December 15th
2004 A.D.
Three Mutes Pub
Azer

Finn hustles up the narrow staircase, the clomp of each footstep only partially masking out the noise from the patrons below.  He was late, in short, due to a complete misestimation of how much time it would take him to cross the market, hike a few blocks, and then enter a pub, one which he had never even heard of, at dusk.  Who the hell shopped for wares at dusk anyway?.  The whole fucking town it seemed.  The bazaar had been packed with locals as well as what seemed a heap of foreigners.  Sure, it was coming on the Christmas Festival and all, but who had seen that coming?  What would normally take Finn just a few moments ended up being a brutal battle of wills between him and each individual that would get in his way - he nudged and sidestepped, shouldered in and shoved as much as he was able to finally make his way across only to find that finding his quarry here in the pub had been more difficult than he imagined.  Firstly, the space had been nearly as packed as the streets a block over with each table filled and many standing at the bar between the barstools.  When he asked the bar wench where he could find 'Dirk' the woman shrugged him off with a look of hatred as she balanced a tray of fourteen beers atop a single hand.  Even when he finally managed to hail the barkeep, it took the man a few moments before Finn offered "I'm here for a job." which seemed to jog his memory.  He pointed to the thin staircase behind the bar and rumbled "Room five." before he went off to pour another pint.

A Job.  Indeed that was the reason why Finn was here, though it didn't really speak much to the near dire situation that had come to pass.  Surely, he was clothed and fed and he made his way well enough to avoid starvation but his funds had become decidedly lacking in the past few months and a friend had put him in touch here to try and alleviate the situation.  "They're looking for good help and they pay well.  Don't doubt you'll get more offers if you do well on your first.  Finn can still feel the words rattling around in his head, though he is still not entirely sure what he was getting himself into.  Felix had been evasive, dodging Finn's questions with subtlety before he was entirely outright.  In the end Finn had come out with little more than with what he had started, they paid well and they were looking for help.

Finn reaches the top step and rounded the corner into another narrow hallway, this one lined with shaded windows on the left hand side and a set of doorways on the right, counting up from one.  At the end of the hallway, the number five is nailed in and Finn knocks gently and waits a moment before he pushes the doorway open.

Half expecting a bedroom atop the pub, Finn is not entirely surprised with the small twin nestled in the corner of the room.  The rest of the room, however seems to be dedicated to more office like aspects.  There are a few chairs lining the middle and a large desk towards the back left corner.  Of more interest however, is the company that is sitting here with him.  To his right in one of the chairs is a striking young woman, strawberry blonde and blue eyed, fair skinned though her face seems permanently creased in a serious manner.  Behind the desk is an older man, waspishly thin with the traces of pepper now ubiquitous through what would have once been entirely black hair and beard.

"Well."  Starts the Gentleman.  "Speak of the Devil and he shall appear."  Though Finn knows his tardiness is somewhat more than slight, it seems that the grin on the old man's face is genuine.  "Finn, I presume?  And I think you would know me as Dirk?"

OOC:  This is the exclusive thread for Finn Razzel.  There are several chairs about that you can take to sit in.  Feel free to write as much or as little as you want here, I'm just trying to give you a voice before I start talking for you too much.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:25, Sun 26 May 2019.

Finn rushes through the crowded market cursing under his breath at his bad luck.  He never cared much for being precisely on time, he'd never had a job cancelled from being late which seemed to happen to him often despite his efforts to avoid it, and this time he felt no different.  Though truth be told this kind of job was different.  In his younger days he took odd jobs washing dishes, delivering notes as a message courier, hocking wares as a street vendor and one time he even dressed up in costume as a stage actor in some abysmal play.  One thing they all had in common was that not one paid more than a few days of room and board.

In his mid twenties, after years of study and rigorous practice the young man finally has what he considers to be an impressive resume of talents.  While denied entrance to the prestigious school of magic because of his common birth status he has done well for himself, learning a cantrip here and a simple spell there from whatever teacher he could afford at the time.  And while he's no gladiatorial celebrity with a knife he can hold his own.  It's time he reckons to put his skills out and let someone bid on them.  It took weeks but Felix finally found him a job with the promise of more if he does well, and the lean yet nimble young hedge wizard couldn't be happier.

He saunters into the room with a cocky grin on his face.  ”Ya.  Finn.  That's me, a'right.”  His smile fades as he has to admit his tardiness.  ”Heya there Dirk.  Sorry about bein' late but the market was hell.”

He sits down next to the woman as he wonders what role she plays in this little caper.


OOC:
Take a seat next to the fetching woman.

Shake hands in greeting or the appropriate equivalent.

"Good."  Dirk says without delay, ushering Finn to take a seat as he is already half way into his chair.  The door still ajar, Dirk stands and moves behind the other two, pushing it closed.  "Prying ears and all." the man says with a grin before he moves to retake his seat.

The moment gives Finn a chance to look over at the woman sitting beside him.  She returns the glance with a half smile though she returns her attention to Dirk near immediately.

"Finn, Mary.  Mary, Finn."  Dirk offers as he sits back down.  "Assuming you accept, the two of you will be working together on a little job for me.  It is sensitive in nature and as such I have taken steps to keep it from blowing back on us: Finn here does not know enough of us yet to be a risk, Mary, at the moment, is simply a ghost."  Dirk smiles at the woman pleasantly before he continues.  "That is why the two of you were chosen if you are curious.  It provides the most protection for us...  Needless to say, it is never a good idea to get caught but I would especially discourage it for this particular piece of work."

Dirk stands up again.  And Finn can't help but notice how the older man's movements seem sprightly for his age.  Though he has only been in the room for a moment, Dirk does not seem comfortable to remain in any singular place, like he is channeling a restless energy.  Finn rests his chin on a hand while he follows the older man's pace behind the desk.

"There is a ship that will reach harbor today, the expectation is that it will come in with the afternoon tide, sometime around five twenty.  It is a merchant vessel named Ivory Winds from Myrgan carrying mostly Sahudeese trade goods, spices, livestock and whatnot.  However, more importantly, my sources tell me there is an alchemist of some infamy on this ship as well and that he is to head from the harbor to the fortified spaces of the Templar's College before he is to meet officials there from Megalos.  I want you to kidnap this man, unharmed preferably though I would not complain over a few scrapes.  I have been assured that this man will be traveling under guard and I do not think it wise to try and tackle them head on.  Therefore, I have chosen mages," Dirk spreads out his hands, palm up in a gesture to each of Finn and Mary, "To accomplish the task.  Deceive, delay, reroute, and in the end deliver our friend to one of the operational safehouses.  Mary, you know the usual ones, Tuesday is in use though.  Complete this task and I will pay twenty gold marks to split between the two of you or the equivalent in any equipment that you can take from the guild."

Dirk pauses for a moment, his hands now resting on the top of the desk as he leans over towards Finn and Mary.  "I think I have made myself clear, but allowing yourselves to be captured is unwise.  I do not think I have liabilities in this, but the two of you most certainly will.  If you find yourself in a situation where your choices are to run or to press your luck with a physical brawl, I assure you that you should run."

OOC:  A gold mark is the equivalent of $200, so twenty of them would be $4000 to split between the two of you.

Finn Razzel enters the room with a certain swagger.  True, he's had some set backs.  Like the time he was hired to act as courier for a family heirloom and he dropped it, and then there was the time he got a job as a bodyguard and he accidentally stabbed his client.  But he was younger then, inexperienced.  That was then, this is now.  This are looking up, he can feel it in his bones.

Immediately his gaze goes to the woman.  Beautiful she is.  Blonde hair, blue eyes and very pretty.  He smiles and inwardly hopes that he'll be working with her.  Under her...on top of her, its all good.

Razzel seats himself close to the woman but not so near to be creepy and listens to the old man as he watches the geezer move around.  Part of his brain is absorbing the details of the job and the rest of his mind is noting the man's flexibility.  He's rather spry.  Wonder what his secret is.  Magic?  Good sex?  Big bag of shrooms?

The briefing for the job is short and sweet.  Kidnap a man.  Don't let him get hurt too much.  Steal him away to a safehouse.  Don't get caught and above all don't fight with his guards.  Easy.

Finn has spent a small fortune on teachers and trainers of the magical arts.  His grimiore isn't what he'd call stupendous but its a damned good start for someone his age and for having been born without a silver spoon in his mouth.  But as he thinks over the particulars he is woefully reminded of the mediocrity of his spell gamut.  Cantrips is how most would be described.  What this job needs he reckons is a wizard capable of real power.  Teleportation.  Mind control.  The power to put multiple targets to sleep.  All of these things are in his list of wishes to be learned someday, but sadly, that day is not here.  So he'll have to do with cantrips, quick wit and a fast tongue.  Perhaps Mary has some talent for these things he thinks hopefully.

As he goes down his list in his mind looking for helpful magics he begins to sort his spells into two piles;  helpful, and shit.  Unfortunately the shit pile is much bigger.  And as he engages in this minor exercise his mouth begins to salivate over the reward.  Did he say twenty gold marks?  Why yes Finn, I believe he did! Razzel is already greedily spending the coin in his mind as a deep rooted hunger draws him to this job and these partners.  Nothing could turn him away now.

"Good."  Dirks smiles as he sees he has two eager hands for the work.  "I will not dictate the how or when, but I think that you will be on a fairly tight window.  Like I said, the ship is scheduled to arrive at high tide.  Our informants are fairly certain that they will take the most direct route, which would mean passing from the port just west of the markets through the merchant district, past the cathedral and then up the road to the mage's college.  I will leave it up to you where you wish to spring the trap.  If you wish more assets, I can work to get them for you between now and then, but we are on a fairly tight timeline so nothing extravagant...  Well."  He pauses for a moment, stopping the his pacing behind the desk as he turns his head to look at the two new recruits.  "If you have nothing for me I will leave you to it."

OOC:  I realize that I've left quite an open window here so I'll try and summarize points that I think might be pertinent.

1.  If you want resources, equipment, things to set traps or anything else, now is the time to ask.  When I fast forward, it may likely be too late to try and get even the easiest equipment you may find you need.

2.  Probably the next step of your mission will be scouting.  For the sake of simplicity there are four general locations that you could lay your ambush, the port, the merchant district, the Cathedral, or the road to the Mage's College.  General information is posted below that you would know.

a. Port:  It is a fairly busy location in general, port police and city officials work there all times of day to impose taxes and protect against smugglers.  There are multiple roads leading in all directions (towards the east or away from the water).  It would be easy to find a safehouse near here.
b. Merchant District:  It is a very busy section of the city which would dictate multiple witnesses but also an easier time blending back into the crowd.  There are multiple roads leading in all directions.  It would be easy to find a safehouse near here.
c. Cathedral:  It is a lightly trafficked area of the city that includes some inns and businesses and the cathedral.  There are a few roads leading back to the southwest (towards the city) and one road leading towards the northeast (to the college).  It would be possible to find a safehouse near here.
d. Road to the college:  It is a lightly trafficked region between the city and college.  There is only the one road, but there are sparse woods and other features along the way.  It would be difficult to find a safehouse nearby.

If you want to know more, or have a GM opinion as to the best place for it, roll vs. Observation (defaults to Per-5) and/or vs. Survival Urban (defaults to IQ-5).  The one big thing that may hamstring you will be that you probably won't be sure who the person is unless you watch the disembarking of the ship.  Let me know where you want to go next and I'll fast forward.

Finn sits in his chair one leg over the other, his hands resting comfortably in his lap, and the young man of twenty five summers is not aware of the 'old man' pose he's struck.  He is lost in thought over the job particulars, the source and the woman.

If he didn't know better Razzel would guess that this comes from the shadowy collective of thief's known as Murderers Row, to his delight.  Being that he isn't of high social standing there are little grand opportunities for someone like him and for a year or two he's had his mind on this organization but until now contact has eluded him.  He smiles brightly, hoping that his hunch is correct.

And Finn chances another glance at the pretty woman.  She is striking, that she is.  Having one around who knows how to use it, and magic?  Finn giggles inwardly at the thought of a long, lucrative cooperation.

Now his mind begins to organize what he knows and what he needs to know, when the buyer tries to excuse himself.  ”Ahhhhh...”, Finn says politely as he raises a single finger into the air.  ”A moment if you don't mind Dirk.  So let me understand what you want.  A ship called the Ivory Winds is docking around five and twenty?  And among other things aboard is an alchemist that you'd like us to kidnap?  You said he, I assume this is a man?  And I assume you have a sketching of him?
This message was last edited by the player at 03:08, Mon 27 Feb 2017.

"Of course."  Dirk says pleasantly to Finn's request, plopping himself back down upon his chair, hands folded over his knee.  He listens to Finn's statements and nods along appreciatively.  "Yes that pretty well sums it up.  And yes it is a man you are after, but I'm afraid the sketch isn't possible.  You see, our information about the alchemist is rather incomplete, I honestly couldn't even tell you what his name is.  However, you can be assured that he, and his protection, are the only people on that vessel apart from the crew.  If that means you must be there when the ship docks to determine who you are after, so be it.  However, the road to the college is not well traveled except by students and faculty on liberty, it is my guess that it is unlikely that you will mistake your mark for someone else when he is traveling under guard."

Mary guffaws at the statement, her laugh unexpectedly open and vigorous.  "Dirk, I think I can save us the time.  I saw a rather dashing man walking outside, or I'm sure that Finn is quite impressive with Hellshark blood and rattlesnake eggs.  Who are you to know the difference for your twenty marks if you know nothing of him?"

Dirk's eyes narrow, though his smile widens playfully on his mouth.  "I'll know Mary, as I always do, based on the reaction.  If the Templars explode when this man is removed from their charge I shall know we have succeeded beyond our wildest hope.  If they carry on as if nothing happened, then my coin was wasted.  As with any good merchant who is haggling for an item he has never bought, I'm waiting to see how interested my competition is to know the value of what I have.  But based on what I have heard, I think my money will be well spent."  He turns his head back to Finn, the moment of seriousness over.  "Any other questions?"

Finn almost forgets who's offering the job and that for going on two years he's wanted to work with them.  Can this old man be serious?  They want a man kidnapped and they know not his name or appearance?  But then Dirk relays that aside from the crew the alchemist and his bodyguards should be the only people aboard.  This helps Razzel relax enough to keep from shooting off his mouth.

Then the young man's curiosity is piqued.  ”Eh.  Competition.  Can we expect any?  You think others will take a special interest in this man's work and want him in the same way?”


OOC:
Other than Mary casting doubt her comment went way over my head.   Would Finn understand what the hell she's talking about with blood and eggs?

We don't need to RP this but Finn would ask about safehouses – he'd want to know what's available to be able to plan around them.  If we snatch the mark and his guards give chase Finn feels that dragging this guy miles through a busy market is asking for trouble.  Better to only port him a few blocks.

