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Post by zipp on Apr 12, 2009 18:36:30 GMT
Charles looks distant when you mention your mother. When you get to Jason though, he shakes his head. "I have my reasons, Mowyer, but I believe Jason is working with them. I know not where he be. He went into the city two days ago. I've not heard of him since. Listen, I'm going to try to get you as close to the city gates as possible. If you run into Jason before you reach them, don't trust him."
The two of you have reached a set of stairs. These are not the main stairs that most Citadel dwellers use, but rather an out-of-the-way back entrance for workers and slaves. They are precarious, creaky, and (to top it off) a little wet. A slave must've spilled something while traversing them.
"Okay, this should take us a few storeys down, and then we'll be near to the portal. Watch your step. An accident in a moment of crisis is more dangerous than any blade."
Yet, you have just set foot on the stair when you hear shouts of alarum. Charles turns white. "I fear me that call is for us," he says. "We have to act. Hurry!"
Here you have a choice. You can either run down the precarious stairs fast towards your location, run out of the door and try to find another way to the portal, or, if you have another idea, present it and go with it.
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Post by Mowyer Pax on Apr 12, 2009 19:12:49 GMT
Mowyer almost stops dead at hearing Charles talk of Jason in such as way, but manages to force herself to keep walking as per her brother's advice earlier. Charles's avoidance in speaking of their mother, and his dismissal of his brother's loyalty sends a chill down her spine and leaves her head spinning. A worse thought keeps these felings going - would a simpler explanation for this insanity not be that it is Charles himself that is somehow infected or in league with some evil? Turning her against her family with some wild stories? No, Mowyer can believe this less than her mother and Jason's betrayal. She has been closer to Charles than the rest of her family - he has always interceded when she has gotten herself in to trouble in the passed. He seems genuinely worried, and in this madness she must trust someone. Mowyer almost laughs when they reach the stairs, though she recognises it for the hysteria of fear. She can remember Charles and herself playing on stairs when much younger, using trays from the kitchen to slide down terrifying their nurse. If only they were still that small, and her shield were flatter - they would have killed for slippery stairs back then! She looks urgently around, trying to think if there would be any more logical route to get downwards. No ideas spring to mind so I shall pick your brains with my ability thingie
Mental roll to spot any other way down or a way to minimise the danger. (1d20=15, 1d20=19, 1d20=4, 1d20=9)
If that fails, let's try the stairs. If Charles has anything - cuffs, rope, lose clothing item like a cap - Mowyer will suggest they hold an end each to pull on each other should they slip.
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Post by zipp on Apr 13, 2009 0:10:38 GMT
You remember another way to get to the lower levels: an old lift that goes from the kitchens to the studies on the lower levels, to give them food when they couldn't leave their work. This might be a better way all around: besides avoiding the long dangerous stairs, the studies are closer to the portal, and not as well guarded.
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Post by Mowyer Pax on Apr 13, 2009 0:17:02 GMT
Quickly Mowyer tells Charles what she has remembered, gripping his wrist as when they were children and pulling him towards another of her impulsive ideas. Perhaps it was the threat of the guards, or perhaps it was the memory of how more often than not Mowyer was correct, but Charles followed her. Besides, Mowyer tended to get snappish when one of her ideas was rejected, and the threat of capture surely couldn't be doing her mood any good.
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Post by zipp on Apr 13, 2009 1:56:07 GMT
You sneak through a side passage, hearing the clatter of guards behind you. One shouts "Check the stairs!" leading you to believe you've made the right decision.
Before long, you reach the kitchens. Here you run into a slight problem... there are servants cooking! Should you try to sneak past them? Make a distraction? Some other plan?
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Post by Mowyer Pax on Apr 13, 2009 9:22:47 GMT
"For goodness sake, we haven't time Charles!" snaps Mowyer quietly. "They're the lower orders. Just bluster your way through saying you are looking for someone. If anyone challenges you threaten them with arrest. If the guards have already alerted them, then tell them its a bloody coup and yell at them to run - you are the captain of the guard! Grow a bloody backbone!"
Mowyer is thankful that she has been awaiting the first chance for some action - either Citadel being breached, or it being declared 'safe' for the guards to go out and do their job in restoring order and protecting the Citizens of Oasis again. Either way, she has been dressed ready for trouble, no matter the amused and patronising looks it gained her behind her back.
The last thing she had expected was for trouble to have come from the direction it came from though. Was this some form of test of her mother's to prove her worth? Was something large happening, and her mother was finally forced to consider the fact her daughter might just be as equally capable and worthwhile as her other chidlren?
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Post by zipp on Apr 13, 2009 18:46:34 GMT
Charles did as told, and the plan seemed to work. A distraction had been created. Now Mowyer had to get to the lift.
Roll skill.
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Post by Mowyer Pax on Apr 13, 2009 19:21:12 GMT
A mental roll you say, no problem, I can happily roll mental for you. Mental is a brilliant stat definitely suited to this task!
*sigh*
I'm gunna miss Mel's 4 skill dice, aren't I?
Skill roll to the lift (1d20=5)
Ouch
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Post by zipp on Apr 13, 2009 21:52:49 GMT
Before Mowyer could reach the lift, one of the servants spotted her. "Hey!" he shouted. "It's the girl! Guards! Guards!"
A moment later, the servant choked on his words as Charles' gauntleted hand came down on the back of his head.
"Run!" Charles shouted. "Leave now! I'll join you later!"
There's no time to argue. The shouts of guards can be heard in the corridors surrounding the kitchen.
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Post by Mowyer Pax on Apr 13, 2009 22:04:49 GMT
"Dammit, Charles!" said Mowyer in consternation, but secretly she grimaced that she had been the cause of their discovery. With a sick feeling she might not see her brother again, she obeyed him and quickly turned to the lift. She leapt in to it, letting one hand fall to the hilt of her knife while the other started to work the lift.
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Post by zipp on Apr 14, 2009 2:13:17 GMT
Things were about to get worse before they got better. About halfway down, the sounds of commotion above her got louder, and something bright was thrust into the lift above her. A guard was looking down at her, holding a torch to see. His eyes widened. He opened his mouth to sound the alarm.
Mowyer had only a moment to act.
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Post by Mowyer Pax on Apr 14, 2009 7:25:49 GMT
"Quiet, idiot!" hissed Mowyer, "do you really think my mother wants me captured. Think, and do the job you were supposed to do not the job you were asked to for goodness sake! Search elsewhere!"
One of these days I'll create a character who doesn't feel the need to talk themselves out of situations - I swear!
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Post by zipp on Apr 14, 2009 7:30:30 GMT
I tell you what... roll a natural 20 on skill for that one, and I'll give it to you.
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Post by Mowyer Pax on Apr 14, 2009 8:08:33 GMT
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Post by zipp on Apr 14, 2009 8:57:07 GMT
"Hey! She's down here! I see her down here!"
A moment later the guard screams and a spray of blood shoots down the shaft. You assume Charles has taken care of the situation...
... except...
... the flaming torch falls from the guard's hand towards your face.
Think fast.
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