[Jaykobell]

He settled himself in a tree, looking over the small village that was ahead. He took a quick look at the details he'd been given for this mission, glad to see that everything was in order. According to the one who'd given that mission to him, there was some princess that they wanted gone from this particular clan of ninjas. It sounded like a boring mission and nothing too much out of the ordinary, but assassinating a princess could certainly net you a big sum of money. Not only that, but he felt like this clan would be better off without a woman to lead them. He rolled his eyes as he looked over the notes again; they probably wanted that woman gone because of her incompetence. He folded the note and put it back in his pockets as he took some time to examine the area from his hiding spot.

It looked like a typical ninja village. The buildings were very stylized and Oriental, even carrying some fire pits in front of some of them. It was nested in a small portion of Roraldi, with the trees giving it some protection. It was pitch-black out there, with the night just setting in. Fortunately, the fire that was burning throughout the small village was enough to give him a good view on things.

All he needed to do, now that he'd found the village, was to find the princess that he had to assassinate. She was probably kept safe in the fanciest building the village had to offer, but it would definitely make his life a lot easier if she just so happened to be roaming around. He could see a woman being careless like that. Not only that, he also had to figure out if he would try to enter stealthily, or if it would be better to just ambush the place. He was clearly outnumbered, but his arsenal was deadly. His weapons were covered in poison, and so a few slashes of his daggers and kunais could send anyone twisting and gurgling in pain, and eventually, in death. He also had a variety of different poisons on his person, one of which he would use to assassinate that princess: cleanly and swiftly. So was his specialty, really, and those who looked for him were often after his toxic genius.

This was the part that he absolutely despised about stealth missions, but it was necessary to bind his time if he wanted this mission to pay off. He just had to stick around for a bit, and observe the village right at that time. The one who'd requested this job had given him a detailed description of the princess they wanted dead, so recognizing her wouldn't be difficult.

He stayed nestled in his hiding spot, observing the village ahead. Maybe if he saw someone carrying armor or clothes similar to the ones described to him, then maybe he could tail them and find out where that princess was, as well. There were many possibilities as to what he could do, but he would only be able to truly form a plan once he had a better idea of the village layout and who was around at the time.

[SpringsSong]

Syarri, 861717

Normally, at this point in time during the day, Syarri would be roaming about the village, conversing with the other ninjas in the village and collecting reports from the four ninjas that she was in charge of training.  However, that was not the case this evening; Otoreunu had volunteered to take over that responsibility this evening, leaving Syarri with another job that she was slightly less fond of: writing.

True, she did enjoy writing, but it was something that she did not want to do too often.  When she had been in the palace that she was born in, she wrote as an escape from her parents and her tutoring sessions.  When Otoreunu came, and the two of them left the palace for this little village, she had learned that she far preferred doing tasks to writing about what she would do one day, if only she had the means to.

After a few moments, she set aside the brush she had been using to transcribe records with as she sighed.  The weather had begun to turn warm, and the sun was remaining out later and later each day.  Rising to her feet, the princess left the room she had been in and made her way through the numerous halls, stopping in one room to change out of the kimono she had been wearing for a lighter one, and keeping her red-and-purple hair in a bun.

After a few minutes more, Syarri emerged from the house onto a covered porch.  The evening air was pleasantly warm, and she closed her eyes as she took in a breath.  This was one of the things that she enjoyed about this village; everything seemed to be perfect, even if she knew that, inevitably, it was not perfect.

"My lady," called one of the village lookouts, walking towards the estate.  He was wearing minimal armor; enough to protect, but light enough to maneuver easily.  Syarri inclined her head, taking a step towards the lookout.

[Jaykobell]

His problem wasn't that he couldn't do stealth, but more like that he just hated doing it. Just like the toxins he created, he liked to be quick and deadly, rather than slow and calculating. It was easy for one to miss their opportunity if they bound their time incorrectly, and he wasn't the type to let a target escape him. If he couldn't kill them with brute force, then his poisons were the way to go. He wasn't afraid to engage in close-combat, since his own weapons were covered in his own concoctions.

He navigated along the trees and the bushes, keeping his eyes peeled for his target. There seemed to be a few lookouts positioned here and there, which was understandable. At least that ninja princess had the mental capacity to understand that a good clan needed protection at all times. Good for her.

He stopped in his tracks when he came close to a certain house, a woman catching his attention. The description matched her looks exactly, from the hair color to the length of it — even tied up, he could tell that meant that she had relatively long hair — along with her general bodily appearance. Considering the looks of the house, and the lookouts that were positioned outside, she had to be that little princess those other ninjas wanted assassinated.

He pulled down his mask from his nose and his mouth, as he observed the princess interact with one of her lookouts. With the woman distracted, he saw his opportunity to strike. He took out his blowgun from his weapons; the thing was filled with thin needles that were just barely any bigger than a hair. They weren't particularly deadly, considering how small they were, but they were enough to inflict a status to someone temporarily. They could fall asleep or feel paralyzed; what they received depended on the mission he had to accomplish. In this case, he figured an easier approach might be a quiet one, and so sleep it was.