Dirk scratches his chin as Finn asks about competition.  "No, I don't think so, Graves has most of this town paid for but what we are slowly chipping away at.  Besides, I'd say there are very few people that know he was coming at all so that helps out.  I think your only worries are the guards he's coming with, along with whatever bystanders might do if things get too rough."

OOC:  Alchemy generally uses exotic ingredients such as monster blood and snake eggs.  Mary is suggesting that you could fiddle your way around Alchemy well enough for Dirk to not know the difference.

As for safe houses, they are around.  One of the most important aspects in the Row is making a clean get away and they are well invested.  There's no need to bog down your planning around them.

Finn fires off another question, as fast as they come he's popping them out.  ”What can you tell us about his guard other than to run like hell?  Do we need to worry about magic?”

Dirk shakes his head, but doesn't seem entirely committal with his answer.  "I don't think so, It's possible the Templars will be there, and of course they would have magic.  However, if he has his own guards, I don't think they would make the trip.  I suppose it's possible his guards are magical and if he's an alchemist it's entirely possible he has his own skills but none of my reports mention anything about magical capabilities...  I guess I expect no, but I don't know for sure."

Finn's face is steeped in seriousness as he nods and wrinkles his lips, a classic sign of a man deep in thought.  He talks slowly as if he's working out his question as the words come tumbling out.  "Is this alchemist known to carry his tools on him?  Can we expect to be the targets of, oh I dont know, a love potion or a sickness cloud?"

Finn waits patiently for the mans answer and then asks another query.  "Does he...uh this alchemist have anything we can exploit?  A scorned lover?  A vice?  Some almost forgotten adversary?"

OOC:
I think thats about all i need from Dirk, unless my last series of questions turned up something major.  Otherwise we can move to a montage of me and Mary planning our assult while some cool song plays.  We need a hero from Footloose?  I will survive?

Dirk reaches up to his chin, rubbing the end of his jaw between two of his fingers as he thinks.  "No, I don't think so.  His guard is there to prevent against attack, I would put my efforts into distracting or disabling them.  I do not think the alchemist will give you as much trouble, but by all means subdue if you have concerns.  As for weaknesses, we do not know of any, although I can attempt to get more information to you by the time you make your attack.  We've been trying to find as much as we can and so far have come up very much short.  It is one of the reasons that I think this job is so important.  If he were simply some minor genius or even a local huckster, finding information would not be this hard."

---

Perhaps thirty minutes later, Mary has shown Razzel to one of the safehouses, Saturday as she calls it, which ends up being a small room in the corner of a building atop a spice merchant's shop.  Mary removes the false wall, ushering him in before she beings to place the boards back into their fitting.

Razzel can't help but marvel at the construction and thought put into the safe house, though it is small, the floors and walls are lined with a paste of sorts that deadens all the sounds of the outside world.  The only window showing the outside world is somewhat crusted over and heavily curtained, though Razzel can make out the details of the outside world surprisingly well when he presses his face closely to the glass.  In the corner is a stand-up cabinet with two opening doors.  The top contains a pantry of sorts that has enough food and water for the two of them for over a week along with a few bottles that are marked as various anxiety and restorative draughts.  Below that is filled with all sorts of equipment from climbing gear, to lock picks, facemasks and small, handheld weapons.  A veritable thieves' treasure trove.

The furniture in the room is meager, with a single cot and another thin-legged chair that backs up against one of the walls.

"Well,"  Mary starts.  "What's the plan?"

OOC:  Dirk basically agrees to send you whatever information he is able to find over the next few hours.  He doesn't make it sound likely.  What do you want to do for your planning sessions.  I realize there are a lot of geographic details that would be important for planning but that I'm glossing over for simplicity of not creating an entire city from scratch.  We can do as much or as little as you want.  The one thing I will definitely need is where you plan on setting the trap in one of the following:

Port
Merchant's District
by the Cathedral
Road to the College

Finn nods his head to the old man as the woman and young man exit the meeting.  There is a certain smug smile worn on the young mans features.  If his hunch is correct he is now employed by the infamous Murderers Row, and, if this job goes well there will be more.  Alot more.  And that means more money for more arcane teachers.  He can quite literally buy his way to power.  Within a few short years Finn will be one of those people who walks down the street and people get out of his way.  They may not know his name but they know that he is to be feared and respected.

Mary introduces the lad to the safehouse, this one is called Saturday.  Interesting..., he thinks.  Days of the week, he heard Dirk mention something about Tuesday being off limits.  I wonder if all the other days exist.  And what if they ever get more than seven?  What then?  Colors?  The names of months?

But he does not ask.  He is busy taking in the sights, hungrily observing the trappings of this hidden place.  Food, weapons, tools of the trade.  These people are smart and have reasonably deep pockets.  More than ever he wants to be a part of them, so badly.

And then Mary gets straight to it.  Finn wrinkles his face as if he's sucked on a lemon.  ”Don't know 'bout you but I never 'tempted some'in like this.  But I don't 'spect that should make no matter.  I like the idea that we don't have to carry this potion man far.  And I like the idea of a big crowd to get lost in.  The open road sounds sweet as pie, but, its the fucking open road.  I aint keen on running with some fattie over my shoulder and nowhere to hide for a mile.  So what you say darlin', can we agree on the market?”


OOC:
I forgot that during character creation I wanted to have a particular accent and forgot to write it during Finn's first few posts.  So this isn't him faking an accent for Mary's benefit, this is the way I meant him to sound all along.

My plan as the player is to play out the planning phase of the job, one issue at a time.  First, where do we set our trap(s).  Finn votes for the merchant district.  He likes that the 'hit' would be near the safehouse which means you aren't exposed (toting around a kidnap victim) for a long amount of time.  Its also nice to have lots of stuff to use.  The crowds make it easier to hide.  Lots of things we could do for illusions that fit the market scene.

Mary giggles slightly at Finn's accent, but forces a straight face as best she can, the corners of her mouth fighting a loosing battle at feigning seriousness.  "No, I don't think it should make no matter."

She sits down on the spindle-legged chair, throwing one leg over the other one as she lazes slightly backward in the chair.

"Yeah, I like the merchant district.  I think we need to have someone watching the ship come in though.  Dirk said we might know him regardless, but I'm not interested in kidnapping some poor sop that looks like he might have a potion or two on him.  Especially if we do this in the merchant district, there's going to be plenty of people of there and we need to know who to grab.  So that would leave us with a few options I guess.  We could both watch the ship, wait to see our mark, and then go to set up the trap, or either one of us could be in each place, one setting things up while the other figures out who we are going after.  What kind of magic you got that you think will help?"

OOC:  One issue at a time is fine.  I'll keep working Mary with the things that she'd likely think of.

Finn smiles at the woman as she giggles, he returns her smile naturally not really knowing its source.  She is pretty and who doesn't appreciate when an attractive person smiles at you.

He listens to Mary as she speaks openly of their conundrum and some of the more obvious difficulties.  His face is thoughtful until she asks about his experience.  He face sours slightly.  ”I ain't exactly what you'd call a Bermguatner but I know a few good tricks.  Ehhhh, pro'lly the best I got is I can turn into a sweet little birdie.  Brown and white flecked falcon.  I could perch up high and pop our fattie potion man the minute he sets foot on dry ground, then wing it way ahead of 'im.”

Razzel pauses to think for a minute. ”Got a taste of most of the different flavors of magic.  I know my way around Healing, and I can whip up a ghost 'a your maw or a copy 'a your pet dog.”

Then Finn turns his attention to where she began.  ”You think we should split up?  One of us at the pier and one where we're gonna peel him off?”


OOC:
Bermguatner is a very well known painter who lived 100 or so years ago.  He excelled at art that appears to be three dimensional and kicked off a revolution in that art form.  Finn is saying he is more of an apprentice and not a master (of magic).  GM, I made this up for sake of RP.  If its not ok lemme know and I'll edit it out.

In terms of mechanics what Finn is saying is that he is a jack of all trades and master of none when it comes to spells.  He knows a few good healing spells, a basic illusion and shape shift - falcon.  He'll also say he knows Apportation.  Those of are the ones he thinks will be most useful.

Finn doesn't yet have a solid plan but since we don't know what the alchemist looks like he thinks its not unwise for both of us to scout the pier from different angles.  This way we have two eyes on the people leaving the boat and the biggest advantage is that if he is obvious, both of us knows what he looks like from the start.

Its kind of obvious that we need some kind of diversion to distract the guards so we can kidnap the alchemist.  But what?

Mary taps her chin thoughtfully, "A shapeshifter eh?"  She thinks out loud.  "I think at least you are our ready made scout.  I'd say it's an easy answer to put you at the docks to see the ship pull in.  Then no matter how fast our alchemist is traveling you'll be able to outpace them to get back to wherever we are setting our trap.  I'd offer to go too, but I don't have any means of traveling that fast and I'd worry that I wouldn't have enough time to set up."

Mary sits and thinks for a moment, he face twitching as if she is wrestling with internal thoughts.  "Well."  She starts again finally.  "I've been thinking about how to pull this off, and it's pretty clear we are going to need some sort of distraction, while the other person does the grabbing.  I think my skillset is pretty ready made for distraction."  She winces at the thought.  "I won't say I'm the best, but I'm a damn fine illusionist and can conjure up things that seem so real they trick people's minds into feeling pain and seeing blood.  It's pretty neat actually."  She smiles at the thought of imaginary carnage.  "I've got a few other spells that might help, mostly earth flavored, but I could make you run faster too if needed to help move the alchemist along.  I'd say the best general plan is for you to scout until they are ready to move out, then fly off to meet me and give me the details, you rest up while I drum up a distraction, and you make the move to grab him..."  She sighs outwardly.  "I suppose that still leaves out a lot of specifics and some pretty glaring holes of things we don't know, but fuck, it's ten gold marks a piece!  I feel like making up some of this on the fly is worth the risk...  What else can you think of?

OOC:  No worries about making stuff up on the fly like that so long as it doesn't have any relevance to the mechanics or specific history that may have relevance to the timeline.  For your information, the game world Yrth actually does have some connections to our Earth.  Humans were transported through an enormous magical storm, called the Banestorm, mostly between the periods of 1050 to 1200.  That essentially means that everyone in this game world is familiar with gothic architecture, and pre-renaissance painting and sculpture.  Several smaller iterations of the Banestorm (similar to aftershocks to an earthquake) have taken place since them that have transported singular people or houses to Yrth as opposed to entire villages.  Short story long, it wouldn't have been out of the question to say M.C. Escher as opposed to Bermguatner.  For there probably was someone who some schmuck who had his house world-jumped into Yrth and who could have sold printings of Escher's works as if they were originals (and then done forgeries of them himself, passed off under a false name!).  Just trying to say you don't need to create things on your own if you don't want to have to remember what you said earlier.

As far as the mission, Mary is basically saying that she has some moderately powerful illusion magic as well as the spell Haste to make you move faster if needed.  She's also suggesting that she has a moderate understanding of the earth college.  She's offering to be the distraction but that would necessitate you making the grab.  Don't feel like you are required to accept this arrangement and the two of you can rework the plan however it make the most sense to you.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:27, Mon 20 Mar 2017.

Finn stands and walks around the space taking in the accoutrements.  Weapons, armor, food,  basic gear and medical supplies. Again he appreciates the forethought and deep pockets that this organization brings.  He searches the stash for booze and finds none.  He is about to ask when it occurs to him, they people stock these places for functionality.  Survival, not entertainment.

He turns to look at Mary as she wraps up her speech on his aerial reconnaissance.  ”Sure thing Miss Mary.  I'll be the eye in the sky.  Wing it back and report before they've made it half way to the market.”

Now Finn selects a nice hunk of yellow, dry cheese.  The flavor is bland yet has a faint bite to it.  He listens to his partner and then sighs.  ”Like I said I aint no Bermguatner.  I done a few jobs but nothin' fancy.  But that's about the way they all go.  Plan all ya want but shit don't always go as planned.  Life is like a big fuckin' rock rollin' down hill.  If you don't move you're gonna be tomorrow's buzzard shit.”

He nibbles on the last bits of cheese while he thinks over what she said.  ”Illusion.  Great stuff.  I don't mind grabbin' while you distract...but...I was hopin' we'd come up with somethin' that'd make 'em leave the potion man alone, and we could both grab 'im.  'Cause I keep thinkin' like, if I had to escort a job what would make me leave 'im alone, even for a minute.”

Razzel eyes the woman and clearly she isn't thinking what he is.  He flashes a smile.  ”Take a big 'ol stinky dump is what.  Then what if my job comes out but it aint 'im...it just looks like 'im.  And I follow 'im, but it aint the real 'im.  Follow me?”


OOC:
How common are magic users in this world?  Just wondering the odds of us running into someone else who can wield magic, whether its one of the alchemists guards, passersby, etc.

What Finn is proposing is some kind of distraction where the guards go left and the alchemist goes right.  We both grab the alchemist and get him to the safehouse.  Hopefully a decent lead is all we need to go away.  So, in this world I assume there are public bathrooms?  If not multi-stall rooms what about single person outhouses like modern port-o-potties?  A wooden stall about the size of an older era telephone booth?  What if we could make him need to go to the bathroom?  Then an illusionary version of him comes out and the guards follow the illusion?  Then we grab the alchemist?  Or even better, Mary makes us look like the guards and the alchemist follows us straight to the safe house?

Edited my post to reflect that the safehouse is not stocked with alcohol.

This message was last edited by the player at 05:53, Tue 21 Mar 2017.

Mary thinks on Finn's suggestion, nodding slowly.  "Ok, I suppose I could do that."  She bites her lower lip though for a moment in self doubt.  "But it all comes down to how well they know each other - If the guard are just hired hands it shouldn't be too difficult to make them believe that my illusion is their man, but there might be something I don't know or some slight detail that I miss that might give the whole thing up right away...  I suppose any trick we do is going to be risky and at least if the trap is non-violent we always have the option to walk away if things fail..."  She taps her chin for a moment still trying to work out the flaws in her mind, though her expression seems somewhat less concerned now, as if she is coming around to Finn's plan.

"How do we make him need to shit himself though?"  But as she is thinking on it she suddenly bursts into laughter.  It takes her some fifteen seconds before she calms down enough to continue.  "I do have a spell that could squeeze his asshole so hard that he'd shit himself, but I'd need to touch him to do it - and then he wouldn't need to go to a toilet so much as buy all new clothes.  Do you think that would get the same results you are looking for?"

