As soon as she ran into the rather menacing group of strangers, Verena jumped and looked up. Her first reaction was to begin apologizing at the same time as the stranger, face flushed as she avoided eye contact, but she took several steps back once the now threatening stranger pointed out her circlet.<br/><br/>Verena nervously laughed, hands flying to hold her circlet securely on her head.<br/>“Oh, you know, family heirloom. It’s just a common metal tempered to look more fancy than it actually is.” Verena swallowed anxiously and smiled in a clearly forced manner. The assassin advanced towards her, brow darkening as he recognized her circlet with more certainty.<br/>“Give it here, I’d like to look at it.” The threatening command elicited a squeak from Verena as she glanced behind her.<br/>“I think, I should go now, I have things to be doing in places that aren’t here.” she said, barely audible. Leaving was probably her best option right now, as things were clearly about to get violent.<br/><br/>Just as Verena started to back away, Vasma’s blast of wind hit the assassins. Taking advantage of their state, Verena turned around all the way and made a break for it. While the assassins began to recover from the surprise attack, she squeezed between Vasma and Tarkus, reaching for her short sword. Her initial thought had been to simply leave the tavern as quickly as possible and get on her steed to leave, but she felt a sense of obligation since Vasma had assisted her.<br/><br/>Drawing her short sword all the way from her pack, she tossed her bags off to the side and turned around, looking up at Tarkus and Vasma, and then to the assassins.