Rascal Rescue - RPLOG
Participants
Date
20/5/477
Log
Cassidy peeks out around the rocks to eye the archers with a soft hum. "I would prefer to avoid water, but if we feel like that's the best option, then so be it. I rather like the idea of trying to find a window, but... I can fly with my math, just about, so I'm not sure how many of you would be able to follow."
Hartford looks around, shuffling his big feet. "I'm not really good at being quiet," he confesses, "maybe I should cause a diversion?"
Hartford looks around, shuffling his big feet. "I'm not really good at being quiet," he confesses, "maybe I should cause a diversion?" The big stag peers around the corner and sees the open door. "I might be able to get in through that door and make a lot of noise, if you like!" he offers.
"-I- can't fly, so we'd have to split up, and I'm not keen on that." He somehow manages to bob his head like he's nodding off, even as he's speaking clearly as being wide awake. "Not that I can't handle myself, but 'cuz Angus'd never let me hear the end of it if I let the rookie get injured on our first assignment together... even if it is coincidence we both picked up this gig from the Freeswords and not official Lightbringer business, heh." Rainer uncrosses his legs and sits up when Hartford lays out his idea. "Nothing against the plan, chief, but what if they start holding blades to the kids' necks soon as they hear a fuss, just to be safe? Y'gotta do better than running in screamin' and flailin' like the Old Ones've taken you over."
Siyu gives a gentle little suck of breath, "No I don't do mathmagic, I can't fly, I'd have to scale it with rope and hook if anything." he nods his head some as he looks up at the rock face, "Does seem like a clear enterance though, we'll have to take the archers down quietly though" He glances at Hartford, "No we don't want to raise any alarms. There's children at stake after all" He looks at Rainer, "You can't climb?" he inquires, "I mean with rope and claw?" he asks.
Cassidy raises her brow under her mask, looking at Rainer. "Me? This isn't my first assignment, and I'm still your superior, yes. So mind the 'rookie' stuff, eh?" she remarks with a little snickers. "And I hope you can climb. That would be an acceptable alternative. I just really do not like getting my bow and arrows wet. I have rope that I could lower down from a window if we found one for me to get into."
Hartford nods at Rainer and Siyu's assessments. "Oh, yeah," he says, wide ears flopping back in shame, "I didn't think of that." Making decisions for yourself was hard! "I could probably climb a wall with a rope," he says, flexing his bulky arms, "I'm pretty strong and stuff." The deer shakes himself a little, loosening up for a quick bout of physical action! "Just say the word and I'll be ready!" he grins.
Rainer murmurs a "sir yes sir" with eyebrows raised high as they may go, casting his gaze towards Siyu and Hartford with an amused smirk. He gets up to a crouch and scoots over to Cassidy's side to get a peek at the place for himself, finally indicating the recently abandoned tower. "We could get up right there, just have to slip up close while they're not looking. Long as you brought enough rope for the task, we're good to go, right?"
Siyu nods his head some, "Well I think going up the rope would be best. I can be as quiet as I can, and get up there along with the rest of you. I think that's our best play, up the side, silence the guards, find the kids..."
Hartford looks at the high wall, and at the thin climbing rope. The big deer's shoulders slump as he realizes that he will be more of a hindrance than help on this mission. "Listen," he says, "You get those poor kids outta there for me, alright?" He waves a meaty hand to indicate his enormous frame. "No way I'm getting in and out of there all quiet like," he says, "I'll be waiting for you here when you get back. Someone will have to carry you and the kids back to Firmament. Right?" He flexes his brawny arms for emphasis, then frowns, "You all be careful in there," he says, finding a spot to sit and wait where he can see the gate.
Moving at a decent, but careful pace, a cloaked and hooded figure is moving towards the location mentioned in the notice. He'd made sure his blade and pistol were loose but not falling out of their sheaths, talents and skills not overly lost from the change from urban to forest. Just less capable. Glein figured this would work towards earning him some respectable reputation, something to build off of in Firmament later. For now, it was a job, and something to be done.
Sliding around a tree, he spots the group near the front of the castle, one that definitely looks like it'd seen better days, he does a quick look over. He recognized some of those present, if only just, and figured it was safe to move up to them, without causing trouble for those ahead. Making sure to make enough noise that those waiting to move on teh castle could hear him, but not so loud as to be obvious to the guards above, Glein settles into place. "Seems I was almost late to the task."
