The Sixteenth Session

After defeating the assassins, Yief and Halrek drunkenly made their way back to the Royal district to look for Shag and Aoth. Bursting into a tax collection building, they demanded they be brought to their friends, but the workers had no idea who their friends were. They then decided to order drinks, only to be told it wasn't a bar. Halrek then began to succumb to the poison from the assassin's blade, and fell unconscious, immediately reverting to his true form; a grey, featureless humanoid with significant scarring on his face. The workers ran to help, and pointed them in the direction of the Arcane Coalition where there would be healers. Yief threw Halrek over his shoulders and sprinted to the guild, bursting in the door and yelling "Raid: Shadow Legends!" before seeing light emanating from a nearby room. He was drunkenly drawn to the light like a moth, where he happened to stumble upon Aoth and Shag enchanting their gear.

Aoth immediately cleared off a nearby table and Yief tossed Halrek onto it. Yief began drunkenly telling a broken version of their adventure to Shag while Aoth began healing Halrek. Curing his wounds and removing all the toxins from his system, Halrek woke up in a shock, realizing quickly that he was now sober, as the alcohol had been removed with the toxins. In response, he suggested they go back to Moe's in the Lower Residential District.

Making their way there, Moe already had reinforced the door with steel hinges, and immediately drew his crossbow upon seeing Yief and Halrek. Shag convinced him to cool down, assuring him that he would make sure they didn't cause trouble. Aoth decided to stay outside and work on his map making. Moe asked what everyone wanted, but then gave them all moonshine. While they were there, after Shag kept Yief from advertising more for Raid: Shadow Legends, the assassin that Yief and Halrek let go, who resembled Bill Hader, walked into the bar and sat down. "Hey Barry, what'll it be?" Moe asked, prompting Barry to answer "Oh it doesn't matter, you're already pouring my drink" as Moe slid him a jar of moonshine.

"Oh god, you guys came back here? Listen, I'm not gonna kill you, that was just business, you guys won, I'm not trying to die over it. Especially knowing the pirates you guys are with, if I couldn't handle you then I definitely can't handle them." he said upon seeing the group. After talking and getting to know the group, he decided that he didn't like the Ebonyborn for setting them up with targets whose strength wasn't accurately represented, and decided to let them in on the information that an assassination attempt that wasn't part of the guild would be made the next day on the King. The guild had picked up on it as the Ebonyborn assassins were using their tunnels. "Normally I'd be indifferent to this kind of thing, but fuck those pricks." he said.

The group then left, bidding Barry farewell, and went to tell the pirates about what they learned. Barry had also told them that no other assassins in the guild were aware of the group's location, and that he and his partners only found Yief and Halrek because they were being drunk and disorderly, so they decided to go back to Lorelei's Veil since the vampires were dead. After the pirates and the boys were safe back in the inn, the group went to Derrack's house to tell him about the assassination. Halrek quickly picked the lock in the back while the rest of the group knocked like normal people, only for the door to be answered by two Derracks standing next to each other, both saying "Oh hello," prompting the real Derrack to realize that Halrek had gotten in his house and was standing next to him.

Shag then immediately got to the point, laying all the info out in a way that took Derrack a moment to process. He then said he would get them into the throne room the following morning before the king was to come greet his subjects for the day. They all slept in his house. The following morning he gave them breakfast and they set out for the royal castle.

Entering the grand hall, they were stopped by guards and told to disarm before entering the throne room. Derrack was able to get them through the line of nobles who typically acted as a buffer between the cityfolk and the king, bringing them straight to him; a tall young man named Neviiron Bravier, who resembled Matthew Lewis, and his captain of the Kingsguard, Alder Stoneheart, who resembled Jason Isaacs. They immediately told him what was going on, causing the king to have to stop and process it, reinforced by Derrack confirming "Yeah they just get straight to the point with this kind of stuff, I know." Shag then told the king his plan to cast an illusion to make it appear to the room that they were still standing there talking, but inside the range of it, the king and Halrek would switch clothes and Halrek would take his place, so he could fight back when the assassins showed up. However, while they were in the midst of changing, two of the nearby guards began advancing on them, having overheard Shag's plan and realizing this might be their only chance to strike while both the king and Halrek were there. Coming within the border of the illusion, they dropped their guard armor and shifted form into Ebony assassins, immediately attacking both the king and Halrek.

While the group was disarmed, Yief still had his shield, which he used to protect the king, who Shag grabbed, beckoning to the king to follow him. They began to run, and Halrek jumped from the ledge they were near and began to run as well. A brief scuffle began with the assassins, Aoth, Yief, and Alder, but was cut short when the assassins began to pursue the king and Halrek. Aoth then swan dove off the ledge, tackling one of the assassins and rolling down the stairs with him, overpowering and restraining him. The other assassin attempted to attack Aoth to free his partner, but was thwarted by Alder and two guardsmen. Casting an Abyssal incantation, the lights went out momentarily, and when they turned back on, the assassin was gone. Aoth then wrestled his prisoner upright, and Alder pressed his sword against the man's throat, drawing blood. "You have less than 3 seconds before the sword goes all the way through. Use them to talk" he said, pressing harder. "We may have failed today, but soon enough your king shall fall. All kingdoms shall be united under the Dread King. He is inevitable." the assassin said in Abyssal before Alder cut off his head.

Suggesting that due to shapeshifting, everyone in the room aside from the king and the group was compromised, he told the remaining guards that they would have to be temporarily incarcerated along with himself until the assassin was found. The king would then have the high general take a temporary position as the captain of the kingsguard, and a search party would have to formed. The king then knighted the group, asking that they lead the search party. Yief responded with "Raid: Shadow Legends!" prompting the king to go "Oh god not another one..."