Vigilance is Key

The stillness of the evening was broken by the sudden shifting figures darting through the tall grass, treading lightly, but quickly. The guards of the fortress, unaware of the events occuring below, were unable to even register when a hooked rope flew up to the tops of the walls, and fell onto the battlement, where a sharp tug secured it into place. Four lithe figures quickly flew up the rope with professional movements, and stealthily landed onto the wooden battlements, where only 2 guards lay sleeping soundly on the sides of the watchtower. One figure pulled out two sharp, small knives, in which he quickly slit the throats of the sleeping guards, and before the blood even gushed out onto the grounds of the watchtower, the 4 figures were already gone from sight, with only one mission to accomplish, and stopping at nothing to accomplish it.

Within the grounds of the fortress, there laid a church, a barracks, several houses, giant farmlands, windmills, villages, and a giant mansion on the small hill at the back of the fortress. The 4 assassins speedily analyzed the situation, and they split up into two groups of two, in which one headed towards the mansion atop the hill, and the other pair ran down in the general direction of the barracks.

The first duo arrived at the mansion, where blazing torches were held by what seemed to be amateur mercenaries. One of the two quickly dashed to the other side of the mansion, hoping to find what would be a simple access point, but there were none to be found. The second assassin calmly took collection of its surroundings, and noticed a small drinking well a bit of ways from the mansion, with a trio of guards patrolling nearby. The assassin snuck towards the well, and taking note of the guards' poor leather armor, and cheap, flimsy weaponry, he threw 3 daggers with deadly precision, each piercing the tin helmets of the guards, and slicing the brain stems of the guards, effectively killing them quickly and silently.

Imitating the call of a hummingbird, the second assassin signaled to the first, and within a matter of moments, the pair was down the well, and searching for the path of the water. When they reached the end of the possible path, there was a ladder that led upwards. The first assassin judged by location that this would be directly under the mansion, and took the lead as they climbed up the ladder, towards their target for the night.

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Meanwhile, the second pair had rushed towards the barracks, in case the first duo drew the suspicion of the mansion guards, and they would be placed in a situation where reinforcements would be necessary. The duo saw the barracks to be dim, and warily circled the barracks, hoping to see what was going on inside the barracks. However, there was no outside information that could be used to tell what was going inside, but they assumed it was nothing major, as they saw the silhouettes of the guards still patrolling the area in the dark.

The pair decided to wait for a patrol to walk by, and after waiting several minutes, a group of 4, covered in enough armor to mask all parts of the body, shuffled by them. They quickly drew three small daggers in their left hand, and a medium-sized short sword in their right, that were hidden in the folds of their clothes. They quickly threw the daggers at the silhouettes, and a dull resounding THUD!, as well as the four figures dropping onto the ground told them that they had hit their target. 

The pair quickly ran towards the fallen figures, in hopes of disguising themselves with the clothes of the guards, when as they reached the fallen guards, the corpses stood up. The third assassin led out a small whimper of fright, and the fourth one gripped his short sword tightly, and darted towards one of the guards, attempting to slice right through the stomach of the guard. The guard's hand moved with inhumane agility and strength, and grabbed the sword of the assassin, and pulled the assassin into itself, where it fell onto the assassin, and they both tumbled onto the ground. 

The third assassin retreated in fear, only to find that the entire area was surrounded by the guards that used to be passively patrolling the barracks. As the guards charged towards the last assassin, the silence of the night was pierced by an unearthly scream of pure terror, and the sound of hundreds of feet running atop the damp grass of the fields.

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The first pair successfully infiltrated the mansion, where what they expected to be a bright and lively environment was actually dim and empty. They cautiously surveyed the scene,  and not a sound was to be heard, not a shadow to be seen, nothing, except for the light sound of their own footsteps.

They steadily crept towards the supposed location of the target, and found themselves at the entrance of the target's bedroom. The entrance had two giant crimson doors in an arch, with gold-engraved markings into the wooden doors, and silver handles encrusted with garnets the size of a person's eyeballs. Maintaining eye contact with the other, both assassins grabbed the door handles, and spontaneously opened both doors, and tumbled into the room. 

The bedroom was lavished with furniture in all shades of red, and there was a giant double-poster bed in the end, with the  figure of a woman in the bed sheets.  As they walked towards the bed, the second assassin drew their short sword, and held it right above the figure in the bed, and was about to plunge it into the person when a strong force grabbed the assassin's sword arm, and stopped the assassin from stabbing the figure in the bed.

With a sudden, jerking force,  the second assassin's right arm was torn off, and the rest of the body slammed into the opposite wall, where it crumpled down to the floor, and laid there, unmoving. The first assassin reacted by drawing his weapons, and throwing his daggers towards the figure in the bed. However, the daggers reflected due to an unknown force, and the assassin was nearly skewered by his own weapons. 

The assassin was shocked by the mysterious incident, and by the time it could recover from the shock, it was able to register than it was surrounded by several of the guards, who all had daggers sticking out of the back of their necks, and blood dripping down the bodies of the guards, and spilling onto the floor. With a quick realization, the assassin realized its fate, and before the guards were able to do anything, the assassin quickly pulled out a vial of dark, violet liquid, unplugged it, and swallowed it down without a second thought.