reached the place where the meeting was to take place. Telvin frowned as he took in the building, it was quite the sinister odd looking building.

At four stories tall it was built in a circular shape out of a sick looking green stone. Its roof was strange, being a bowl shaped roof, where rain water would be caught and would rush towards the middle of it, where a hole led down into the building. The only windows in the building were on the second floor and were too reflective to see through.

She knocked on the only door that Telvin could see, and a large man answered the door. He looked Riley over and stepped aside and let her enter. When she did, the man closed the door behind her. Telvin sent her a message saying "Be careful. Let me know if anything goes wrong, and I will bust down that door."

A few seconds later he got her response "I will. Keep out of sight."

While he was waiting for Riley, he carefully circled the building as best he could, examining it from each side. There was only one entrance he could see, though it was possible it had other ones underground. He wouldn't put it past the architect of this strange building. It honestly felt as if it had arisen from underneath the surface. 

As he was watching the entrance keeping himself hidden in the shadow's he got the strangest sense that he was being watched. With a sense of impending danger, he threw himself to the side as several crossbow bolts hit the location where he just was. They punched into the surface of the roof with a caustic hiss. Hastily taking cover behind a parapet, he glanced over and saw at least a dozen figures in black moving about. Each one was concealed in that Errais oil.

Each one seemed to be carrying a large crossbow, and one of them maneuvered to a new location where they could aim at Telvin. Swiftly he shifted cover and withdrew his bow, and nocked an arrow. Listening carefully he heard one of them moving across a nearby roof and quickly ducked out of cover and fired an arrow at the assassin. It caught him in the shoulder causing him to spin around and fall behind the parapat of the building.

Seconds later Telvin had to hide behind a roof fixture as dozens of crossbow bolts came slamming near him. One of them bounced along, and he saw it was covered in some sort of black corrosive poison. Most likely Abyssal poison, which meant if he was hit, he would die. 

Telvin frowned, not only was he outnumbered he also didn't think he could safely retreat. Hearing them move about, he popped out of cover letting off several arrows towards them. Most of his arrows whizzed by the assassins who quickly got behind cover, one arrow punched into the eye of one of the assassins who fell screaming to his death off the roof and landed with a sickening thump.

They responded with a volley of bolts, forcing Telvin to find new cover. He would shift position and fire arrows, he risked getting closer to them. Just as they were leaving Telvin with little cover, he was able to take better shots at them. Still he was outnumbered and was running out of options. He was tempted to use Nature's Rage, but got the feeling that may not be the best idea.

Feeling the sweat start to pool down his forehead, he spotted a water tower that had been placed on top of the building where the majority of the assassins were on. Getting an idea he aimed for the part where the water was pumped into the tower and fired an arrow. To his surprise when the arrow left the bow, it seemed to change color and slowed down impossibly. The arrow was now, floating at a casual walking pace towards the water tower.

Having to duck behind cover as more crossbow bolts lit up his position, he was concerned when one punched through his cover inches from his face. One assassin jumped onto the roof where he was hiding. Annoyed, Telvin cast a cage of thorns on the assassin, snaring him.

Thorny vines ripped out of the roof and wrapped tightly around the assassin. The man freaked out and attempted to escape the vines grasp, only for the vines to begin to tear into him. However his pain was short lived as one of his allies fired a crossbow bolt into him and killed him instantly. His flesh began dissolving into a nasty pile of goo.

Taking the chance he popped out of the cover and fired another arrow towards the assassins, at that time the slow arrow finally struck the water tower and punched into it. There was a strange whistle like sound and then there was a massive blast as the tower exploded into a fountain of torn metal fragments and a deluge of water.

The nearby assassins were instantly killed from the blast, and the massive wave of water pushed the other assassins off the roof. The other assassins ditched their crossbows and began to flee. When they did so, several new figures appeared out of nowhere and dressed in a strange clothing that while being black felt like it blended into the environment. These new people began fighting with the fleeing assassins.

The assassins seemed to be outclassed and were quickly overwhelmed. Several of the assassins pulled out packages and tossed them onto the ground, creating flashes of light and great deal of smoke. Telvin watched as the clouds finally disappeared and saw several bodies of the assassins, but it was obvious that some of the assassins had got away. The new figures, however, were also gone.

As he turned, he was startled to realize that there was someone standing behind him. Quickly he pulled out his knife and prepared to fight only to find it was one of the new figures. In the slit in her face covering, he could make out crystal blue eyes. "Are you another assassin?"

"So you are the one Mistress mentioned, Telvin was it? Fear not, We mean you no harm."

"I am. Who are you?"

"We are the Daughters of Nyx, the protectors that stand in the darkness. Our Mistress has tasked us with removing this filth" She gestured towards the body of one of the assassins "From this city. You have our thanks, for some reason they are coming out of the woodwork to get at you. The sheer number of bodies they are willing to lose against you is astounding."

"Yes, I would like to know why they want to kill me so badly. Perhaps I should go to take a look at this Lord Reata's property today."

