And so it began with the first round of fireworks bursting bright and colorful in the night sky.

Nirayane took to the rooftops just as the others scattered and carried on with their appointed tasks in this meticulously crafted late evening bedlam.  With the velocity of a maelstrom, she darted across the terra-cotta plated roofs while her hawk Dmitri soared close by calling into the night and beating his majestic, gilded wings.  Nirayane produced from her leather quiver an arrow, blunt at the tip, but that was the rule, no killing, no bloodshed...at least not this night, and though Nira went along with it, she only wished next time her steel arrowheads could taste fresh blood.  However, though blunt as an ancient, rusty parring knife, the arrow could still do quite a bit of damage, just if the elf knew where to aim.  She singled out two of the guards lumbering through the alleyway, their swords and their spades glinting dangerous in the pale light of the moon, but with two swift arrows delivered with the wind of Veralyn at their backs, the men dropped, not dead no, out cold as Nirayane heard the satisfying *ding* of her arrows striking their helms something fierce and rattling their brains.  She had done so with the next batch of guardsmen before making her way towards the next row of houses with a swift leap across the alleyway.

[i]There![/i]  Nira commanded to her feathered ally with a shrill bird's whistle and a finger pointed towards the armor clad figure prowling through the roads in search of blood, Hotarubi's blood.  Dmitri knew just what she meant, and without warning the hawk dove upon the guard as he would a scampering field rat trying to escape his sharp, ebony talons, such talons that were clawing at the meaty face of the fat guardsman, cantankerously him squawking, [b]"Agh!  By the gods!  Get!  Get this bloody bird off me!"[/b]  Successfully he was able to shoo the hawk away, but not as successful to stop the arrow soaring for his head.  *Thunk!*  The dart hit its mark and like a freshly fallen tree the fat guard fell before Hotarubi, before his sword could even sink into her flesh.  Nirayane will make note to remind the woman she owed her for that save.