OOC:  Couple of things.  All the stuff in the cupboard is primarily functional as opposed to lavish.  There might be a small round of hard cheese (dipped in wax for preservation) but it probably isn't delicious so much as better than average and filling.  Most of the foods there go for shelf-life rather than taste, there is a lot of wayfarer bread, some cereal style bars (oats, whole softened wheat/barley, dried fruit, honey and whatnot) wrapped in cloth, assorted dried goods and a whole lot of water.  There is definitely no wine or other alcohol.  There are painkillers in the realm of normal NSAIDS or some other stronger drugs there, not to mention sleeping/restorative draughts, narcotic style pain killers and things of that nature.  No need to edit your last post if you don't want to, but this place is here for a very specific purpose which isn't necessarily to impress, but to get the job done and keep people from being entirely miserable.

After thinking on your idea, Mary is pretty happy with the end result.  She's basically suggesting casting Spasm on him (she has the spell) in order to make him shit/piss himself.  The spell requires touch.  As soon as he went to clean himself up it could leave him by himself for a bit which would allow Mary to make an illusion of him to send back out to the guards.  She could after that in theory, make another couple of illusions of the guards to have the alchemist follow, but we are starting to talk about a lot of spell casting requirements which may leave her completely drained or requiring rest before you make it back to the safe house.

As for your question on bathrooms, it's sort of an in the middle.  The city does have a sewer system that is built below the city and slopes down towards the harbor, draining the waste out into the waters of the Megalan Ocean.  However, 'public restrooms' aren't really a thing and quite a few people do not have their own toilets and as such throw their filth out of their windows at night into the back alleys.  Most businesses/inns will be connected to the sewer lines and all of the upper class residences are the same.  Usually it is just the lower income housing and slums that do not have access to the sewers.  Running water is obviously not a thing.

Finns eyes narrow and his face scrunches up a bit.  ”Good point.  Didn't think 'a that.  If they're friends it might be hard to trick 'em.  Annnnnnd, I think you're right.  No matter how much we plan somethin's gonna go caca and we're gonna be wingin' it.

Razzel walks back to the assortment of goods supplied by the proprietors of this wonderful safehouse, he runs a finger along the stash of goods and frowns slightly when he spies the absence of drink.  Apparently their goal was more safety than fun.

Then Mary asks the obvious question.  "How do we make him need to shit himself though?" Finn sighs.  ”Don't know.”  She continues to explain what she can offer and asks if that would work.  ”I dunno.  When I said 'make 'im shit 'imself' I wasn't exactly bein' literal.  I was tryin' to think of what would make him get away from his dogs, long enough for us to dupe 'em with a fake.  I just can't think of another way to make 'em split up.”

Finn raises his hand to his face and begins tapping a finger to his lips.  ”But...I guess it don't have to be magic.  We could split 'em the old fashioned way.   What if a horse came chargin' at 'em?  And the dogs had to push 'im back outta the way?  Or maybe we could get a girl to snatch and grab?”


OOC:
Edited my post to reflect that the safehouse is not stocked with alcohol.  Good to know.

What I was kind of getting at with the whole outhouse thing was this.  In our modern world if you're out away from your house and you have to use a bathroom, typically there is a public restroom right there.  Restaurant, movie theatre, gas station, doctors office, shopping mall...almost anywhere you are, there is a public potty.  But what about this world?  When the common man is at the open market buying a chicken and some veggies, and suddenly he has to 'take the browns to the super bowl', what does he do?  Run into an inn?  Shit in the street?  This may seem like a silly point but I am trying to figure out if we have some predictability in where the alchemist will run if we can make him hear natures call.

'Snatch and grab' is thief lingo for pickpocket.  Finn is suggesting that they hire a young girl to run up, grab a pouch off their belt and run like hell, in the hopes that one of the guards will follow.

"Ah well."  Mary sighs as Finn declines he offer to make the alchemist soil himself.  "It would have been fun, something to laugh at later on even if it didn't work."

As Finn goes on for more options, Mary nods along with each.  "We could do the horse.  They aren't cheap, but I have a feeling I could wrangle one up, at least to rent between now and then.  I'm not really good at making them do what I want though.  An a snatch and grab would be easy enough, just bribe one of the kids on the street and I'm sure you could find someone that would do it for next to nothing.  Plenty of poor people begging down in that area, they don't even need to be any good, in fact the more obvious they are probably the better."  Mary sits back again thinking to herself.

"Whatever it is we need to give them something to focus on.  Someone robbing them, some illusion or horse attacking them, or else some other way to disorient them.  What do you think is best?"

OOC:  As to your potty question, it is a good one.  Remember, we are talking TL 3 in a place that isn't really a tourist mecca.  So while there certainly are public places to take a crap (bath houses, inns, upper end (walk in) shops and the like, most people who go to the market just manage their bowel movements a little better than we do nowadays.  If you absolutely have to piss, you can probably find an out of the way building where no one will mind that much (women probably with a little more difficulty) and likewise if you just have to take a shit, defecation in public probably happens every now and again in the less wealthy parts of town.  Like I said, the ability to transport waste through sewers exists, but everyone looks at bodily waste more as 'icky' than as a public health crisis.  I guess in short, you will probably pass a 'public' bathroom on your way from the port to the merchant district but the chances that it will be convenient to your plan and that the owner will be amenable to someone using it that isn't specifically buying/bathing/etc. in his business is unlikely.  Luckily for you though, I don't plan on making you shit in public in character, unless you really want to :)

As Mary sighs then comments that it could have been fun making the alchemist loose control of his bowels, it catches Finns attention.  He turns to look at the attractive woman almost quizzically, assuming that she'd have found the practice offensive.  ”It's always on the table.  Just didn't think you'd like it too much runnin' for your life after all that mana drain.”


OOC:
Thanks for the explanation on public waste.  I figured it boiled down to that – people just hold it in most cases and public urination, as long as its done tastefully, isn't that rare while public defecation is more rare.

Finn is open to the idea of still trying Spasm but the fundamental reason I poo-poo'ed the idea (yes, pun intended) is because Mary said to set it up would leave her drained.  In game terms I don't like the idea of cutting her move in half from spell casting.  But if it turns out to look like our best option, and she is for it, we can certainly try.  At this time other than what I said I don't have great ideas for distractions.

The horse is costly and therefore makes it risky.  I'm just thinking of every movie I've seen where someone uses a big object to block the road – a car, a bus, a horse drawn wagon, etc.  But there is no way to guarantee that a horse would cut them as we want, with the alchemist on one side and his guards on the other.  The hired pickpocket is about the best idea I have and Mary hit the high point, the more obvious the better.  Maybe what would be best is an attempt to steal the guards swords.  Grab the hilt, pull it and run like hell.  Finn would think out loud that a pouch containing 7 copper pieces isn't worth leaving the job to chase after, but my weapon is.  The hired thief wouldn't even have to make off with it – just run a few blocks with it and drop it.

Mary shrugs at the response.  "Mabye I can do it after we kidnap him, just for good measure."  She winks at Finn.  "After all, Dirk said he wanted the man unhurt, he didn't say anything about clean!"

OOC:  The mana drain discussion was more focused on the cost of making multiple illusions.  You had mentioned an illusion of the alchemist to fool the guards, and then subsequently another illusion of the guards to fool the alchemist (and then follow them back to the safe house).  I was mentioning that doing all of that after spasm would be draining.  Spasm itself is only a 2 FP spell.

Otherwise, Mary is on board with the thief strategy, is that what you want to plan for?  If so we can fast forward to setting up the heist (I'm assuming that you will set up the Merchant's district before you go to the port).  The first roll will be vs. Streetwise to find a scamp to draft into your plan.

Otherwise, we can keep planning until you find an idea that you like, don't feel pressured to keep things moving if a little more time would help.

When Mary suggests that there is always time to force the man to defecate in his own pants Finn laughs out loud.  He nods as he imagines them handing over the alchemist without a scratch on him and a full load of stinky, messy feces in his drawers.  That'll guarantee us another job, he thinks sarcastically to himself while chuckling.

Then for perhaps ten minutes Finn ponders their predicament – how to extricate the alchemist from his guards cleanly so that there is no chance of an armed conflict and dragging a kidnap victim blocks through a busy and crowded city market goes off like a breeze.  While in thought he mumbles to himself randomly.  Pieces of plans, single thoughts that when fleshed out utlimately have gaping holes.  ”...a giant weasel...no...ummm...two bearded lumberjacks...but how would we get them to drink the syrup?  Ok, if I had a trained goat, then I could...”

At the end Razzel for all his incomplete wondrous schemes cannot manufacture one solid foolproof plan which satisfies everything they want, which is the absence of drawing weapons, not too many spells and getting all of the guards to leave their client all alone even if for a minute.  Finn throws up his hands.  ”Well I'm stumped.  The best I got is scope the boat as a bird, fly back to you and have some kid we pay do a snatch and grab on the guards.  With luck it'll get one or two of 'em to run away.”


OOC:
Yup.  After a week of thinking I can't come up with a plan that doesn't work on some level.  The most I have at this time is for me to turn into a falcon and watch the boat.  Hopefully the alchemist and guards will be easy to spot, then I can fly back to where Mary is waiting and inform her.  We can set up at some earlier point to have a young kid run across them and steal something from one of the guards.  A weapon, a coin purse as long as its valuable.  And then we hope that the guards give chase and maybe Mary can use her magic on the remaining guards.

5:00pm December 15th
 2008 A.D.
 Merchant's District
 Azer

Though the sun has already set behind the menagerie of buildings and streets that lead to the market, the last gasps of daylight still cling in the darkening sky above.  To the west, over the port, the twinkling of the brightest stars has already begun.  A city workman is already making his way down one side of the street, lighting the high oil lamps that hang from posts on either side of the street with a bronze pole that has a burning wick protruding from the end.

At last, it seems, the two have found their spot, and none too soon.  For Finn Razzel has a mere twenty minutes to cement his plan to their chosen ambush site, change himself into a falcon, and then wing his way to the port to see the Ivory Winds make berth and take note of its crew and special passengers.  It is a mere half mile from the port that provides the widest and most direct (and most likely) path that the alchemist would follow.  The section they have chosen for is a mere two buildings long between alleyways.  On the north side is a pewter smith and a renown leatherworker, on the south side a carpenter and moneychanger.  Though darkness is starting to creep over the town, the early hour and moderate temperatures of the island climate have resulted in a good number of the cities peoples still wandering the streets.

Despite her playful attitude, Mary had gotten directly to business, seeming to find her mark immediately as the two cross from the market district to the merchant district.  It is a boy, somewhere near ten or eleven and innocent looking enough to get the jump on any but the most heartless of thugs.  Mary pays him two pennies for the work and sets him to waiting in one of the alleys for her signal.  "What else?"  She asks Finn, leaning herself against a side wall in one of the alleyways.

OOC: This is in general what the alley looks like.

  |  |         ||         |  |
__|M |____-____||____-____|  |____




__    ____ ____  ____ ____    ____
  |B |   -     ||    -    |  |
  |  |         ||         |  | 

M is where Mary is setting up, B is where the boy is setting up.  The Alchemist will be expected to be traveling from left to right down the street.  The closest alleyway to the west is another several houses down, to the right is about 50 yards.  West of this is the Port, East (actually the road turns northeast) is the cathedral and road to the college, North is the Nobles district, and south is the Market.  Mary made both her Streetwise and Fast Talk rolls with the kid to get him to do your bidding.  Let me know if there is anything else you want to do here before you transform and head to the dock.  Also, if you want to short cast your spell (be a falcon for less than an hour) let me know before you cast it.

PS.  I'm ashamed to say it took me about 30 minutes to do the above map.  Rubb code kept trying to make it a table.

As they walk from the safehouse towards the market Finn daydreams.  Is this the infamous Murderers Row?  He imagines himself being a full time hireling of the den of outliers, those men and women unburdened by the confining political system.  He smiles at the feeling of freedom this brings.  He fantasizes about working daily on these kinds of missions instead of the old garbage work he had, guard duty, picking up trash or delivering goods about the city.

During their jaunt to pick a suitable trap site Finn strikes up a casual conversation.  ”So you've worked for Dirk before?”

They enter the merchant district, the young man follows along and admires the woman as he watches her work.  In no time she has picked out a kid and struck a deal.  Finn is getting excited.  Its a nervous excitement, but still, the prospect of being a professional highwayman is thrilling!

"What else?", she asks.  Finn shrugs his shoulders.  ”Wish I knew.  I'm stymied Mary.  Guess we'll just work the problem as we feel our way 'round it?  K?”


OOC:
Finn is curious about Mary's association with Dirk.  He is trying to pry but not in a obvious way, though if she catches on he wont hide that he is basically asking if she works full time for The Row, without actually coming out and asking.  If she plays along he will ask follow up questions such as:  How long have you worked for them?  What kind of jobs?  If you'd rather play this out IC I'm fine with that.

I shoulda helped you with Maptools while I was down there.

From memory I can pre-set the spell to end early but I'd need to know the end time.  Right now there is no way to predict accurately how long I'll need.  So I'll just cast and if I need to change back before an hour I'll burn the FP.  How does it work in your world?  Does my gear change with me?  Or stay behind?

"For Dirk?"  She asks rhetorically in response to Finn's question.  "No, not directly.  I've worked with them before, and sort of blew my last assignment, so I think they are using this as my way to get back into their good books, you know, see if I really want to be here?"  She looks up at Finn expectantly.

"Probably the same for you would be my guess.  We're both just people who are no sweat off their back if we fail, but if we succeed..."  She quirks an eyebrow and a corner of a smile in Finn's direction.

As they are walking, Finn keeps up the conversation, asking how long she's worked, what type of jobs and the like but Mary closes down the conversation fairly quickly.  "Just one job really, I was asked by a friend of my father's to basically spy for them, well, I wasn't trained for that and it went sideways more quickly than I thought...  I'd rather not talk about it actually."  Finn shrugs and changes the conversation to more amenable topics.

Finally set, Finn finds a secluded spot in an alley, concentrates for a few short moments, then opens his eyes and spreads his wings, taking flight with a few strong beats of his wings high over the merchant's district into the last vestiges of the daylight high above before swooping westward towards the port.

The cool air rushes past his face and eyes, the forceful movements of his wings propelling him on in the air for lingering moments.  Finn did not often have a real purpose for this spell but at times (usually the hungriest of times) found himself transforming anyway to soar over the open skies and stare down on the multitudes plodding on below.  The freedom of this form was so ripe it could be plucked.  But Finn has more important things to attend to than simple joy flights and he presses on with a few rapid beats of his wings to carry him quickly out over the water.

His first task would be to find the ship, and Finn decided to work from the worst case scenario to the best.  The worst thing that could have happened (at least he supposed, exceptionally bad things did happen to pass on his account from time to time) was that the ship had already made berth, and the Alchemist was already on his way through the port.  Though the number of ships in the port was nearly overwhelming and the traffic was hectic for the time of afternoon, the fact that each ship had it's name written on it's stern and the excellent lighting of the port made the task exceptionally easy and a single pass confirmed that their quarry had not yet arrived.  Left with the choice to widen his search or simply wait for the craft to pull into port, Finn considers his options.

