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.