“Where's my drink?!” I bellowed the question as I strode boldly across the corridor and came nose to nose with a surprised guard. His arms rose instinctively to push me away and I slipped my knife hand around under his elbow and jerked it hard toward my own chest. It sank deep and must have hit a kidney as he didn't make a sound, eyes widened, face shocked, breath stilled. Not a sound came out of him, his body gone rigid as every muscle contracted, back arched slightly. I let go the knife and dropped my hand to the hilt of his sword, stepping back and pulling it clear.
His partner had not been completely taken by surprise. “What the..” he had started to say, shutting up when he saw his soon-to-be-dead companion's reaction. He knew what a killing thrust looked like and was pulling his own sword free at the same time as my stolen blade cleared.
Cantrips are useless but if your beard suddenly ignites it can be a bit distracting. An all over body flinch was enough of a reaction to allow me to stab him in the throat, knocking the emerging shout of surprise right out of him.
And there I was. A man alone in hostile surroundings, somewhat tipsy, with a sword in his hand, looking up and down the corridor and knowing that he was absolutely doing the right thing. As long as I kept moving, kept sowing the seeds of chaos, kept the enemy reacting to my actions, everything would pan out. Or not, as Sapphire had said. For the second time I had an insight into his thinking and grinned happily as I strode boldly down the corridor looking for someone to make react to me. Just like pain, winning doesn't matter. Just as life is pain, so too is life action.
So act!