The blonde haired Assassin is led to Lady Estelle's last known location, her bedroom. Inside, the room is a picture of perfection and couldn't be any neater.

"Ok, squad. Time to start searching." A dozen Assassins appear behind Dropper before they set themselves upon the room, searching for anything that may hint to the location of the abducted princess. Their search doesn't bring up much until an observant Assassin notices a ripped piece of fabric stuck to the outside of the window.

"Mam," the man shouts out before he teleports on to the outside ledge and removes the cloth. Being extra careful that it doesn't blow away as the window opens. Once he's back inside, the male Assassin passes the torn fabric to Dropper who inspects it thoroughly.

"Good eyes. I will be sure to tell the Master of your contribution. Also, you can call me Dropper. I'm not your senior or anything like that. We're all Assassins here." She informs him and the rest of the group.

The small piece of fabric has checkered stitching in gold thread. Not the biggest clue to go, but a definite start. They don't find any other clues in Estelle's room and Dropper excuses herself to find a guard. She doesn't have to travel far at all as there's one waiting for them right outside the door.

"Excuse me. Where would I find someone who makes something like this?" She shows the guard the ripped cloth. "Hmm. Probably Annabelle's or Jessica's. They're both tailors that work in the city. High-end ones too. Common folk don't tend to have gold stitched into their clothing."

"Do you have anyone who can show me the way there?"

"The Lord said that we are to aid you as much as we can, Miss. I'll escort you myself. The name's Jen." Dropper smiles at the male guard, unable to hold it back. "I know, I know. Mom and dad couldn't decide between Ben and Jerry, so I ended up as Jen. What's strange is how two male names end up making me sound so damn female," he chuckles.

'At least he's able to laugh about it. This won't be too bad,' she thinks. "Lead on then, Jen."

Dropper and Jen leave the manor and head straight to the center of town. A dozen Assassins follow behind them, concealed and hidden away in the shadows.

As they arrive at Annabelle's, the shop is closed. "Strange for this time of day," Jen mentions. The sun is high in the sky and the streets are flowing with people. For such a busy day, there's no plausible reason why the shop should be closed.

Jen tries the door, but isn't surprised to find it locked. "Let me," Dropper smiles as they wait. A second later, the door unlocks from the inside. "How did you do that?"

"It wasn't actually me," she laughs as they enter. Inside, twelve Assassins are already rummaging around for clues or anything else that could be deemed suspicious. Unfortunately though, their search isn't as fruitful as the one they conducted in the manor and they find nothing.

Deciding to head to the second tailor they choose to leave from the back of the shop. Outside, there are footprints in the mud beneath the window. As though someone has been secretly watching Annabelle.

"Let's see where these lead before we check the next tailor," she tells the guard, rather than asking.

"How? They won't go far around here."

"Don't worry about that," Using the skills she's had since she was a Rogue, Dropper follows a trail of prints, scents and hidden information as she navigates her way through the city. Dark alleyways and tight corners lead them to the back window of Jessica's shop. The second seamstress. It continues on, however, and so does Dropper, Jen and the hidden entourage.

More alleyways and footprints follow until they finally emerge into an open space leading straight towards the east gate. Jen is a little wary of leaving the city, but he also can't go against the Lord's orders to help the intriguing woman.

Outside the gate, farms litter the countryside in abundance. Dropper continues to lead them east past the small buildings which get bigger the further they travel from Ishda.

Dropper continues to follow the trail until she eventually stops behind a large tree and indicates for Jen to look at the building in front of them. "Is that where we're going?" he asks hesitantly.

"Not you. Just me and the others. Everyone needs a lookout, right?" Jen didn't want to charge into a fight, but Dropper's words still sting.

"I-I'm still a Knight, you know?" He tries to defend his honour. "Do you want to go in there and kill everyone then?" Jen's face turns white at Dropper's last sentence.

"W-What!? Why does everyone have to die?" He blurts out.

"Well... Cause they're bad guys, right? Don't you execute bad guys here?"

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"We do, but it's more humane. We send them off in front of eve...ry...one."

"Well, we do executions in the shadows. Where people don't see. Oh, and you are definitely the lookout."

In front of them is the largest farmhouse in the area. Bigger than every other house in sight, it has two floors and a large plot of land. Before they blindly attack, Dropper uses one of her skills.

Shadow Construct: Level 8

Recreate any area in the palm of your hand for your own personal viewing

A perfect copy of the farmhouse appears in Dropper's outstretched hand. Waving the walls away, she is able to see what the people inside are doing. She notes the locations of everyone on the first and second floor before checking on the woman below.

Thankful that she's still alive, Dropper explains her plan to the troupe. It's relatively simple and the dozen teleport inside the basement. One Assassin checks on Lady Estelle while the others secure the area. They ready themselves in case the men above charge the underground room. Not that they doubt Dropper's plan, but because she herself told them too.