OOC:  As I see it, you have two options, wait in port or start making wider circles to attempt to find the Ivory Winds.  Don't let that limit your options though.  Darkness is now settling over the port (and realize that falcons are not normal nighttime birds) though it is well lit by a multitude of oil lamps to aid mariners in making a safe berth.  It is now 5:15PM.

Knowing it is time for his part, the aerial reconnaissance, Finn says the ancient words and bends his fingers as he has practiced.  He is far from an expert but he finds that his casting is rather masterful and in mere seconds his arms become feathered wings, his legs turn into tiny thin stick legs with pointed clawed feet.  His face becomes a small avian head with a sharp pointed beak.

He takes to the air and wings his way towards the port.  The view from high above the city, despite the setting sun, is magnificent and feeling these new sensations, such as traveling by air is thrilling.  In no time he descends to a lower altitude to fly over the harbor, he loops around in a big circle aided by his finely tuned bird eyesight but does not spot what he's looking for.  Perhaps the ship is late so Finn the bird turns on the air and flaps his wings to propel him over the water.


OOC:
Fly out into the harbor.  Check to see if the boat I'm after is still en route.

Most of the ships in the harbor are close to making berth, knowing that the tide is quickly waxing full.  While he is no mariner himself, Finn has lived in the port city long enough to know that attempting to bring a ship to dock while the tide is receding is both slower work to fight the currents and more dangerous, especially if the tides are low.  Therefore most of the ship traffic will ride the tide in, just before and the departing will leave just after high tide.  Would he have had more time, Finn would have come earlier, but he had only received the job just over an hour ago and further preparations were impossible.

Finn wraps his wings over the air and thrusts himself forward in the twilight sky, arcing ever further out over the waters to inspect the rest of the ships he has yet to mark.  He finds the work tremendously difficult in the dwindling light with nothing but the stars to read the names by, he slides his body downward, closer to the water to rule out each ship.

As the minutes crawl by, Finn feels the ensnaring grip of panic latching onto his mind.  Certainly they would have made berth by now!  He widens his search ever further from the center of the harbor, seeking out ships he had yet to identify.

It is perhaps another five minutes of searching before Finn finally makes his mark.  A hundred foot, two-masted trade vessel, parked on what seems a private dock just north of the public wharf.  Finn can make out clearly the scripted Ivory Winds marked on the stern of the vessel.  Though there are a few lanterns hung on the vessel itself, the dock is mostly empty and bereft of anything but natural light.  The crew are just working the last of the ropes to tie down the vessel to the dock and Finn counts one, two, three, four men on the deck.  As he circles around for the first time it is easy to distinguish the three workers, manning the ropes and working the topsail from the single man on the deck doing nothing.

He is dressed in hard black leathers over his chest and arms with a complementing pair of thick leather pants with thick riding boots donning his feet.  At his belt a two foot scabbard hangs loosely, the leather bound hilt of a sword popping just out of the top.  The man stands with his arms crossed, watching the work of the three men and scanning the solitary road leading south to the wharf.

OOC:  You only found the ship a few moments ago and it seems like they have already made berth.  They have not yet lowered the brow.  You can roll against crewman/TL3 defaults to IQ-4 to have a decent idea of when they are going to be able to get off the ship.  Also, roll vs. Area Knowledge: Azer.

Panic was beginning to set in.  Finn had flown around the port and was circling the harbor with no ship in sight and he could feel that horrifying feeling settling that one gets when everything goes to shit.  Momentarily he has visions of him still doing high loops above the harbor while his job and its guards are springing the trap back in the merchants district.

But thankfully Razzel locates the boat.  As he lands to watch his prey he observes the men working.  He's heard some of these sailoring terms before.  Berth.  Stern.  Bow.  He still didn't understand half of the crazy language seamen have created just to talk about water.

A few of the men pull on ropes and such, really the cocky lad has no idea what they're doing but they should be done soon.  Right?  After all, how long does it take to dock a boat?  Tie it to the pier and they should be set, right?  Almost instantly he notices the man in black is not working along with the others.  This it would appear at first glance is their man.


OOC:
Land somewhere near with a high vantage point so I can just watch.  About 100 feet up in the air and within 1-2 boats of the Ivory Winds.  Watch to see if I can glean any clues about who the alchemist is.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:03, Wed 05 Apr 2017.

Finally making his quarry, Finn stretches his wings as he swoops down, making his a landing on the bare branches of a beech tree high up the slope leading towards the nobles district.  For a moment, Finn thinks on his chosen spot for an ambush...  The boat had docked significantly farther north than he had expected, bringing up the possibility that the men could take an entirely different route.  However, after a moment he discounts that chance, for while there would be point to point distances that were shorter perhaps, the cobbled pathways wound precariously up the slopes, dramatically increasing both their distance and the fatigue of getting to their end goal, the Templar's school.

Tuning his eyes onto the ship, the process of docking takes significantly longer than Finn expects.  While it seems that the ship itself is fixed in place, the deckhands go about in a myriad of tasks, de-rigging the main sails and the jib, tying the ropes down to the mast, and carrying various baggage and small crates up from below decks.

The man dressed in black still stays fixed however, his eyes unerring as they glance left and right, scanning the single stone roadway that passes perpendicular to the small pier.

It is Finn's hearing, before his vision that detects the next change from the assumptions he and Mary had planned for.  At first it means nothing to him, just the steady clomping of hooves that is ubiquitous the whole city over with the exception of the slums.  But it quickly occurs to him that these men are the only ones that are here on this remote pier so late in the afternoon... that everyone else has long since left.  He snaps his neck in the direction of the interruption and takes in just what he expected, a two-horse drawn carriage being driven by another man dressed entirely in black leathers, this one with skin of ebony that would wash into the night if not for the ash wood of the carriage surrounding him.  Behind him, another two horses, a buckskin and roan are led by a rope, both of them are fully saddled and tacked.

Swishing his head back to the ship, Finn is just in time to see the first man in black uncross his arms and walk towards the stairs which go below decks, he cranes his body down slightly, holding on to the rail before pushing himself back up into a standing position and walking towards the edge of this ship.

Now finally, the crewman work some mechanism that pushes out a long and wide, straight plank which droops to the surface of the road, rolling ever so slightly back and forth as the ship bobs calmly in the water.

As the carriage turns the corner wrapping itself around in a half circle to go back the same direction it came, Finn watches two more men walk up from below decks, both dressed entirely in black.  The one behind carries a medium bow and quiver as well as the sheath for a long knife at his hip.  Though he wears the same leather armor as the others, his shoulder length hair is the brightest blonde and is tied back in a tail that runs down his neck.  He has a single hand on the shoulder of the man in front of him, guiding him as the two move slowly up the steps.

It is the man in front that is the oddity.

This one is clad all in cloth, though it is black the same as the others.  Covering the whole of his head is a loose fitting black sack that droops forward low around his collarbone.  Between his hands, Finn can just make out small chain links of iron that sag between his arms.

Glancing back at the carriage, Finn notices for the first time the solid construction, and the solid bars of iron that decorate the window...

OOC:  Ok, I got you some pictures below that should help set the scene just a little bit better.  Your area knowledge roll lets you know that there are other routes besides the ones that you had planned on them using, but if they were to take them it would likely add fifteen minutes or more to their trip due to the steep hill and the winding roads.  You have watched for about the last 10 minutes and regained 1 fatigue. it is now 535, you left Mary about 30 minutes ago.

Ivory Winds
Harbor
Imagine where you are in the harbor is a scene like this, although it is a single pier, with a few more getting more common as you go further south.  There are no homes, but just the steep cliff which climbs up to the highground of the nobles quarter.  If you continue the road north it will eventually end as the cliffs become too steep, the road south is the route directly to the rest of the harbor.  There are other smaller cobbled roads that climb in a weaving fashion directly into the nobles district.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:37, Tue 06 June 2017.

Finn sits in bird form some distance from the ship waiting and watching.  One of his worries is that the alchemist will not present himself, that he would blend in with the others and it would become a game to choose who is the potion man and who is a deadly guard.  But within a few minutes all of his questions are answered.  The men will not walk as Finn and Mary presumed, and, it would appear that the alchemist is a prisoner.  This makes dragging him to the safehouse much easier but the rolling iron cage he is a captive of makes his rescue more problematic.

Razzel is not a man to get overly discouraged by setbacks so he takes these new developments in stride.  He sits on his perch waiting for the rolling jail to move.


OOC:
Rest as long as I can.  I am just waiting to see what route they take.  If they will not pass by Mary I want to be able to tell her.

Wait till the carriage takes off, follow them long enough to see what route they are taking.  Then fly to Mary to tell her all that I saw.

This message was last edited by the player at 05:20, Wed 12 Apr 2017.

Finn trains his falcon eyes on the carriage waiting patiently in his perch.  He knows that in all likelihood the black vested villains will take the route through the port but he is unwilling to leave even the smallest possibility to chance that they will evade his trap.

The hooded man walks slowly, prodded up the steep stairwell that leads up from the holds of the ship.  He feels out in front of him with his hands though they are restrained grasping at whatever he can to keep his balance with each painstaking step up.  Even as he makes it to the deck of the boat, he falls to a knee with the rocking of the ship as it rocks lightly fore and aft with the gentle waves of the harbor.

Recovering after a moment, the man stands again, and with the forceful help of the other two men, eventually makes his way down the brow, and into the carriage.  Still, it takes several moments of further activity before the carriage moves from the spot.  While the man with the blonde pony tail mounts his buckskin, sliding his bow into his left hand as he takes the reins with his right, the first man, the one with the sword walks back onto the boat, and hands one of the crew a small pouch.  The two stand there for a moment, conversing, before the man breaks off again and heads back down the brow.  Again the man pauses, saying something to the other two men before he mounts the roan, and the three men and their prisoner set off at a walk.

Slowly the caravan moves it's way along the dock road, continuing past the end of the dock, continuing past the stone reinforced sea wall, continuing past the road that leads windingly up into the noble's quarter of Azer.  Content that he has covered all of his bases, Finn spreads his wings and leans forward off the branch, gaining climbing speed in mere seconds as he wings his way back through the night sky.

"They are what?!"  Mary responds as Finn relays everything that he has seen.  "Well, I guess the snatch and grab is out, there's no way we could convince someone to grab a weapon from them if they are like you say they are...  Not that it matters anyway I suppose, the kid left, said things were taking too long.  I had half a mind to flay him but I didn't want to make a scene right before we tried to pull this off.  Don't need anyone noticing anything more than normal and I figured beating a kid in the street might make people perk up a bit, you know?"

Mary's voice seems entirely serious, making it difficult to determine if she is trying to make light of the situation.

"Well, what about this, we take out the horses, the ones with riders anyway..."  She stops for a moment, seeming to try and work out the details in her head.  "Yeah, if we get someone to take out the horses, we'll have two thrown riders, and I'll bet you the one with the carriage will bolt...  All we'd have to do is catch up with the carriage...  Or block it somewhere down the road, or disable it or something...  We'd have our man alone with just one guard.  Of course, it's probably going to garner plenty of attention, so we'll have to be smart.  Can you think of anything?"

OOC:  It has been about 15 minutes since the last post, you regained another FP, but then lost it by ending your shape shift spell early.  If the carriage continues at the pace it was moving, you still have some time to try and work things out, or set some sort of trap.  Mary does have the ability to cast shape earth, which has the potential to do all sorts of things to inhibit the carriage's progress further down the line if you want to set some sort of trap.  There are plenty of side streets along this stretch of road though so entirely sealing the carriage in will be rather difficult, draining, and time consuming.  I won't feed you too many suggestions just yet, but there are a few places you could take this.

Finn scratches his head through wind swept dark unkempt but stylish hair as he takes in Mary's suggestions, but it's clear that he has doubts about the certainty of her plan.  ”What about this? You said you're handy with mirages?  If we can get the carriage to stop.  I mean like broke.  You could make it look like the door flies open and our little hen flies the coop.  If it's good enough the guards wont have time to think it over.  And I bet he's valuable enough they wont hesitate to tear off after their golden goose.  But how do we break those damned wheels?  Ok, best I got is what we had before.  Pay some sap to ram a stick in there?  What'dya think?"


OOC:
So as a recap, Finn is suggesting that we find a way to cripple the wagon.  His best idea is to hire someone to jam a long pole into the spokes of the wagon wheel and as it turns the spokes break before the pole does.  If all goes well the wheel will come completely off and the wagon will teeter, bounce and skid to a halt.  Then Mary casts her first illusion, that of the carraige door falling open as if the lock broke or was picked.  Next she casts her second illusion, that of the man in chains running from the carriage.  She could even have the hood come flying off as he's ducking into an alley.  This way she doesnt have to guess wrong at his face and hair color, but too it wont be unbelievable if he's running at full speed while blinded by a hood.  With luck some or all of the guards will chase after the running illusion.  Even if it only buys us a minute or two, that should be enough.

This message was last edited by the player at 20:35, Fri 14 Apr 2017.

Mary wrinkles her brow, the gears of her mind turning furiously to try and bring Finn's suggestion into fruition.  "No, I don't think we could pay enough to get someone to try and smash a carriage wheel.  I'm sure someone could do it, but as soon as they take a look at those men I'm sure they'll have second thoughts if they are anything like you described them.  If we are going to do this right, it has to be all about distraction...  I like the idea of the alchemist fleeing the coup.  How about this...  I conjure up an illusion that looks just like one of them, black armor and everything, he'll get them to stop for a moment, and draw their attention.  While that happens, I disable the carriage magically.  I make the door look like it bursts open just long enough for someone with a black hood over them to burst out of the seat and start running, the black armored fella running along with him...  I'd say it might work, but here are the problems.  If our friend with the bow shoots any of my little mirages, they are going to"  Mary puts her thumb and fingertips together by her mouth and blows with a puff as she flicks all her fingers out at the same time.

"Second problem.  I can make it look like there is an open door, but I can't take away the door that's closed, so if they have enough wherewithal to look around the side, they'll see the door is closed, and perhaps that the alchemist is still in there.  I can mitigate by having my illusion 'slam' the door as he leaves, but I can't take away the fact that he's really there.  So we might get lucky and have all three chase after him, but if any of them take an extra second to look, it might be game over for us."

Mary leans back against the wall, the frenzied action of the cogs in her mind evident as her eyes flicker this way and that in thought.  "Separating them is definitely our best bet, I'm just not sure how best to do that."

