The squad descends down a cracked staircase into the depths below. One of the guardsmen holds out a lantern.

The sewers don't smell particularly bad down here—probably because there isn't much in the way of sewage or flowing water. The tunnels are long and broken and dry. Strange sounds echo distantly. They're retracing the steps of the missing squad. At some point, their blessing of the watch fades away. The Guard doesn't patrol here regularly.

So far, Lhín doesn't detect any movement.

These are atypical. No water means they're not in use, and it's not bright or warm down here, so water doesn't vanish quickly. They must be very rarely used. Nobody bothered to get rid of them? Well, why would they.

She tries to stay quiet as they walk the strangely resonant paths. It won't help. The rest of the guards are not even as quiet as she can manage, and she's not actually good at this. It still makes her feel a little more comfortable as they blast blaringly obvious 'threat here' signs in all directions because otherwise the humans would be useless.

(Sigh.)

The tunnels grow less worked and more decayed as they descend. They find no signs of the squad they're looking for.

As they turn a corner at a mazelike crossroads—

Lhín spots two armed humanoids approaching them from both sides of the crossroads. None of the others can perceive them.

<Two! There! There! Swords!>

There are what? "Ware! Two approaching, with swords drawn!"

Unfortunately, putting that together and paying attention herself were mutually exclusive. Hopefully the guards will be quick to react, because she will not be.

One of the guards looks forward, but he can't see anything. He readies his short halberd to strike when the enemy is visible...

Slice.

A terrible gash opens across that guard's chest.

The foe becomes visible. A strange humanoid glimmers in red and gold armor. They seem to have the head of a mantis. It might only be a mask, but it's hard to tell.

The guard's halberd blurs down into the assassin's side. It cuts past a seam in their armor. They stumble from the impact.

"The Red Mantis!" The captain lunges forward and swings at the assassin. His halberd catches the edge of their armor and bounces off. 

The second guard runs up behind the assassin and slashes into them. They bleed.

Slice.

A horrible wound opens across the third guard's back. He collapses to the ground. The second assassin is now visible.

The fourth guard stabs right back at them. He catches the assassin on the shoulder. They bleed a little.

Well this is delightful. Her Spray won't stick well here... but these are clearly martially trained, and that blade was precisely placed. Hopefully their will won't be too resilient, and it's the best she has.

No shadows to draw on. Oh well, hopefully it works anyway. Color Spray, over the downed guard and into the assassin's face. And... Dazzling Blade on the guard behind her, next to the other assassin. "You should be able to throw it like we talked about. Toss it at the assassin!"

Lhín is just trying to track everything. She can't really help with the fight, but if the mantises turn invisible again she can point out where they are.

The second assassin is stunned! They're powerful enough to ignore the worst of it, but Tencednil's color spray is quite hard to resist.

The first guard flicks the dazzling light off his halberd at the assassin. It doesn't seem to affect them.

He swings at them and strikes true against their side!

The first assassin swings their two serrated swords three times in a single moment. The first guard's neck is sliced clean open. He collapses to the ground.

The other two attacks bounce off the captain's armor.

Captain Paras lunges forward with his halberd. His strike bounces of the assassin's armor.

The second guard attacks from behind. Unfortunately, he misses.

The second assassin is stunned. They do nothing.

The third guard is bleeding out on the ground.

The fourth guard slams his halberd into the stunned assassin. That looked like it hurt.