Hoshek seems to appear from behind Glein his fangs glistening as he approached. His poisoned dagger was away, and his oiled leather armor barely whispered as he walked. "I trust you have already found a way in?" he asks, his more assassin-like tendancies showing in the form of his daggers and throwing knives loose in their holsters, and his pistol hidden away for when he needs to abandond stealth
Cassidy eyes one of the windows higher up on the castle and nods, checking to make sure she still has her rope. "I believe so, yes. Give me just a moment and wish me luck." Skirting out froma round the rock and making her way up close to the castle, the small masked fennec sets her sight on the open window and kicks off, using her airmath to take her up towards the window.
Cassidy finds a decently large, open window that the fennec has no problems just entering. It's the window to a pillaged storeroom too, only broken weapons and damaged armor lying around, with no bandit patrol anywhere nearby. One of the archers just happens to be facing Cassidy's direction during her short flight, though. He blinks, his guard raised a little bit now, nocking an arrow and keeping on high alert, pacing a little bit slower. His companions notice his alert and start watching the same area too. Seems they will need to be taken out.
Rainer turns his head with a bit of a start when a voice comes from behind, and he eyeballs Glein and Hoshek up and down like he's not certain about their intentions. Still, in the end, Cassidy's taking to the sky, so he only remarks, "A couple minutes more and you would've been stuck keepin' that guy company." A thumb jerked to the musclebound deer, accompanied by a playful wink, and when he turns back to watching the guard he notes their cautious postures. "Shoot, did they see her? ...They'd be raising all kinds of fuss if they were sure, I guess, but how do -we- get over there now?"
Siyu nods to the new arrivals, "All right. She's going to drop us down a rope when she finds one, and we'll all scale up. Remember this is a rescue mission primarly, the children are the first priority..." he looks up and waits, unaware of what's going on at the moment. The archers are moving? Oh dear...
Glein sighes. "Either we remove them, or distract them. One way or another, we'll need to deal with them before we can continue. My talents in distraction tent to rely more on, urban situations, I'm afraid I might not be of much help here." He says, looking between the two guards and the portion of the wall they're walking. Memorizing their routes, their patterns. Anything to give them an advantage in slipping by without setting off an alarm.
"You sure it wasn't just an owl, or a gop or anything?" One guard speaks to the other, though only Cassidy is in range to hear anyway, notifying her that she's been partially detected. "I saw someone /fly." The other flaps his hands and makes a serious sound, the two turning their backs towards the window now and patrolling back in the other direction.
Hoshek almost snarls, the anticipation of a kill making his blood run a tad bit hot. "Get me up there..." a slight shake of his arm exposed a dagger glistening with poison. "It shouldn't take long to kill one or two." he smirks licking a fang. This side of him... it needs to dissappear. He was going to be a family man soon.
Cassidy settles back, waiting to see if anything was about to come storming her way before reaching out for her rope, tossing one end of it out of the window for the others while she looked for something sturdy to secure it to before drawing her spiritmetal dagger.
"Well, look at that, it's up to Rainer to save the day. Go away for a year, nothing changes." He's grinning ear to ear the whole time he's mumbling to himself, surveying their immediate surroundings and the other beings until, finally, he reaches into his own pants and produces a small pouch that rattles with the sound of Crowns. A quick kiss to the pouch, either in parting or for luck, or both, a look to check the guards' eyes aren't turned their way, and he shoots up, whirls the pouch over his head and hurls it hard as he may in the opposite direction of their planned point of entry. "Nature'll never charge you Crowns, anyway!"
Siyu watches the rope come down the wall, and he nods his head and puts on a pair of gloves. All right, quick and quiet, hopefully this will go fast, getting the rest of the party up there and ready to fight and search for the kids. The rodent looking to get up the rope fast. "We're all in this together, and so far we've not rescued a single child, I'd avoid the cheer until we're back at the inn." he mummers. Since Rainer isn't going to hook up yet, the rodent will try his hand at getting up the rope quietly.