Finn looks over his shoulder in the direction that the carriage and escorts should be coming, half expecting to see them.  He knows he beat them by only five, perhaps ten minutes and their readjusting the plan is taking precious time that they don't have.  Would they run out of time without a solid plan in place?  Finn isn't worried, he's been in tougher scrapes.

His face sours when the woman says they'll never find a sucker to wreck the wagon wheel.  Though, without argument he has to admit she may be right.  Its a risky, dangerous endeavor and he quickly realizes with time so limited its too much to ask for to find someone talented and strong enough to break the spokes, and, that they also possess the will.  He grunts out his irritation.

He nods in agreement when she says that distraction must be their key play.  As he listens to her detail what she can and cannot do Razzels mind is fast at work trying to patch the holes in their plan like stoppering a cracked levee.  ”Lets agree on somethin'.  We're runnin' out 'a time.  If that's the best we got, you make an image 'a one 'a them and the runnin' alchemist, and you can break the wheel...

Then Finn's eyes go wide and a coy smile graces his lips.  He snaps his fingers excitedly.  ”Wait.  What about this.  What if you make your fake man in black and the runnin' potion man.  To sell it have him run by me.  We'll make it as if he's bumped me and I'll fall over.  Or maybe its better if I try to cover our hen.  Say..he runs at me, hits me and I stumble but I move to cover him to make the bowman think twice 'bout William Telling our hen.”  Then Finn smiles wickedly.  ”If we get the man from the carriage to run, how 'bout we jump on the carriage and take it.”  This was more a statement than a question.


OOC:
So to recap this version of the plan...Mary creates an illusion of a man in black who steps out in front of the carriage, hopefully they stop.  Then she creates an illusion of the carriage door swinging open and the alchemist bolting from the carriage.  The door to the carriage can swing shut and remain shut.  Not prefect, but, better this than they look at the carriage and see two doors.  Question, does the carriage have only 1 door, or more?  This whole time I have been assuming 1 since its basically a jail but I don't think we ever said.  Anyway, if I know I'll put myself on the same side as the door and when the illusion of the alchemist runs I'll pretend that he collides with me and knocks me over, to sell the fact that he's real.  If Mary thinks its wise I will instead sort of spin and wobble from the 'collision' but end up between the running man and the archers with the intent to provide cover.

Alternative ideas I have are:
a) If everything works at this point we run to the carriage, pick the lock, grab the alchemist
b) do plan 'a' above but also smack the horses to get the carriage moving.  Assuming the guards return to this spot, they will confronted with the choice – follow the moving carriage or track the alchemist on foot
c) If we cannot pick the lock, or if we choose to put some distance between us and them we hop on the carriage and ride it a few blocks before trying to free the alchemist
d) lastly, I have been all along thinking about cinematic solutions.  Such as, cut a rope holding a rolled up awning in place.  And now that this awning is free to swing from its pivot point, the long tarp wrapped pole swings out into the road and knocks the riders off their horses.  Or say, I go up the roof and push a water barrel off onto one of the riders.  What I am asking is, is there anything that fits this kind of scenario?  Where we can use the environment to gain a significant advantage to hinder our foes?  Take out the horses as Mary suggested, or knock them off their mounts, etc.

Mary nods as Finn's suggestion changes ever so slightly.  "That could work!  I suppose it's as good a plan as any, and if anything goes south, they will be off chasing my illusion instead of us hopefully so we can make a quick get away...  Here, show me what they look like."

With a simple flick of her wrist, Mary warps the air around her, summoning two figures from the void.  The first was a man wrapped in black leather armor and high riding boots, a thick studded mace hanging from his belt.  The second was supposed to be the prisoner, a man dressed in black cloth, chains hanging between his wrists and a black cloth sack covering his head.  Though Finn knows these figures are illusion he can't help but be impressed with Mary's skill, the details, while not entirely correct are intricate and masterfully done.  The armored man is shadowed with evening stubble, and a thin scar creases his cheek.  The leather itself that he wears is faded in places and creased at the joints from constant use...

Finn thinks back on the men and suggests what edits he can remember from their appearance.  Luckily they will not have to copy an armored man exactly, just close enough for them to believe he is one of them.  The prisoner, however is a different story.  Finn racks his brain trying to come up with the least significant details to make the image perfect, darkening the shade of the chains and the weave of the cloth, but in the end finds little to correct, after all, he had been hooded and well covered when Finn had seen him.

When everything is perfect, Mary lets the illusion wink out of existence, just as the two begin to hear the wheels of a carriage turning over in the distance.  "Set yourself up however you want, and get ready to either open up or take that carriage!"

OOC:  Ok, one last chance to tidy things up before the carriage comes into view.  Take any last minute preparations you want to take.  Mary is good with both options of stealing the carriage (which was what she was trying to accomplish in the first place) or picking the lock on the carriage while the others are occupied.  Lockpicking takes one minute to attempt modified by degree of success.  Failure means a wasted minute.  As for your cinematic options, there are no awnings which you can cut in this area, although there are a few overhangs that you could use to quickly climb up on a roof.  If you wish to do so, please make a straight climbing roll and put it in PM on your next post.  If you wish to try and take some heavy object up to throw on them, make a scrounging roll at -3 for time available for the attempt.  You would most likely still need to get it up to the roof.  There isn't a whole lot else in the environment, though you could probably set some sort of tripwire trap if you wanted using a long enough rope (roll scrounging-3).  Essentially letting the carriage run over the rope and then having yourself pull it taught as the horses attempt to walk over it.  That will require a straight up Traps roll.  That's about all I can think of.

Finn is feeling good as he and Mary work tirelessly at shaping her images into the best of what he can recall.  They have a plan, a good one and considering that they only received this job hours ago he thinks its an excellent one.

He nods to Mary when her work is done.   ”It'll do in a pinch.  They wont have time to notice the rough spots.  So.  You stop the wagon.  Make good with the phantom runner.  I say we try to loot that rolling cage.  If your runner only distracts 'em for a minute, at least they'll come back to an empty square 'stead of us.  And 'bove all, if we get shit on, run!”  Finn cocks his head as he hears the unmistakable sound of the clip clopping of horses and the creak of carriage wheels.  He juts out a hand hurriedly.  ”Gimme your picks.”


OOC:
So the plan is -

Mary will illusion a man in black.  Hopefully the carriage will halt.  She will illusion the door opening and the prisoner running from the carriage towards me, then the carriage door closes.  The prisoner will 'run' into me and I stumble to help sell the illusion.  My goal is to not be remembered, so try to hide my face and not seem overly hurt, and do not overly get in their way.  Assuming the guards flee the scene in chase Mary and I will hop onto the carriage and hopefully take it for a ride for a few blocks.  If the coast looks clear, I will attempt to pick the lock.  If that is going badly I will cast an unlocking spell.  This is the plan, which we expect to go awry somewhere.  We may need to wing it, such as if the guards chase the phantom but the driver stays Mary may need to try to stone bolt him off the carriage, or I can try a Slam.  If the job becomes too dangerous, we abort and regroup at the safehouse.

I am  asking for her lockpicks.

I am giving up on my ideas of cinematically (I don't mean uber, I mean as they do in the movies) trying to use my environment, as I think it would take too long.

Fun fact - my spell checker tried replacing cinematically with schematically.

Finn takes Mary's lock picks and makes his way off to a side alley, setting himself up to be a distraction.

As for Mary herself, she settles herself onto the side of the street a short distance away, sitting down against one of the buildings so she can keep her eyes on the entire scene.  She channels the mana through her hands again and for the second time, Finn sees a recreation of the men in black leather, his mace swinging from a hold on his belt.  Though he had seen her work with the illusion earlier, Finn cannot help but be impressed at her work.  He can hear the creaking from the strain in the tight leather as the thing moves just slightly and as it holds up a hand and rubs its chin, Finn listens to the scratching sound that his course stubble makes.

It is just in time.  The carriage makes its round up the slowly sloping hill in clear view of the illusionary man in black as it approaches.  The illusion holds up a hand first, half way between a gesture for stop and a motionless wave.  The carriage slows to a stop with the horses only a few feet from where the illusion stands.

The man with the short black hair and sword is the first one to speak.  He rides just aft and on the left side of the carriage although he continues on for a few moments, stopping his horse as he is abreast with the ones pulling the carriage.  "You were to meet us at the college."

The illusion shakes his head, walking slowly down the right side of the horses towards the carriage.  "It's compromised."  The illusion responds, looking at the man in black hair though he continues walking alongside the horses towards the carriage.  "They found out we were coming."

The man with the short black hair narrows his eyes as he appraises the illusion.  "Who found out?"

The second man, the one with the long blonde hair sits in the saddle, his horse still guarding the right flank of the carriage.  He shifts his gaze back and forth between the illusion and the other man with the black hair.

But by this time the illusion is already beside the cabin, Finn holds his breath for the moment as he prepares himself to walk out in their path.

Whap!  Several things happen at one time, the illusion swats the blonde man's horse in the nose hard, causing the beast rear it's head up and back as it to retreats a step away from the illusion.  Seated as he is, Finn can see the door on the carriage stay motionless, but there is another door that snaps open in the same place and the prisoner leaps from the carriage, pushing the door closed as he exits.  The cloth sack still covers most of his head, though he pushes it up with one thumb to show his face and eyes to Finn alone as he runs at full speed, the chains between his arms jangling wildly.  The illusion with black leather runs too, directly down the alleyway at Finn as he prepares himself for the show of impact.

"What the fuck?"  The man with black hair seems taken aback by the show, "You said he was chained down!" taking a moment before he finally kicks his forward and around to the other side of the carriage.

The blonde man seems less surprised, and as he brings his horse under control, he lifts his bow up in his left hand, and whisking and arrow out of his quiver and into position with his right as he twists his body to align himself with the alley.

Seeing his moment has come, Finn walks out into the alley just in time to make contact with the illusion, and though he has his plan formed in his mind, he finds that no acting is required.  The prisoner runs into him first right at his shoulder, sending Finn spinning though he manages to keep his feet as he stumbles towards the center of the alley.  The illusion fighter runs right at the other man's flank, brushing Finn with a rush of air as he passes.

Looking up, Finn sees the blonde man, bow in hand, with his arrow pointed directly at him.

OOC:  Ok, the illusion men just ran past you and are continuing up the alley, they are about 14 yards from the carriage at this point and are moving fast  The two riders are still mounted beside the carriage both on the right side now (the side closest to Finn), though all their attention is on the illusion men.  The man driving the carriage is still sitting in the seat, though he is looking in that direction as well.  No need to give me turn by turn, but do give me your defense if one is required.  Other than that I will take general actions.

This was so exciting!  Finn had to fight back a smile as he watched with glee as the black clothed phantoms dashed into him and then past.  This was his plan, now come to fruition, being acted out upon their adversaries in the name of...hopefully the Murderers Row.  Whether this plan succeed or fail, and Finn is certain it's going to be the former, he is an agent of the Row in a high stakes, winner-take-all game of wits.  Razell keeps his cool and acts out the part of innocent bystander, unsuspecting customer out for a stroll to see the wares of the day, surprised purveyer of goods when accosted by ruffians.

He spins in a circle from the first collision when the second phantom brushes past.  Finn collects his bearings and raises his head, just in time to see the dark bowman aiming at him.  Instinctively Razell raises both hands up over his shoulders and his eyes go wide, almost forgetting his role.  He fights back the instinct to speak since he decided earlier that the less they knew of him the better.


OOC:
When Finn sees the archer pointing an arrow in his direction he holds his hands up but not fully extended over his head.  They're like half way up but clearly in the 'I surrender' pose.  Finn will attempt to divert his eyes, again the less they see him now the harder it will be to ID him later.  Finn will essentially take the Wait Maneuver.  He is hoping that they take the bait and follow the phantoms rather than investigate the carriage.

Finn throws his hands in the air, lowering his head and wincing in his most believable imitation of fear and obedience.

Ziiip! The arrow whisks so close to his hand that Finn can feel the rush of air pass by him and he snatches his hands down in surprise and shock.

"Shit!"  The blonde man says as Finn hears the clattering sound of an arrow skipping off stones behind him, muffled by the fading sounds of two pairs of feet hammering off the alleyway in an all out run.

"Ha!"  The blonde man kicks his horse hard in the flanks, making the animal lurch forward into a sudden run, just behind him, the black haired man is doing the same thing, kicking his horse into a run, both of them aiming directly at Finn!

He has just a moment to throw himself out of the way of the horses and though he does his best to avoid the beasts he simply does not have enough room to maneuver and catches the blonde man's knee on his shoulder as he attempts to maneuver out of the way.  Finn is spun hard, hitting his back against the wall of the building though he manages to keep his feet.

At the carriage, the large bald man with midnight skin ties off the reins and stands, lifting a large warhammer from the floor below his feet as he steps to the edge...

OOC:  You managed to avoid the worst of the damage, and did not get hit by the arrow that the blonde man fired.  It seems that the illusion did not either.  Since you didn't declare a defense, I had you do a sidestepping dodge to avoid the horses and you just missed the roll, catching a knee in your shoulder as you tried to get out of the way.  You did manage to keep your feed an you are undamaged.  The riders have both passed you now and are working their way to catch up to the illusion.  It has been about another three seconds.  Again, give me general actions.  The black-skinned man is standing at the driver's seat with a warhammer held in both hands.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:25, Sat 22 Apr 2017.

Despite only having a few hours to plan the quick witted rapscallion had run through his plan several times over.  He knew what he and Mary would do, he was good at guessing how ordinary people would react to seemingly ordinary events, yet, never did he imagine the events to unfold like this.  Finn has lived in the fringe for a few years.  Without the privileged life of money to finance a magical education he was forced to learn bits and pieces here and there from whatever teacher was available at that moment, and that usually meant not being choosy about his work to pay for lessons.  So Razell is no stranger to 'dark work', to a muddied moral code, but, and this is big, this is the first time he has accepted such a large sum of money for a professional job to do no good and where he was the architect of the scheme.  Its dangerous and also thrilling, and he is in love with it.

Just a heartbeat after tossing his hands into the air an arrow goes whizzing by so close that he swears he can feel the fletching brush his fingers.  He wills himself not to grin as the horsed riders take the bait and bolt after their fleeing phantom, and he spares himself no time to ponder just how much time will this little ruse by them?

By instinct Finn reads the situation and he knows where the next monster lays curled like a sleeping serpent, ready to fell their hopes and dreams.  If the driver investigates the door too vigorously their hand is exposed.  Finn strides forward to grab the man's attention, an angry look framing his face.  This was the first rule of running a con, do not be memorable, but the young grifter must prioritize.  ”Hey.  What the fuck??!!  Your pals almost killed me.”