"I would recommend you do not. When we learned of his connection to these assassin's we sent a few members into the property only for them to be killed. As such it is far too perilous for you to go. I have a recommendation instead if you wish to find out more information."

"What is it? You said you were the Daughters of Nyx, are you speaking of Nyx the goddess that Jack signed with. Are you actually her daughters?"

"Indeed Jack the System has signed with our Mistress. It is a title. We are not her actual blood children." She pulled out a vial and gave it to Telvin. "Within that vial is a powerful knockout drug. It can be ingested, injected, or even placed against the skin of a person to use. You can use this to incapacitate one of the assassins."

"Are you suggesting I use this to capture one of them to find out more?"

"Correct, that is the most straightforward method of finding out more. While I would prefer to do it ourselves, they are frustratingly hard to find. You are the most likely person to see them again. Once you use it, you will need to protect the one you got, as they have an annoying habit of killing their own members, and themselves if they deem themselves to be at risk of capture."

"That I can do." Telvin said placing the vial into his inventory.

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"This commotion has alerted the guards, so it is best for you to get out of here before they come. While you are only defending yourself, you will likely be held by the guards under suspicion for a while."

Telvin frowned at her warning and glanced towards the building that held Riley and didn't want to depart from her just in case she required his aid. When he glanced back, he saw the daughter was gone from where she had stood. While he was doing that he received a message from Riley. "Just finished with the meeting. Have a lot to talk about, heading out now."

As the guards began to swarm the Area, Telvin began leaving the area on the roofs. Riley exited the building and Telvin guided her away from the guards and when she was out of the area, Telvin climbed down and hugged her. Riley hugged back and then looked him over, "What happened, you look dreadful. Are you alright?"

He shrugged and said "I'm okay. I was attacked by a group of assassins. It got a bit close, but I handled it."

Riley tsked and said "This is why I wanted you to remain in the inn. You didn't even contact me to let me know you were being attacked. Did you at least let the other's know?"

"No, I guess I forgot." 

She whacked him on the top of his head "Don't do that again Telvin. I know you were worried about me, but I'm worried about you as well." Riley looked around and said "We need to find someplace to talk in private."

They went into a new region of the city and soon found a small private cafe. Inside there were small rooms where people could have a drink in private. While Riley chooses a room, Telvin went to the counter and bought a pair of drinks of tea that would help settle their nerves. Placing the cup in front of Riley, Telvin sat down and said "How did your meeting go?"

She frowned and said "I will talk about that later, but I want to know more about this attempt on your life."

"They somehow got the drop on me and started to fire at me with crossbow bolts." Telvin hesitated briefly and said "They were coated in some sort of poison, so we need to be careful, it looks like they are getting more serious about killing me. After I had got them to retreat, they were attacked by some followers of that goddess that Jack signed up with recently."

"You are talking about Nyx?"

"Yeah that's the one. Called themselves the Daughters of Nyx. One of them gave me a vial of a knockout drug, so I can use it to incapacitate one of the assassins the next time they attack me."

Riley frowned and said "I would rather stop them from assaulting you altogether. If it gets too dangerous Telvin, promise me you will leave the city."

"Only if you go with me. Now tell me about this meeting."

Riley nodded and said "I found out why the queen is interested in me. Or at least the reason she claims to be interested in me."

"What is it?"

"The Queen is claiming to be my mother, well to be exact my birth mother whom I have no memory of."

Telvin was confused and said "The queen is an orc? I was under the impression she was a full human." 

"A Half-Orc. Apparently she is using some sort of glamour magic to hide her full appearance."

"Did you meet her?"

"No, it was just one of her servant's that met up with me. He told me what she wanted to say to me and presented me with an offer."

"Do you think she is telling the truth?"

"Maybe. It's hard to say, she provided a great deal of information to back up her argument."

"I remember you telling me you were adopted, can you tell me a bit more?"

"The Scarlet mercenaries found me when I was a little kid wandering the forest all alone. According to the messenger of the Queen, my parents were on a mission for a goddess. They encountered trouble and my father was killed and I was lost in the chaos of the battle. Apparently when I entered the city, she received a revelation from her goddess that her daughter had entered the city. When her servants saw me exiting the Evercral estate, she believes me to be her daughter."

"If that's the case, how exactly did she become queen?"

"Apparently the King found her while he was on a journey through his kingdom and fell instantly in love with her. Once more not sure if that's the truth."

"What was the offer that she gave to you?"

Riley looked at him and said, "She is saying the king is willing to recognize me as an adopted daughter and make me a princess. In a few days' she will send a messenger to bring me to the castle to meet with her."

"This seems suspicious. What do you want to do?"

"Based on the rumor's I've heard of this queen, I have no desire to associate with her. But I want to find out if it's the truth."

"I will support you with whatever you wish to do. But before you go to that meeting I will get in contact with Adam Evercral again. He may know if the Queen is a Half Orc or not."

"True. Maybe we should swing by his estate. If he is not home, you can at least say hello to Mianda again."

"Yeah, hopefully, she is happier."

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