Shaking his head, Glein looked at Hoshek. "That'd be nearly as bad as storming the front door. We only see the two, we don't know how many more are up there. Let's just try and keep this quiet. They're walking slower, so we've more time to climb up while their backs are turned." He says, watching the rope slide down the wall. "If we can get to teh kids before the bandits are alerted, we'll have the advantage of surprise. They'll not expect us that deep in by then." Watching things happen, Glein ponders how well this will work, but doesn't linger on it, moving towards teh rope as well, keeping to the deeper shadows he can find along the way.
Hoshek follows after Glein, mumbling a tad bit, but otherwise complacent. He slides his dagger back in it's pouch, the black mamba quickly and silently snaking his way to the wall "Be quick about it." he hisses, watching rainer toss away a pouch of coins "Their attention won't be drawn away for long."
"D-Did you hear that? CROWN!" The guards laugh excitedly, thinking they heard a greedy merchant and then scooting over to the other side and peering, trying to look out for the 'unlucky soul' that they heard and shoot him and then loot the body after. The distraction might have been a little...too effective, even. Echoes of excited bandits that were hiding in the shadowy areas of the apparently unguarded main entrance sounding as they rush out in a miniature horde for their own share of merchant slaying! They find the bag of coin and then pursue into the forest. Leaving the climbing rope free for the climbers. The way out of the armory leads straight into a T-junction with two closed doors, lit torches lighting the stone hallways every other step. Loud, if isolated sounds of merriment echo from the large door on the left, while the dusty, cobweb door on the right looks like it hasn't been touched in ages. A sign hangs on the unused door, reading "HALL OF BLADES".
Cassidy eases open the door as she waits for the others to finish climbing, poking her head out and glancing around before withdrawing to wait. "Who wants to take up the lead? Not me, preferably. I'm already injured, and I'd like to avoid further injury, is possible."
Rainer brings up the rear, and once he's in reels the rope in behind him, leaving it piled up by the window in case they need to make a hasty exit. Nor does he give anyone else an opportunity to step up, marching ahead the moment Cassidy's asked for someone to take point, throwing a mock-salute her way as he trots right past into the hall, drawing his dual blades, creeping hither and tither until they come to junction, where he peeks back for opinions. "Hall of Blades? That sounds fun!"
Siyu gets up to the top of the rope and he rolls a bit to the side and pulls out his pistol and his dagger. He looks over to the others, "I could. I wouldnt' want to go first but I can..." he speaks in whispered tones, hearing the loud revlary and he looks over at the doors, "I say we leave them and just look for the kids, in and out, fast as we can." he nods slowly. He is armed, and his medical supplies are at his hip, hopefully enough to patch up any hurts the kids have and get them moving.
Glein smirks, his own blade drawn. Easing against teh corner, he listened to the merriment for a moment. "Let's check this 'Hall of Blades'. But be careful. The longer we can prevent them from being alerted, the better. I really don't do so well in a drawn out fight." He says, sliding over to teh door, and checking it over, seeing if there's any traps, if hte locks good, or heck, if the hinges are likely to creak when opened.
Hoshek hisses "No, that would be the worst idea. The rat is right. We need in and out. The less we run into the better." his dagger comes out though, his other hand remaining free to pull one of the many throwing knives along his armor "Do we know where they might be held in here?" he gives a look around his focused attention on listening, like a good assassin.
Cassidy flips her dagger around, holding it in a reverse grip as she nods. "Yes. Let's try to avoid bloodshed if we can. Let's get the kids and get out before they even know we were here, yeah? Or if we must kill, we do it quietly." She shrugs, having little else to add as she adjusts her mask and prepares to follow whoever decides to move first.
Rainer edges down the hall behind Glein, keeping himself, and his blades, facing the door in the opposite direction, from which the sounds of revelry are coming. When he gets there, though, and finds the spider-man still scrutinizing the door, he contorts his face once again like he just can't figure out what this guy's deal is. "Observe:" Thus he grabs the doorknob, gives it a twist, and pushes -- or pulls, whichever need be done -- the door open. "the miracle of modern convenience!"
Siyu just gapes, "Are you fucking daft." he hisses, "Three of us....'
The HALL OF BLADES. Turns out to be quite a disappointment. The door isn't booby trapped at all, and it just looks like a spiralling flight of stairs, heading down into the castle's dungeon/basement.
Siyu is behind the rest of the group then, since hte other two are forward, keeping an eye on the door behind us, waiting to see where we're going next. "If you're quite done shouting about modern convience, remember we're trying to be stealthy..."