OOC:
Talk to the driver.  I want him focused on me, not the carriage door and not his buddies but the second point is a secondary goal.  I can live without that one.  The main objective is to keep him from getting a serious look at the carriage door, or actually looking inside and seeing the prisoner.

My plan is to walk up to the carriage and play the part of the disgruntled citizen, who almost got seriously injured by their shenanigans.  Look angry but non violent.  My hands are visibly no where near my weapons.  Attempt to get within 1 hex.  If I can get within 1 or 2 hexes, attempt to district him.  Something like a, “Oh my God, is that Elvis”?  All I need is 1 second.  If he is distracted, cast Apportation on him.  Its a resisted spell.  The overall plan is to cast and hope I get him within 1-3 tries.  If so, lift him into the air.  Jump in the drivers seat and take off.

Do I know where Mary is?

With a hand on the rail of the driver's seat the last of the Alchemist's 'guards' steps down to the cobbles beneath him and takes a step towards the back of the carriage.  Knowing that he must keep the ruse alive for yet a little longer, Finn does his best to distract the man and keep him from seeing through their tricks.

As Finn speaks to him, the man turns to face him.  It doesn't take much to know that this man was no pushover.  His body is thick and barrel chested, his arms practically the same width as Finn's leg.  His face is disfigured horribly, some scar or burn that starts at his left jaw line and crawls across his face up to his temple and high on his cheek, spreading even to a deep red patch on the corner of the white of his eye.

"And if you prefer being almost killed,"  The man says with no anger in his voice though he points his war hammer directly at Finn.  "Then you had better walk away."

Behind him, Finnn can still hear the distant clattering of hooves with voices projected in hisses across the night.

"Where the fuck did they go?"

"You go that way!"

OOC:  It has been about another 3 second.  You are now 3 yards away from the last guard and he is looking directly at you with a readied war hammer.  Note that if you wish to cast your spell from here you have a -3 to skill due to range.  Also note that with your skill you have to make hand gestures and speak so it might be more obvious to tell what you are doing.  Mary is about 7 yards away from you, still in her spot on the ground, though you would know she needs to concentrate intently in order to make her illusion move.

No one has to tell Finn what's at stake.  Being this close to the carriage it is as he expected, there is a small window in the carriage door, a hole perhaps four inches square.  If the driver were to look inside it'd take no time to see that the bird never flew the coop and then he'd be singing like a canary and his friends would hoove it back shortly.  That means curtains for these actors.

While Mary and Razell had not specifically detailed their plans for what comes after the rabbit runs it is fortuitous that Finn knows magic.  He understands that Mary needs time to maneuver her creations.  For these illusions to run proper, that is not run floating on air or run through a wall, or to just move for that matter, she must shut out all else and still her mind.  Finn assumes that while he was spying on the dock she spent her time scouting this area to have a feel for where to move her phantoms in a realistic manner.

His options are obvious to him.  Finn is, what would be called in the trades, a novice.  He knows many spells but masters would call them cantrips.  He could magic this driver off his feet to hover helplessly in the air, he could get behind this man and puncture his lungs with an expertly placed knife or even slit his throat.  But this man is not unwise, anything less than an incapacitating move would leave him free to scream his head off and without a bustling shopping crowd to blanket the mans noise his mounted friends would return in no time.  No, what is called for here is a diversion.  Finn needs to stall the man to give Mary time.

A few practiced options run through his mind before settling on one.  He wants this mans attention solely focused upon him and not the inside of that rolling jail, and he would prefer that the man get tangled into some long lasting debate.  And that means an extended discussion, or something that is confusing and disorienting.  Finn smiles as he picks out what he believes to be just the thing.  ”Mmmm.  Aren't you strong, and fierce.  Such a man.”


OOC:
Yes, I am flirting with him.   Its not what you say, its how you say it.  This is the first level of flirting, meaning its intent is to catch his attention and make him wonder if I am flirting.  I want him focused on me, and his reaction doesn't matter.  Whether he is into it, spends time thinking about it then brushes me off or gets offended and wants to rebuke me, any outcome is good as long as it wastes time.

Do not move unless he makes a move closer to investigate the carriage.

Deciding to take a nonstandard approach, Finn stays his ground and attempts to flirt with the barrel-chested black man.  While it does not seem to go well...  That serves Finn's purposes just fine.

"What the fuck did you say?"  The black man had been about to turn away, back towards the carriage but instead steps forward to Finn, choking his right hand up on his warhammer and lifting it up over his right shoulder in a position ready to strike.  "I told you to walk away.  Now if you want to live through the night, I suggest you do just that, or I might mistake you for inciting violence and be compelled to protect myself..."  The man's eyes bulge and his nostrils flare with anger.

Finn's mind is streaming with self-congratulation even as the man approaches him with a death glare.  For this con is all about buying time, and letting Mary work her magic.  And it is not so long, before Finn is proved right.

It first seems to be a blur of motion, but then the figure congeals together in space and Finn sees the same image of Mary's conjured warrior, this time without the prisoner.  The thing is running at an inhuman speed, getting closer, closer.

"Gah!"  The black man struggles to get a muffled word out as the thing springs in a flying leap onto his back!  The collision is violent, though somehow, even though he was unaware, the real man manages to keep his balance as he stumbles forward towards Finn.  The illusion has his arms wrapped around the warrior's neck and left arm, for the moment, riding piggyback style, with it's knees cradled about the warrior's hips.

Looking to his right, Finn realizes that Mary is now on her feet, although still in intense concentration.

OOC:  Ok, so the bad guy is grappled by the illusion around the neck and arm while riding piggy back style.  They are now about 1 yard away from you at this point and facing your direction.  You have the option of either engaging in combat, running towards the carriage, running away, or anything else you can think of.  If you want combat then give me two rounds, otherwise go ahead and post your general actions and I'll take care of them appropriately.

The rough looking man takes the bait and Finn must work to thwart the smile which itches to dance across his face.  It is exactly what he wanted.  To confuse the man, or pique his sexual interest or raise his ire and make him think about giving Razzel a black eye, there is no bad outcome as long as he spends time engaging Finn and not looking inside that damned wood and iron cell.

“...or I might mistake you for inciting violence and be compelled to protect myself...", the barrel chested thick armed man states coldly and already Finn is planning the fancy footwork that will keep him just out of range with that mean looking hammer.  He has no intention of loosing any teeth.  But then a shadowy image emerges from nowhere and jumps on the mans back!

Two ideas instantly bubble to the surface of his mind.  First, he could run.  He and Mary could jump on the carriage and take off with it.  But what of the man?  No thought is required to know that if he isn't dealt with he may yell and raise an alarm to his friends.  Second, he could kill this man.  True Dirk warned them not to engage but that was one on one, right?  Dirk would have said to do so carefully if any of them were wrestling a monkey on their back.  Surely.

With the practiced precision of a street fighter Finn's knife is in his hand, next moment he is lashing out.


OOC:
Fast Draw knife.  Step in CC.

Round 1:
I know its risky but Finn lives dangerously.  I am hoping that this first round he is paying more attention to the thing on his back than me.  AoA for +4 to hit, target Vitals.  Burn fatigue for +2 damage.

Round 2:
Depends on the results of Round 1.  We can halt and let me pick a new tactic or you can NPC me.  The goal in round 1 is to do something crippling.  If that worked, ie he is stunned, knocked down, etc, pour it on.  Go for the throat, figuratively.  I did not go for the throat in round 1 because the phantoms arm was in the way.  If I missed, or only scratched him and he's on to me, do a normal attack and defense, but still burn fatigue for +2 damage.  If I missed on Round 1 and it looks like he is totally focused on the phantom, repeat the tactics from round 1.

This message was last edited by the player at 21:36, Tue 25 Apr 2017.

Never one to pass up the opportunity to take advantage, Finn flicks his dagger from its sheath and thrusts out madly right in the warrior's stomach, caught up as he is with the force on top of him, the man never sees it coming, and the knife plunges almost hilt deep between the man's ribs!  Blood vomits from the wound, spattering Finn in the initial, violent spray.

His voice choked from without, the warriors screams silently with his eyes, falling back slowly atop the illusionary man as the warhammer drops to the ground, narrowly missing Finn's foot as it thuds to the cobbles.

His eyes wild with glee, Finn pulls his hand back for another stab, hoping to put the man permanently down.  He thrusts out, though this time he misses wildly in his zeal, instead slashing the blade across the illusion's cheek.  At first Finn feels the skin giving way to bone, but within a moment, the image shudders and disappears into nothingness.

A few yards to his right, Mary gasps in surprise, her back turned as she is approaching the carriage.

Horrified at his mistake, Finn readies himself for the next blow, when he realizes it may not be required, for the black skinned warrior is lying on his back, unconscious.

"Where the fuck are they?"  Finn hears a voice call out in the night.

OOC: What a disparate two rounds of fighting.  On the first round, you successfully took advantage of your 'dirty trick' that avoided an active defense from the warrior (his attention was diverted), not to mention he critically failed his attempt to break free from the grapple.  You rolled max damage, and then he failed his knockdown/stun roll by 7.  The second round I had you go for a killing shot, you nearly critically failed, and then rolled a 6 on your 'wild swing' shot to hit the illusion since he was in the same hex...  Luckily your foe was already unconscious.  You are down 1 more fatigue from the feverish attack.  The warrior is bleeding heavily, though has started breathing again after the illusion disappeared.  Combat is essentially over, you can go back to giving me general actions.  It has been about 30 seconds now since you first made your diversion.

Finn watches the blade sink in and the man topple over.  His gaze is intently fixed upon the shadowy form dissipate as he strikes it with his knife, and while his knowledge of illusory magic is minimal it is as he would have guessed.  But it is no matter for the job is done, their driver is down and he cannot call out an alarm.

Grinning as he sheathes his knife Finn flicks a chin towards the high wooden seat.  ”Get in.  We're out 'a here.”


OOC:
A hit with max damage.  Boo-ya, its exactly what I was hoping for.

Put knife in sheath.  As quickly as possible jump into the drivers seat of the carriage and get it rolling.  As quickly as possible I want to turn down a side street in the opposite direction the horsed guards went.  If we make it without them coming back and giving chase, head in a zig zagging fashion for about 8-10 blocks away from the horsed men.  If it looks like we lost them temporarily stop and work on the lock.  My overall plan is as we discussed – pick the lock and have Mary work her way with the alchemist towards the safehouse on foot.  I will take the carriage on ahead as a distraction and when it seems safe, cast Shapeshift Falcon to make my getaway.

The voice of the guard we just heard - whats our best guess as to how far away he sounds?

This message was last edited by the player at 02:04, Wed 26 Apr 2017.

Leaping up onto the carriage, Finn takes the reins and gently nudges the horses forward, trying to take the medium road between a quick escape and a silent one.  Mary whisks onto the seat beside him and without fanfare the three are off.

The horses start their way forward, clopping their hooves across the cobbles as the wheels of the carriage shudder and bounce up the roadway.  Horrified at the noise they are making, Finn only hopes that the other two men are far enough away, or are making enough noise themselves so that they are unable to hear the sounds of the escape.

Slowly, painfully, Finn rounds a corner, and then another, then heads for a ways down a narrow access road before he slows the carriage to a stop between two large buildings.  Now both of the thieves make their way towards the door, and Finn pulls out the picks and places his lever at the bottom of the lock and thrusting the rod towards the back as he feels for the pins.  Gently he brushes back and forth until he feels a satisfying give and wrenches the door open.

The man in black sits there, black cloth still over his head, with manacles clamped around his wrists that are chained together as well as manacles and chains that bind his legs.  To make matters worse, there is another length of iron chain that wraps around each of those and is secured to the floorboards by an iron eyelet and a padlock.

Finn's heart sinks as he counts a total of five more locks to pick...

"Oh we don't have time for this!"  Mary grunts as she pushes Finn out of the way and channels her magic again with a few whispered words.  "Ferum spiritus!"

The shackles and chains fall to the floor of the carriage like so much refuse, sinking clear through the prisoner's clothing and skin Mary pulls the bag off the man's head revealing a weather beaten face, unshaven and exhausted.

Mary is looking quite exhausted herself...

"Come on!"  Mary pulls the man up from the seat and out into the night beyond.

"Hunna why ursa ying."  The man speaks, though Finn is at a loss for the moment to understand.

"Come on!"  Mary repeats again, her voice urgent as she pulls the man up and leads him out into the side street and away from the carriage.

Intently happy, but not surprised that things are going so well, Finn jumps back up into the drivers seat after closing the door of the carriage and latching it and whips the reins hard this time sending the carriage lurching forward.

OOC:  The voice was hard to tell exactly how far it was, but you would guess several blocks away.  You travelled about 6 blocks and found a spot in an access road that worked out to keep you hidden well enough for a short period of time.  Nice work on the lock picking roll, it only took you about 40 seconds to get the thing open.  You haven't heard anything from the other fighters at this point.  What's your plan as to where to take the carriage?  Are you going to keep going further away, find a main road, go back towards where you found the carriage?  The safehouse is several blocks southwest from where you are now.  You guys have been traveling northwest since you took the carriage.

With the precision as if they have worked together for years the man and woman jump onto the flat board seat of the wooden and iron rolling jail, Finn snatches up the reins and grins at the attractive girl.  Then he winks.  He snaps his wrists and holds back the customary 'Yah!' in favor of as silent an escape as they can manage.

Finn steers the creaking metal trimmed box making turns every few blocks, eager to put some distance between them and the last known location of the mobile prison.  As the pair wobble back and forth in the shaky wooden seat Finn eyes the woman carefully, appraising her.  He smiles.  ”Nice work Mary.  We make a good team.  Great even.  Fucking fantastic.  Where'd you learn your craft?”

And in no time they reach a spot well suited for the next phase of their plan.  Razzel makes short work of the door lock and as he pulls it open it is as he suspected, their mark is chained about the hands and feet and those chains are bolted to the floorboards.  It was an easy guess, its what he would have done.  He wrinkles up one side of his face wondering how long this will take as finding just the right spot varies from lock to lock.  But before he can jump knee deep into this laborious chore Mary steps forward and somehow magics the man free.  Finn whistles and offers rhetorically, ”Whew lady.  I'm as happy as a dapper Pappy that 'ol Dirk picked you.  Now skedaddle.”

In parting the old man says something but Finn pays it no mind.  He doesn't have time for lessons in gibberish.  So hopping back up on the thick board serving as the drivers seat Finn again flicks the reins.


OOC:
Since we traveled NW after taking the carriage and the safehouse is SW from that point, I will turn to travel due north about 8 blocks and then due east until I reach the road on which the men were originally traveling on.   In other words I want to end on the same road where we found them, just north of the position that we stole the carriage from.  If I do not see them by this time get off the carriage and find a hiding spot nearby.  Look for something I can climb so that I can see them if they find the carriage but it would be very hard to see me.  Something like a 1 story building would be ideal.  Hard to see me in the dark but I have a great view of them, and if they spotted me it would be easy to cast Shapeshift and fly away.  Sit there for 5 minutes.