After they disappear, Dropper casually walks up to the house and knocks on the door. She counts to five, listening to the men arguing and hushing each other inside, before she punches the wind stopper clean off its hinges. No magic. No skill. Just pure, raw strength.

"Come on then dickheads! I'm not here for dinner," Dropper steps back and smiles. "Who's brave? Not you," she points at the closest man, "You've already pissed your pants."

"Don't fucking stand there. It's only one woman. Rush her!" A man can be heard shouting out from inside. The men hesitate for a brief moment, the flying door fresh in their minds, before they do as they're told. Charging out of the destroyed entrance, Dropper takes a few steps back to allow them and they circle around her. "Fucking get her then!"

They rush forward, each with their own weapon trained on the woman. As the blades and blunt instruments fall towards her, so too does she. Only not to the ground, but through it. The baffled cluster of kidnappers have to stop short in their attacks so as to not hit each other. A few individuals are not so lucky.

Dropper re-emerges from behind them and sighs. She thought about removing her weapon from storage but decided against it. The men before her are nothing but ants and don't deserve to be finished off by the spectacular blade that's yet to taste blood. Instead, she releases an arc of shadows. Finer than the best blade that any human could hope to craft, it cuts through the middle of the group. It's darker than a starless night and flies through the sky until it can no longer be seen.

No one moves, not until Dropper walks to the farmhouse that is. They couldn't move if they wanted to. They're already dead, but they just haven't realised it. She reaches the door and the bodies behind her begin to fall apart.

"W-Who the f-fuck are you and what do you want?" Fear is present in the man's voice but his face is twisted in rage. "That's my fucking family you bitch. Why? Why!?"

Dropper stares back into the man's hate-filled eyes. No emotion on her face, she just stares at him before asking, "Are you serious?"

"Am I... Are you serious!? That's my family but you don't seem to give a shit." He screams.

"The Lord's daughter is downstairs in your cellar, yet you wonder what brought me upon you. Anyway, I will be taking you back to Lord Ishda with me. Unless you wish to die here with the rest of your family, that is?"

"The Lord will have me executed either way. Go on then. Do it. I'd rather die on my own..." Without letting him finish, Dropper removes the man's head with a flick of her wrist, showing no remorse for her actions.

In the blink of an eye she teleports upstairs to the three-remaining people in the farmhouse." Same goes for you three. You can either come with me to the Lord, or you can die here with everyone else. It makes little difference to me."

The three women are horror-stricken at the sight of Dropper. Her sleeves covered in, what can only be described as their leader's, blood. The silence coming from the floor below. The slight twitch that makes the angel of death look as though she's smiling.

With these factors drilling themselves into the subconscious of the remaining people, they all drop to their knees and begin begging for their lives. "They're men. What could we do?"

"We didn't want to go along with their plans."

"We're so sorry."

Not a single fuck is given as Dropper slaps each one in turn. "I don't want to hear another word from any of you. I've told you already, what happens now makes little difference to me and Lord Aldor will only need one of you." At her words the women huddle together and begin to cry. It slightly reminds the murder machine of her master in a twisted way.

Binding the women and taking them with her, Dropper has the Assassin troupe bring up Lady Estelle. The young woman's curly brown hair looks as though she has seen better days. "Did anyone explain what was happening to you?"

The dirt-covered girl nods in acknowledgement and Dropper leaves it at that. "Let's go then." They pick up Jen on the way and head back towards the east gate.

'Thirteen beautiful Assassins, a beggar with his knight and three death-sentenced women walk into town.' Dropper laughs to herself as they walk through the streets towards the Lord's Manor. Catching not just the eyes of a few, but the many on her way. No one attempts to stop the large group and they make it back without any difficulties.

"I can not thank you enough!" The Lord mumbles through tears. "Oh, Estelle. I'm so happy you're safe. I don't know what I'd have done without you."

"Weren't as fast as I was though. Was ya?" Noir grins at Dropper until Carrie slaps him round the back of the head. "I thought we had this conversation already? Master won't be happy when she hears about how many buildings you destroyed."

The grin is completely washed off Noir's face and is replaced with a horror of his own. "S-She... She won't be happy?"

"It can't be that bad, can it?" Dropper asks. Being the last one back, and with her mission taking her outside Ishda, she's unaware of the damage that Noir caused.

"Do not worry," Lord Aldor approaches the Assassins. "The only homes that were destroyed were the ones owned by those that either plotted against me, or stole from me. You can tell your Master that I am extremely satisfied with your performance. For now though, please. Let me toast the heroes that saved my daughter and my city."

Dropper, Carrie and Noir ate and drank the night away before returning to the dungeon the next day with a sorry-looking treasurer and a pathetic guard in tow.