Glein grimances as Rainer just yanks the door open. "I was making sure the bandits hadn't trapped it you fool." He hisses at Rainer, before sighing, and turning to the stairwell. "Let's, just keep moving, and I say we let mister loud bring up the rear, since he's obviously the most reckless of us right now." He states, before easing himself down the stairwell.
Hoshek rushed to the door stopping himself before he could bury the hilt of his dagger into Rainer's jaw. "Keep. Quiet." there was an unspoken threat in there, before Hoshek walked off down towards the stairwell "I say Foxy over there and I inspect downstairs a way, Spider you and the rat check upstairs." he shot a slight glare to rainer "Stay here, ensure nothing comes from this level behind us. [Spider, you and I will stay in contact like this.]
Hoshek soon learns the HALL OF BLADES is aptly named, for somebody has decided that staircases are a good place to hide swords. The snake steps on a sword lying on one of the steps, the steel offering zero grip on the stone floor and just sliding off the stairs with a horrendous ruckus of clangs and steel bouncing down stairs, catching onto other swords and causing a catastrophic chain reaction of swords-sliding-down-stairs-very-noisily. But at least he didn't fall and get hurt, the party got that going for it which is nice. The sounds of festivity behind the other door stop though, Siyu able to hear the bandits inside talk about the noise and get armed...looks like just about everyone in the vicinity has been alerted now...
Siyu flicks his ears, "They've heard that, quick in the door and leg it, hopefully they just think it's one of them drunk, down the stairs and shut the door, bar it if you can" he tries to direct the other members to what seems like a passable plan.
Cursing under his breath, Glein doesn't even bother letting Siyu finish, already moving down teh stairs. [Get them all in, I'm going to make sure none are coming from below!] Glein sends to Hoshek, grateful for Shadow Tongue being more vocal, and yet quieter than even sign language, and without the need of being face to face. One of the benefits of being a Shadow at times. No matter, his focus was purely on getting down the stairs, and making sure that their exit as it was now, wasn't about to be just as dangerous.
Cassidy peers down the stairs, cringing. "... Sharp moves," she mumbles, carefully making her way down the stairs after Hoshek, making sure to not step on any of those swords! "Well. Let's try to be quick, then!"
Rainer's disappointment is plain upon his posture and expression, when the HALL OF BLADES is revealed to be more of a STAIRWELL OF BANALITY. Slow inhale, long, sighed exhale. Only after that does he even notice that Hoshek is all up in his grill, frontin' and such, and up go the eyebrows, most certainly preparing the comeback to end all comebacks when everything goes to pot. Watching the far end of the hall, he waves the others ahead, pulling the door shut as quickly as he can without slamming it and raising even more alarm. "Coulda barred it with one of those swords if they were still, y'know, up here." he remarks as he comes hustling down, somewhat effortlessly outpacing Siyu as he endeavours to retake the lead.
Hoshek growled his useless fangs flashing "Shut. Your. Fucking. Mouth." he waves everyone inside a doorway at the bottom tossing a Shadowy approval to Glein before rushing in himself. If this was any indication, he should stop doing anything dangerous. Any more fails like this and he'd get himself killed. Issi wouldn't like that. "Better that we make ourselves scarce. Now then later, if anything."
Fortunately, Rainer manages to pull the door shut before the bandits from the top approach. At the foot of the stairs lies a huge pile of junk swords barely in condition for use after the rough dinging they've had bouncing down two flights of stairs. And a small patrol, of course. "Crap, Freeswords!" The head of the patrol makes a frantic dash for it and leads his group, probably to alert the remaining ransomers...and the ones holding the children hostage. The hallway he enters in the cross junction out of the HALL OF BLADES seems to be filled with mirrors and the like, several images of bandits appearing in the hallway once they enter. Perhaps taking one of the side paths might allow you to outpace the group as well. Or lead you to the hostages first.
Cassidy rubs her chin, eyeing the mirrors. "Hmm. Troublesome." She raises a hand, testing the air before humming. "I have an idea. But not yet. Instead, I have another idea." She places her hand on a mirror and sets off, following the tried and true method of always following the right wall.