The goal is to not get caught and not shot at.  If at any point I see or hear two riders approach me halt the carriage and cast Shapeshift.   If I make it to my desired spot and wait my five minutes and do not see them, cast Shapeshift.

This message was last edited by the player at 09:38, Thu 27 Apr 2017.

Mary and the alchemist start their way towards the safe house with slow steps, perhaps because they are trying to glean as little attention as possible or perhaps because Mary is capable of little haste after her bout of intense spell casting.

As for Finn, he jumps back into the carriage, heading north along the access road and then turning back to the east to intercept the main road that goes north towards the cathedral.

As he turns back northward it does not take long for Finn to find where the men are.  He sees a brief glimpse dozens of buildings down the road of two horses, and two men wearing black.  One of the men is still mounted, the other on his knees beside his horse and Finn does not need to guess to know that there is a third man beside them, laying down in the road, unconscious with a knife wound in his vital organs...

With a slap, Finn drops the reins hard on the horses' rumps bringing them into a full canter as he rounds the corner.

"There they are!"  Finn hears from all the way down the road.

Hoof beats clatter on the cobbles, mostly from his own horses, but Finn knows that one of the men is already likely in hot pursuit.  Sure that his diversion is now complete, Finn channels his magic, attempting to return to his bird form for the second time this night.  But the magic fizzles in his hands.  His heart skips a beat, but Finn knows it is a fluke.  One further time he channels the mana and says with force, "morphus aviani!" and for the second time today Finn finds himself sprouting feathers and claws.

The cart still rumbling underneath him, Finn considers his options.

OOC:  Ok, I didn't want to take you beyond what you had specifically said in the last post.  You have successfully cast shapeshift after one failed attempt.  You are at 1/2 ST, Move and Dodge due to fatigue but that will not affect your ability to physically fly.  Where do you want to go from here?  It is really hard to judge distance at night, but you are not concerned about them catching up to you immediately.  You would guess their range at over 100 yards.

To the casual observer one might have watched this whole affair; the acceptance of the job, the planning, the re-planning and the execution and wonder how in the world it all went so well.  But not to Finn Razzel, he's never doubted his or Mary's abilities for a moment and knew that his scheming was so cunning, so brilliant that there was no way they could fail.

And here he is, now, having succeeded in the finding the last two guards.  Mary and the alchemist need a few more minutes to safely secure their way into the safehouse.  Its impossible that these men, should they be unencumbered from worry about their compatriot and Finn, randomly head southwest and blunder into Mary before she reaches solace.  Still, Finn is smart enough to think to himself...Sometimes the unpossible happens!  He needs to delay these men just a little longer.


OOC:
The plan is to get these men to focus on me for a few minutes, and to not get shot.  Stay high enough to keep out of range of melee and small thrown weapons such as knives.  Keep an eye on the bow.  I don't want to rely on dodge since I am so tired.  The plan is to fly up and look for something to land on that gives me cover.  Such as if there is a building with a flat roof and that roof has a ledge, land on the roof so that the ledge gives me cover.  When the men approach closer I am assuming bow guy is trying to get off a shot.  As he is slowing down, hopefully before he can draw an arrow, fly off and use the same tactics, just land with cover 50 yards away.

Try to keep them busy for 5 minutes then head to the safehouse.  If the terrain does not work with my plans and it appears that I cannot find suitable cover while staying high, then abandon the plan to stay close and distract them.  In this case I will fly off north and once out of sight circle around to the safehouse and wait for Mary and the alchemist.

Finn launches himself from the carriage in a great swoop, spreading his wings as he glides down a narrow alleyway before flapping his in a few strong beats to propel him up to the rooftops where he arcs swiftly around once and lands his clawed feet on the edge of the rooftop, glaring at the rider that approaches from the south.

Now, many would think that because falcons are diurnal, or because they hunt during the day, that they would not be able to see as well at night.  However, their vision is superior to humans on more than just the account of their long range focus.  For falcon's cone cells, those which deal with high visual acuity and are concentrated at the very back of the eye can use not only the visual spectrum of humans, but also ultraviolet light.  They also have a great deal more of these cells than humans and their eyes are focused entirely differently, allowing for less light to do the same work and at longer ranges.  While certainly they prefer to hunt during the day when their greatest sense is at their prime, these birds have been known to migrate for days at a time, never losing their altitude as they glide through updrafts that take them across entire continents.  This is a good thing for Finn, who until this night had never attempted this particular shape with no light...

The rider approaches the carriage warily as the horses slowly clatter to a stop with no driver to encourage them on.  He holds his bow ready in his left hand with an arrow already nocked although the bow is not yet pulled taught.  The man seems to have taken no notice of Finn, who is perched high overhead and a few houses down, viewing with relative impunity.  The blonde man looks through the doorway of the carriage first, searching a few moments before he moves up to the drivers seat, searching again before he eventually kicks himself over from his stirrup and turns the cart around, pulling his own horse using the reins as a lead.  It is not an easy task with only one hand to use, but eventually the man gets the cart reoriented and makes his way back around to the others, who are still crouched in the street some hundreds of yards further down.

His hearing not quite the level of his vision, Finn is unable to hear the conversation, but eventually watches as the two men help the third, who seems barely in control of his faculties, into the back of the carriage, One of the men takes a seat as the driver and lashes the horses forward, making haste back in the direction of Finn.  The last man, the rider, is back upon his horse, flanking the carriage at first.  By the time they pass where Finn is still perched the carriage continues its journey north, where the rider with the bow turns westward, seemingly riding aimlessly down the side roads and streets.

After more than five minutes, Finn is confident that neither has he been seen, nor have Mary and the alchemist anything to worry about, so he takes wing back into the skies, landing a short walk from the safe house, where he ends his spell early, and though the drain on his body is exhausting, he convinces his feet forwards and up into the safe house...

On the top floor, Finn finds Mary slumped in a chair, with the alchemist curled into a small ball in a corner, his arms wrapped around his shins and his cheek resting on one of his knees.  The man has a far away look and does not even seem to notice the opening and closing of the door as Finn enters.

At the sound of the door, Mary looks up, and gives Finn a weak smile.  "I think there are a few things that Dirk neglected to tell us about this job."  She says plainly.

Finn is tickled when he transforms into a bird and finds a nice out-of-the-way spot to view his adversaries safely, which is to say due to his small form and the darkened sky he is very difficult to spy.  He observes and when it seems that he has delayed them enough he flies off to rejoin his partner.

As he walks the steps to the safehouse he wonders what he will find.  Has the alchemist resisted?  Is he in a gibbering giddy state and happily spilling trade secrets while Mary hurriedly notes them in a small book?  But as Razzel enters the room he finds something a bit odd.  The man is sitting like a statue and Mary offers only a cryptic statement.

Finn returns her smile, unintentionally weak as he is drained as well.  ”You're amazing Miss.  Simply stunning.”  The young mans head turns from her to the prisoner and he just stares at the almost comatose man for a long moment.  Then with deliberate steps Finn moves to him, but turns to look back at Mary.  He nods in agreement.  ”I was thinkin' the same.  Didnt see how they did it but the driver's back on his feet.  So what's his story?”, Finn says as he points a thumb at the rescued alchemist.

He is so tired, almost exhausted to the point where he cannot move.  Its been a long time since his magic has made him this fatigued, probably since he was pushing himself the border of his limits to test his strength while training a few years back.  He knows he needs rest but first he wants answers.


OOC:
You said the third was “barely in control of his faculties” as he was helped into the carriage.  So the driver that I stabbed, he regained consciousness and made it to his feet?

Lock the door with the full security available.

"Thanks," Mary smiles weakly.  "You too."

She nods her head at Finn's information, though she doesn't seem to so much as to comment on their foes managing to get their last member back up to full strength.

When he asks about their Alchemist, however, she shakes her head in frustration.  "Well, first I don't know where he's from, but it's not anywhere near here.  Whatever he's speaking is the weirdest dialect of Anglish I've ever heard.  I didn't recognize where he said he was from either.  But you can just understand him if he speaks real slow and you pretend like he can't move his tongue right...  But that's not the part I don't understand.  Practically the only information we had on this guy was that he was an alchemist, but I don't think that's right...  I asked him all sorts of questions about potions and he didn't seem to have a clue what I was talking about... maybe it's the language barrier again, but I don't think so...  When I straight out asked him what he did, or what he was good at, he made hand motions like he was a fire mage, but he doesn't have lick of magic in him.  I just don't get what is going on."

OOC:  Yup, the third dude (the one you practically gutted) was helped to his feet using another of the men as a crutch and was helped into the back of the carriage before driving off.  You can consider the door locked, barred, barricaded and booby trapped.

Finn takes in Mary's statements.  He hasn't worked with her long but the young man feels as though he's grown to know her, at least as well as one can in a few hours.  To him anyway she seems a responsible, mature and honest individual, and because of this he takes her opinion at face value.  And this troubles him.  Had Dirk been deceiving them?  Or was their debriefing the very limit of what Dirk and his kind know?  More over it gives Finn pause to wonder who Dirk represents.  All along Razzel was assuming that Dirk is an operative for the infamous Murderers Row, a underground organization that Finn would love to work for, but now he isn't so sure.

The young man turns his attention back to the alchemist.  Finn calls out to him.  ”Ey.”  Finn snaps his fingers aggressively in front of the mans face.  "Focus.  Up here."  Finn points to his eyes.  ”You can understand me?  What's your name?”


OOC:
The guy I stabbed, from my point of view, does it look like he was healed in some way?   Or did he move as a man who is severely injured?  Trying to determine if one or more of them is a mage.

This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 05:31, Thu 04 May 2017.

It takes the man sitting in the corner a moment to realize Finn is talking to him, but the quick snap in his face grabs his attention and after shaking his head for a moment, he responds in a similar, slow speech.  "My name Behar..  Were ham I?"

OOC:  The guy who you stabbed was being helped under a shoulder by another of the men, and then sat in the carriage rather than get back in the driver's seat.  You would assume he was still hurt.  You would guess that they other guys may have had upwards of a few minutes to look after him before they saw you based on the amount of time it took to get the prisoner out of his restraints.

Finn does the math internally.  This man's speech is slow, choppy and sounds funny.  He seems to have no knowledge of the workings of making potions, powders and pastilles.  He doesn't know where he is, which isn't that surprising seeing the manner in which he was transported.  Still, it didn't add up as Mary so succinctly pointed out.

Finn purses his lips and thinks for a long moment.  Then making sure he has the mans attention he speaks slowly and clearly.  Razzel points a finger into his own chest.  ”Roabbi”  Next Finn turns to his associate and is about to point to her when it occurs to him that she might have already exchanged names and he doesn't wish to begin this relationship with the mistrust of lies.  He turns back to the man.  ”You are in the city of Azer. On the island of Dyecastle.”  He almost doesn't think to add somewhat stupidly as it goes without saying.  ”In the country of Megalos.   Do you know how you got to be on that ship.”


OOC:
Sorry if I am beating a dead horse about the driver.  So sounds like the driver is conscious but from my vantage point still hurt.  I am trying to gauge how scared to do I need to be as Finn about them finding this hideout based on if they magically healed him.  But sounds like it could have been minor healing through spells or potions, or maybe just first aid?  I.e., not several castings of major heal?

I would like to find out as much as I can from this man.  Ask the following:  who is he (profession)?  Where is he from?   Why is he a prisoner?  Who are his captors and where were they taking him?  Do they have the means to track and find him (magical or a billion coin at their disposal)?

I will attempt to draw up a chair and rest while I am conversing with Behar.

In the interest of fostering trust I will volunteer or answer simple questions.  I will not name anything specific, for instance I will not name Mary or Dirk by name, but I will tell him that we were hired to steal him from those men and were told he is an alchemist.  When I named myself as "Roabbi" I am doing so with a face that says 'I'm not giving you my real name but you can call me Roabbi', if he can read between the lines.

The man, Behar, is subdued, his lower back still resting against the corner of the room though he lets his arms fall as he pushes his knees slightly forward.  When Finn tells him where they are, the man simply shakes his head as he looks down.  He does begin to answer Finn's questions, speaking slowly and gesturing somewhat as he speaks.

"Due"  The man holds up two fingers.  "wicks ago I come due be... her.  A furs tit seem, pipple wore kind.  I wuss given feud aunt taken in by sum back words family of farmers.  I did not yonder stand hem will but I yonder stood will in off hat day cud yous my yelp in ex Chang fir heir sir fizz.  At less un till I come due yonder stand his dram.  Hit wuss essay in off, hey wore bolding a bairn fir store edge an tea an E mauls an too ling a miss her able job of hit.  I soot gested hey odd crass braises"  He holds up his arms together, crossed at the forearms, making an 'X' shape.  "An pout en sum in suel elation, we mixed would pulpit wide sum glue an cove red hall the enter airier surf faces be fir nail ling in he enter airier wall.  Ye cud till low mulch bitter hit wuss goal ling due be be fur he ruff wuss elven pit en.  I think hey come rowing has hey sew how hit wuss shape ping up."

The man pauses for a moment, sighing and collecting his thoughts as he closes his eyes.

"Tree dais ago wuss win hey come, he men en plaque.  Aim not sewer if hey tacked due my ousts or not, won mow mint I wuss astounding hat di edge of dare filled, pissing an di nexus I had a big offer my hid, I wuss chalking...  here is ladle L shat I cone rem ember.  Hey kip time sum here dirk, could.  I thin yous tern day hey mowed me due di but, I wood nit staff noun if I cud nit fell he grown mowing yonder neat me.  We wore on it fir a dais I thin, he caving I wuss kip tin died not hove windy sis.  Hey mowed me due a courage...  hat wuss here you fund me."

The man stops for a moment, allowing Finn to ask more questions, slowly and one at a time.  First, Finn asks what he does, a question that takes multiple iterations and rewordings to finally come across, but eventually the man responds.

"Hey due gumbo emissions.  Beg boolians."  The man puts his hands together in front of his face with the fingers near touching and his wrists farther apart, making a sort of two sided triangle.  In the next moment his two forearms expand out and up, as his eyes look up at the ceiling.  "Hem peed due Brant hem dun stiffly so hat day dun hit only ting else.  Hat wuss beef eater.  I dun now wit I wool due now."

Moving on, Finn asks about where the man is from (Wassurlund, a place neither Finn nor Mary can place) the men who captured him, if they have heaps of money (he doesn't know) or if they have powerful magic to use to track him.  On this last question, no matter how many times Finn asks, or in how many different ways, the man seems absolutely dumbfounded and only continues to shake his head back and forth or respond with a shrug of his shoulders and a single raised eyebrow.