He did notice that the lookout was wearing armor, but he knew that all armor was incapable of covering the entire body from head to toe. He had no qualms about aiming for the face directly, either, and those needles were fine enough to break through masks. Weapons incapable of toppling ninja protection would be useless, wouldn't they?

He took a deep breath, and with the princess and the lookout distracted, he shot the one needle out towards the guard. He'd aimed specifically for a weak spot that wasn't covered with armor, but one small movement, the lookout would probably avoid the needle. If he did, it was no big deal; they were so fine that these needles flew through the air in complete silence. If he got hit, he'd feel a small sting before toppling down, fast asleep. Whatever confusion would result from the princess would guarantee the toxic ninja some time to strike her down. That was the plan, anyway; regardless, that kimono looked far from a good battle outfit.

[SpringsSong]

"Ah, you have something to report?" Syarri asked as she stopped just shy of the steps, folding her arms as she did so.  The lookout nodded as he bowed, and then, he stood up straight, placing his right fist against his left hand.

"Yes.  The first patrol for the night has returned, and--"

Suddenly, the lookout stopped speaking.  His eyes appeared confused for a moment, and then, his eyes rolled into the back of his head, collapsing to the ground.  Immediately, Syarri whirled around, her eyes scanning the environment for any irregularities that may have been missed.  One of the other lookouts had noticed his friend collapse.

"Defend the princess!" he called, but Syarri rose a hand, signalling for the other ninjas to stand down.

"No!--I can handle myself," she said.  She had a feeling that there was someone else there; after all, lookouts didn't just drop down asleep without reason.

[Jaykobell]

He grinned satisfyingly when the needle hit the lookout exactly as it should have. That was enough to make the princess and the lookouts around her realize that something was going on, but they would keep looking around and scratching their heads as long as he remained hidden. He didn't like stealth, but he did like attacking from the shadows. The looks of panic and the sense of urgency everyone got from hidden assaults was always so very entertaining to watch.

He had to ponder his next course of action quickly. He noticed the other lookout spring into action after the first one had fallen asleep, but then it seemed like the princess... told him not to do anything? It was difficult to really hear them from this distance, since even their screams were more like whispers to him. Really, now; this princess was telling her guard to stay put? He rolled his eyes and frowned. Couldn't she just panic and ask for her guards to do something? Well, maybe that attitude was the reason why those other ninjas had requested her head on a silver plater.

If the little girl did want to play, then he would humor her. He readied a different blowgun this time, one that contained paralyzing needles. It was better to carry multiple instead of a single one; how was he going to know which needles he'd land on, if they were all in the same blowgun? No, all he had to do was label them, and he could switch between the desired ailments with ease.

He kept his eyes on the princess as he readied the blowgun, and after a few seconds, he fired right at her. That kimono was certainly not armor of any kind, and so he simply fired in the princess' general direction, since it could probably just hit her anywhere.

[SpringsSong]

"Ow..."

The needle did find its mark, hitting Syarri in her right arm.  She felt a sting, and almost as soon as she felt that sting, her arm began to go numb.  When her right arm dropped, the other guards rushed past her, heading out to the area that they felt that the needles had been launched from.  As they did this, Syarri could tell, now, what kind of a needle she had been hit with.  Rather than panic, as any other woman may have, she stood there, letting the paralysis set in.

"Defend the princess!" called one of the village lookouts, and this time, Syarri was powerless to object.  Whoever had knocked out the guard who was still sleeping at the foot of the steps of her estate and had paralyzed her was obviously on some sort of a mission, and at the very least, the guards were in a position to flush that attacker into the open.

[Jaykobell]

The needle had hit its mark, but aiming for the princess directly had triggered a flood of guards. Had they continued to just stand there, he could've stayed put in his hiding place for a while, but it was now too dangerous to do that. If he continued to shoot the needles from this same place as the guards came in, they would find him in a heartbeat. The point of him assassinating the princess, of course, was to not get caught by the enemy. Getting caught meant that he would probably end up getting killed, and he didn't want that.

He readied his blowgun and started shuffling through the canopy and the trees in order to change spots. While doing that, he blew the needles around at random, aiming towards the village beyond the trees. Not all of them would hit a target, but he hoped that some of them would land on some of those guards. If he could paralyze or immobilize some of them, that might be enough to allow him to get to the princess directly. There was that possibility, or maybe the guards would avoid his needles, now that they were more alert. If that happened and they all aimed for the trees beyond their village, he would have to be careful not to get caught. He could handle close combat just fine, if it took only one ninja to guide his comrades to the target. If one guard found him, it would take but a few seconds for that guard to warn the others and to reveal his location. If that happened, he would have to silence them quickly, or he would have no choice but to try to take the princess hostage.

He couldn't plan ahead of time; there were too many factors. He continued to move through the trees, blowing needles sporadically towards the village. Maybe one of them would hit the princess again, if he was lucky at all; although, with him not aiming properly, the needles were really flying anywhere and everywhere.