Siyu gives a grunt, "Well I guess we all have to...have to stick together, this seems like a really good way to get absolutely lost and splot up. We'll need to keep together and try to find the kids"
Glein grumbles, drawing his pistol now. As it was, stealth was no longer an option, and speed was off the essence. Deciding on a rather simple trick when dealing with a hallway full of mirrors... he figured his arm was going to hate him later, but as it was, he reversed the grip on his blade, and running with it scrapping against the side, hopefully scratching the mirrors as he follows behind the vixen.
"Seriously at the pace you guys go...!" Rainer just... runs right in, headlong, giving the surrounding images of banditry only the briefest of consideration before picking one, swinging, and... CRASSSHHHHHH. Well it's not like they were still needing to be discrete. "I meant to do that."
Hoshek stepped into the hall. "Fuck me." he hated these types of rooms, encountering them once or twice when he was performing his more... unsavory tasks. He watched Rainer crash into a mirror, and growls slightly. This was going to take forever. Unless... He pulled two knives. If this worked, then... He tossed them aiming for two mirrors a bit further ahead, before taking off, he'll juggernaut through the damn mirrors if he had to.
Cassidy just keeps following along, letting the others do the hitting. She simply wants to find the exit to this horrible place, so she keeps her hand to the wall as she moves along.
Rainer tilts his head and perks an ear to the sound of one of Hoshek's daggers hitting home. "Alright Rainer. You can't let yourself be outdone." He stands with blades poised surrounded by images of thugs, his comrades, and himself, inhaling, exhaling, raising his chin and-- "Hooyeah!" "Gurgh!" And the unfortunate bloke that wasn't a mirror crumples over his blade. Rainer, naturally, is enthused. "Ha ha! Did you see that?!" He turns to try and pinpoint someone else, but is interrupted by the not-so-stiff slumping against him. "Oh ew, get off, get off!"
Siyu grunts as the glass shatters all around him, splashes of sharp bits just ping off his armor. He's following behind Cassidy, huffing and running, and finally, light! Out of the hall of mirrors and he glances around. The children, ahve to find the children. But at least now we're out of the bloody hall of mirrors!
Glein fires his pistol, watching a mirror off to the side shatter from his shot. "I hate these kinds of security measures!" He growls, breaking away from teh mirrors with his blade, and trying to find the children. He was sure there was only two bandits, but he couldn't be 100% certain, and the noise they'd been causing wasn't helping their case either.
Hoshek's first and second dagger smashed into a mirror, well that one wasn't the bandit, his body smashed into a second, but the empty space behind it had him running into a bandit "Die!" the snake shouted, diving his blade into the bandit's neck and forcibly ripping it's windpipe out. If any of his buddies were around, that was quite the attempt to demoralize them. The now blood covered snake looking about after the messy murder, then he heard the death of the other bandit, to which he rejoined the group, whiping the blood from his face "That all of them?"
The two bandits dead means that no alert goes out to the main room hiding behind the Halls of Reflection. Cassidy and Siyu barge in, to see the children tied up. Three wolf pups, one on each armplate and one strapped to the breastplate of an ornate suit of armor. A fourth is left tied up, the bandit leader not having enough time to finish his last protection. Nonetheless, he quickly straps the armor onto himself and picks up his large battleaxe, staring at the two who've arrived with a loud grin. Seems like that huge mess of breaking mirrors has given him some alert...and already he charges towards the two with a wild swing!
Cassidy blinks a little at the sight, almost taking a hit from that axe. Instead, she makes a narrow dodge with a roll, the axe nicking at the fabric of her capelet. "Hey, listen a moment. Do you really want the death of babies on your hands? Just put them down and let's talk about this, okay?"
The sound of a few more mirrors breaking preceeds Rainer rejoining the group, huffing and looking less than thrilled, brushing a few small shards of glass from the thicker fur on his shoulder. "That was--oh." He's just in time to see Cassidy and Siyu already mixing it up with the head honcho of the kidnapping brigade. He only laughs, refreshing his grip on his blades, and throws himself into the fray! "One on five, buddy! You're duh-huh-hwoah crud!" Coming in from the side, he very nearly doesn't notice the tots strapped in time to stop his swing, backpedalling frantically and falling on his rump as he blurts out, "That is NOT COOL."