Looking back for help from Mary, Finn realizes that she has her eyes narrowed, with a single finger wedged between her teeth...  However, she does not offer anything just yet.

OOC:  Good luck reading that, rather than do IQ rolls for your character, I decided this would convey the point a little better, and keep away the dice in a place where they weren't exactly necessary.  Couple of things to keep in mind here:  Don't feel like you need to get super bogged down in the details here.

I'm happy to play this conversation for as long as you want, but the language barrier may prove to be difficult in getting some of the specific details you are looking for.  Also remember that you have essentially succeeded in your mission already, and while it's possible that there could be some mages involved in the bad side (certainly there would be at the war college, where they were going) the row also would have some powerful mages and their safe houses are be guarded against magical scrying.

I'll move forward when you are ready.  To answer your first question though, it is obvious that the man was not fully healed when he was helped up into the carriage but your attack on the man was impressive, catastrophic even.  You assess that there is no way that he could have been walking that quickly unless there was some level of magic involved.

Finn listens to the ragged looking man and finds it most difficult to glean any meaning from him.  Razzell is certain he can decipher a few words here and there but putting the puzzle together in any coherent manner proves near to impossible.  The young man asks Behar to repeat himself over several unintelligible words but the effort proves fruitless.

Finally, exasperated, he looks to his partner.



OOC:
Writing it out in sounds rather than gibberish and having me roll was way cooler and while frustrating, more fun.  I can't get shit out of what he's saying.

My main concern was that – if the guards magically healed the driver could they magically find us and bust in while Mary and I are exhausted, and told to run from them at all costs.  But sounds like my fears will not be realized.

You said something about the mission essentially being over.  If we're fairly certain that the guards can't track us  - either because they don't possess the magical means or the safehouse is magically guarded, or some combination of both, then I'm ready to move on to the next scene.

This message was lightly edited by the GM at 16:53, Thu 18 May 2017.

Back and forth the conversation goes for a little while, with Finn progressively asking shorter and shorter questions, and the answers get shorter as well.  He and Mary take turns asking the questions differently and trying to get as much information they can but after a half an hour, they give up as mostly a bad job.  What little they do glean from the conversation is that the man, Behar, does not know much about his captors, for they have kept him either underneath his bag or in a dark room since he was captured some three days ago.

The thing that is the most interesting, and frankly the most frustrating is that Behar keeps mentioning a time before he came here, before two weeks ago.  Asking where he was before and how he got here earn equally confusing answers, even the man's gestures seem to lack any real information.  In the end, Finn surmises that the man made some sort of long journey, and he strongly suspects magic was involved, though each time he asks questions to that effect it is Behar's turn to become completely befuddled.

"I still can't place the accent."  Mary sighs, sitting back in her chair and trying to get comfortable.  "It's almost like a whole different dialect.  Wonder if he's from the Northlands?  I hear they speak some Anglish up there...  Though he doesn't look much like a Barbarian."

And so the evening passes, hour after hour, until Finn is just ready to try and sleep a little to prepare himself for the morning.  It is just then that Finn hears a knock on their door.

"Open up!  It's Dirk!"  The voice is harried and though it is not loud, the hissed command gives the impression that the man without is shouting.  "We have a problem!"

Mary snaps awake from a slight doze in her chair and darts a cautious look in Finn's direction.

OOC:  It's about 2300 on December 15th.  To the best of your ability the voice outside sounds like the man you were hired by.  You did not discuss which safe house you were going to be using tonight with him, only the options you had available.

Something wasn't adding up.  This man didn't seem to know anything about potions but then again neither did Finn.  Still, one doesn't need to know the biology or psychology of a tiger to recognize one.  For lack of a better word this man seemed useless, so if he wasn't some kind of property, stolen and transported here for his skill or knowledge then what was he doing here?  Was he a prisoner?  Seemed like a lot of trouble for a man with nothing to offer.  So then if he's not the alchemist they were looking for what's his story?  And if this is some kind of giant mix up then what does this say about the Murderers Row?  Then it hits him.  Razzel has a sudden flash of insight, what if Dirk and his cronies are not from the Row?  But Finn being who he is pays this little mind.

Finn tries and tries to get some meaning from the man and despite his tenacity its like squeezing blood from a rock.  Eventually, frustrated and tired, Finn gives up and lays his body down for sleep as he awaits the next phase of their mission.

There is a loud stern knock on the door followed by an announcement from their employer.  Finn opens his eyes, aware that the hour is late but unsure just how much time has passed since their arrival.  His first thought is to run since this ploy is exactly what Finn would do.  The most effective way to break in somewhere is to disguise oneself as ones victim's employer.

Next the short phrase hits him with its full weight, which he was too sleepy to decipher when it was uttered.  "We have a problem!"   Of course we fucking do you twat, Razzel thinks to himself.  Already Mary is stirring.  Finn breathes a sigh of relief as he realizes that Dirk can take the so called alchemist off their hands, fix this mess and pay them.  The coin owed him will go a long way to his highly coveted magical lessons.

Finn stands and heads for the door...


OOC:
Finn will whisper to Mary his intent and hope she follows his lead.  1, make sure the alchemist is in a spot where he can't get the jump on us.  Seated on his ass on the other side of the room from the door is preferable.  2, I will get out my knife and stand so that I am behind the door when its opened.  Mary will open the door.  This way if its a trick I can jump out from behind the door or kick it into him or slam it closed if there are goons holding him.

If we need to run is there another way out of this room?

Unsure of whether or not to trust the safety of the situation, Finn gestures for Mary to open the door, while he tucks himself away behind in order to have an opportune place to kick it closed or jump out and attack the first person to walk in if Dirk is under duress.  With a sharp exhale, Mary opens the door but it turns out that Dirk is alone.  He quickly walks in and rebolts the lock on the door.

"I may have asked for more trouble than I wanted."  Dirk starts, only momentarily giving Finn an odd glance as he walks out from the very corner of the room.

Dirk has lost his calm and fluid demeanor from earlier today, his face has paled and his eyes now dart across the room in nervous apprehension.  Even in the middle of his sentences he walks over towards the single window, sparing a glance down into the street before he ever stops moving.

"I've found out why our sources on this were so incomplete.  The man's not an alchemist... he's a banestorm victim."  Mary gasps a sharp intake of breath, casting a look back at Behar...  The poor sod is still sitting in his corner, arms wrapped around his knees, though his head has picked up slightly as Dirk had entered the room.

"The men you fought tonight..."  Dirk continues, glancing back at Finn.  "Were men from the Ministry of Serendipity.  We do not know how many assets they brought here, I don't think it likely they have more than the three men you saw tonight.  But they have already made their way to the college and some of the Templars are already going out into the city to attempt to find him."

Dirk rubs his hands through his hair, his face contorting into a pained look.  "I'll be honest.  I don't know if it's safe to stay here long with him, I'm pulling out my men from downstairs.  I'm fairly certain the city guard have been informed too.  They have been given a description of him."  Dirk inclines his head towards Behar, "And have been told to find a man has a horrible accent.  But they are also looking for two other men of interest - which means I don't think they are on to Mary, at least not yet.  If they got a good look at you Finn you might have a little bit of difficulty.  Here's the deal."  Dirk takes out two small pouches and lays them down on the small one man table.

"Here's your pay for the job in full.  You may stay here if you like, but we cannot promise protection right now.  If you choose to flee, you must do it tonight, before they get their securities in place.  I will have a small boat arranged for you so you can make your way down the shoreline towards Trent.  I can make further arrangements for him there.  If you get him out of here safely, I'll double your pay.  With the amount of effort that has gone into keeping him secret, I think there is much to be learned from him."

OOC:  Roll vs. area knowledge.  If you succeed you would know the Ministry of Serendipity is a part of the Megalan Imperial hierarchy in charge of dealing with foreign and banestorm technologies.  Usually they are thought of as suppressing technologies from other lands.  If you aren't familiar with the concept of the banestorm, put simply, this guy is a plane-jumper from another world that came here not of his own volition.  FYI, there is a second escape from this room, a loose panel is built into the back wall that leads to an inter-wall space you can use to climb down to the first story, where there is a second false panel that leads back into the building, but it looks like you won't need to use it as of now.  Sorry, the post is a little rushed, feel free to ask questions IC and OOC as needed.

Finn listens to the story unfold and only now does everything make sense.  A 'stormer as some of Razzel's mates call them though this is the first time Finn has ever met one.  If he was afforded more time he might be swept up in awe and wish to try again at prying into this man's background but as most of the city would soon be turning it upside down looking for them the young magical mercenary was happy to just take his payment and go.

He nods professionally to Dirk and scoops up the small pouch.  He holds it judging the weight and then jingles it next to his ear.  A happy smile adorns his features.  Ahhhh, there was nothing quite as delicious as the sound of well earned coin.

Finn responds to the concerns.  ”They saw me pretty well.  But I doubt they know Mary.”  He looks to his partner who he has no complaints about.  ”I'm game for round two.  Mary?”  But now his face turns serious as he looks back to Dirk.  "Now you know we're a couple 'a bad fuckers.  We filched your fellah without a scratch.  I got one question fer ya.  You part 'a the Row?  Cause I want in."


OOC:
Made the Area Knowledge roll.

I am in for the next job and hoping that Mary is too.

Finn will accept the job even before asking about the particulars.  But I would want to know the details.  So a good portion of the city is on to us.  At least me and Behar.  So, what is Behar's appearance?  Can we do a quick alteration(s)?  Shave his face?  Shave his head?  Eyepatch?  Changes of clothing?  The authorities are looking for two men plus Behar.  If we stick together we are three, even if we shave Behar we 'fit the description'.  Does Dirk have anyone he can send, even if they are just bodies, so we're not three?  And the route is make for a boat and take it to Trent?  Is this boat here in Azer?  How far is Trent?

This message was last edited by the player at 04:53, Mon 22 May 2017.

Finn's mind swirls with revelations as the single piece of information makes the whole puzzle come into focus.  This man had come from the Banestorm...  Two weeks ago...  No wonder he had no idea where he said he was from and why his accent was so alien...  It was a miracle that they understood him at all.

With the coin in his hands, Finn is ready for the next task.  It is a shame he will have no opportunities to spend it for the time, though he can only imagine the incredible uses it will be put to once he has a moment to catch his breath.  Rearing to go, Finn's first question goes towards Mary, an unspoken one, asking if she will be accompanying him as they flee.

Mary can only shake her head vigorously.

"They haven't seen me.  I wish you the best of luck, but if we are set on by both the Templars and the Ministry I have no ability to flee like you do and I cannot afford to make more enemies than I already have.  Besides..."  She looks towards the floor as the last sentence comes out in a whispered breath.  "I can't leave."

Dirk nods at Finn's acceptance as well as Mary's refusal and does not press her towards accepting.  As Finn asks his remaining question, the man quirks a smile.  "I'd say it's safe to tell you that yes, you have been the row.  And I have many more uses for you if you wish to join us.  But for now, we need simply to get the two of you out.  Unfortunately, I can't afford to get our organization tied up with the Ministry of Serendipity, so you'll be at it alone until you make it to Trent, but if there is anything you need, you can take it from the safe house here.""

OOC:  It's sort of an odd place, but in the interest of not going on in this thread forever without awarding character points, I'm going to end it here.  You can feel free to add a post closing things up if you want.  The specifics of how you flee can be worked out in private if you wish to keep from having to do a thousand IC posts to make sure you have all the information.  Here are the answers to the questions you have posted so far:

It is hard to say a good portion of the city is on to you.  Dirk mentioned that the city watch has been informed, and that the Templars have started to move their men into the city to look for you.  But yes, in short, there will be people looking for you.

Behar can be changed if you wish.  There is equipment for disguises including different clothing, makeup, eyepatches if you wish.  Behar is about 5'11, 180 with dark hair, light complexion and brown eyes.  You could easily shave his head or alter his appearance if you wish.  If you do want to do so, roll vs. Disguise (Mary doesn't have any skill in it to help you) at +2 for the quality of the equipment you have here (Disguise defaults to IQ-5, so a default roll would be to IQ-3).

Dirk will not send anyone with you, partially because he doesn't have anybody on hand at the moment and partly because he is wary of having anyone get caught and tied back to the Row.

You are not required to take a boat.  In fact, you probably can't take a boat all the way because it would require you to go a significant stretch upriver.  However, Dirk is offering a boat if you want to use it to make your escape.  If you wish, you may make your way out on foot.  Though the city was originally made with city walls, raids into Megalos have not affected Dycastle for hundreds of years and the walls are not generally maintained and portions have fallen into disrepair and ruin and the city has spread outside those walls significantly.

Trent is the town south of Azer, if you look on the maps thread, follow the river directly south and it will take you straight to it.  It's about 110 miles away, or a few days of good hiking.  You can probably take the boat for about a quarter of the way if you go down the eastern side of the island to the river, or most of the way there if you go around the island to the western side, but it will make the trip significantly longer, and you will be dealing with ocean currents rather than inshore ones.  If you ask Dirk, the boat he is providing is not manned, but rather a large canoe or a two man dingy, something that will be small and discreet.

There are a lot of considerations here, so feel free to continue in private message if needed.

Finn's heart sinks a little at the prospect that Mary will not be joining them.  Is he afraid of his chances without the talented womanly mage?  Certainly not.  In their short time together the young man has grown fond of her plus she's a looker and that's always nice to have on a job.

Razzel's mind gets to work quickly as he runs through a list of tasks to be accomplished.  But first, for clarity, he goes over the particulars with Dirk to make certain that there are no misunderstandings.  When running for your life it doesn't do well to run the wrong way.

Satisfied that he and Dirk are on solid ground Finn pats at the coin purse tucked neatly in a belt pouch and already he's hungrily dreaming of its twin which he'll be rewarded with soon.  All he has to do is give the dullards here the slip and then its easy sailing.

Now Finn turns his attention to his one-off partner.  She shouldn't be too surprised by his request as he just finished asking Dirk about distractions.  ”Mary.  I need a favor.”  He smiles coyly.  ”Think you could whip up somethin'...make 'em think were runnin' east and we'll head west?”


OOC:
Finn will ask Mary to cast illusions of me and Behar to run the opposite of where we are heading for the boat.  Just something to get the guards shouting 'Over here!  I see them!', that kind of thing.  A simple distraction to make getting to the boat a little easier.  Finn is willing to pay but he wont offer in case she's willing to do it for free.

Finn will want to take advantage of trying disguises.  I'll roll for it during the break when my points are spent.

GM Edit to show that the water is on the south and west side of the city.

This message was last edited by the GM at 03:28, Fri 09 June 2017.