Siyu grunts a little bit as he sees Cassidy try to talk to the mad fool, his tail lashes about. The rodent is small, 3 foot 10, in his stone cloak, he'll try to pull back, fade into the stonework, and sneak around the brute, small and subtle, to get behind him. A dagger, or a pistol shot could end this fairly quickly, just as long as he's not spotted.
Glein bursts in, and seeing teh children strapped to the bandit's armor, grumbles. Hanging back some, he decides to do some reload, as well as maybe make this guy a little on teh duller side. Grabbing one of his dulling potions, he proceeds to huck it at teh bandit. Might as well go for the double whammy of spalshing him with potion AND glass at teh same time. Once the bottle was out of his hand, he began the laborious process of reloading his pistol.
Hoshek slid in, the blood covered snake quickly jumping into the fray. Upon seeing his target, he had worked himself up into a frenzy charging the beast while pulling a pistol. Dropping to his knees he used the blood covering his armor as a lubricant to set him into a slide, more so he could aim better from the braced position he put himself in, and avoid his massive axes swinging. Then, he pulled the trigger, hoping to the creators he didn't hit the kids
"Oh? All I wanted was a ransom. Just some money...enough to last the rest of my days. Apostates get shit in this country, you know. All these are just apostate kids. If they were old enough to thank me they would for saving them the sixty or so years of suffering they have ahead of the-HEY!" He's suddenly hit in the head with a dulling position, the bandit chief going into a FRENZY and just swinging wildly in Glein's direction. Leaving the others opportunity to attack his back if they wished. Hoshek's shot scraping the bandit's shoulder plate and leaving minor grazes on his neck, thankfully not hitting a child.
Cassidy doesn't go for his back, instead leaping forward to strike the underside of the axe-wielding wrist with the pommel of her dagger, trying to force him to let go of the axe. "Even they could make something of their lives. Is the money really worth your life? The sooner you agree to give up, the sooner we can see to your life. Do not let a child get hurt like this."
"Seriously! Not cool! Who hides behind children?!" Rainer is getting to his feet, but... he's just not letting this go. "I'll tell you who: cowards! And weaklings! And little frail old men who can't even pick up a stick, let alone a sword! And you're obviously none of those, so what does that make you?! Desperate, I guess, but mostly stupid! Just... unbelieveably stupid!" ...wow, he's... not shutting up. "Bad enough you're Apostate trash, you go all your life acting like this? It's a wonder they didn't beat you to death years ago!"
Siyu grunts a bit as Cassidy doesn't go in for the kill. Slightly confused by it, but he'll follow suit. He sees which arm holds the axe and he flicks his dagger, the creator flames lash around it and he aims at carving the tendons in his sword arm from underneath the armpit and try to sever his ability to fight.
Cassidy manages to dart in between the bandit's wild swings and just completely cripples his exposed, unarmored hand with her dagger, making him drop his battleaxe with a loud clatter on the floor as he hollers out in pain. Soon his other arm is disabled by Siyu too, the disarmed bandit just collapsing to his knees, panting with exhaustion and pain. "Ngh...you got me." He grumbles. The three kids bound to him kicking at their ropes.
Cassidy sighs as the foe falls to his knees, stepping forward to stare into his face from behind her mask. "This really wasn't very nice, you know. I hope you take some time to think about your actions. Kidnapping babies... Really? How low can you go?" She goes to end it with a swift hand strike to his neck, trying to put him out cold for a while.
Rainer gives his swords a triumphant twirl before stowing them back in their scabbards, hands going straight to his hips as the anger just melts right off his face and his trademark carefree grin reasserts itself. "For the record I really don't care what clan someone's in, I was just, y'know, trying to get a rise outta him." he announces to no one imparticular, before having one of those moments of realization and huffing out an "oh yeah" as he scoots over to attend to that one forgotten child still tied up at the back of the room.
Siyu cleans off his dagger, his concern is for the children, cutting them loose off the armor, freeing them, and letting out a soft little coo, he has a very calming vanilla scent, even past the mud, blood and sweat, "There there, it's all right, we'll get you out of here...come on. come on with me." the short rodent holds his arms out, trying to at least get them together and calm. Giving them a hug and looking back up at the others. "So what are we doing with the rest of them?"
Glein growls, holding his numbed arm. "I think teh bastard ought to just be dealt with and we get out of here. The rest of the bandits aren't going to let us go that easily, and I don't want this bugger coming up behind us."
