Up in Smoke - RPLOG
Participants
Date
19/1/480
Log
The night is dark under the quarter moon, and the north-eastern wind makes the cool air carry a bit of a chill.
Donovan stands on top of a little hillock, looking down on the construction site for Flora Longtail's long-planned Promise Faire, or whatever it was she was calling it. His white fur almost seems to glow in the dim moonlight and he has donned a long coat as a small concession to the evening chill, but stands with it open and blowing in the breeze.
A small ocelot being quietly stalks up the side of the hillock. Short, lean and clad in dark travel leathers, Terry moves with a purpose towards the donkey standing in profile atop the dimly illuminated elevation. He slinks to his side, staying silent as he looks down at the fairgrounds. He observes it for a moment before looking up at Donovan, waiting to be told what is to be done.
The wind picks up slightly, the rustling of grass grows a little more as something comes from above. It looks like a small black shadowy mass, blurred in the dark, but Donovan and Terry are close enough to see it fully. It floats down next to them and whatever is around this figure slinks down into the ground. The figure is sorter than anyone here by a good foot or so. The ears that poke out of the top scan around for noise as he walks up to the two. "Greetings." Comes a hushed, but still deep voice from the small being.
Hardly quietly, a very, -very- odd reptile-like figure slowly climbs up the small hill, until they're at least in par with the Donkey and the Ocelot's height. Considering how dark it is, it may be considerably difficult to find out who or what they are.
"Uh... What's um.. Up?" Says the reptile-kin. Their voice however, seems considerably clearer than what you'd expect from a reptile.
Donovan arches one, immaculate eyebrow and looks at the three beings who have answered his call. While the saurian was certainly unusual, he seems most surprised at the small cat being after noting their markings and voice. The Ass shakes off whatever surprise he might feel, expressing only that raised eyebrow before falling back into an attitude of boredom.
"Well, glad you could make it," he says, "Don't worry about introductions, I don't want to get attached." He tilts his head toward the slowly developing wall and buildings below, quiet in the dim moonlight. "I imagine that you all know what -that- is? The latest Longtail travesty upon Firmament?" His eyes flicker toward Terry at that, for some reason.
Terry nods in reply to the question as it is presented. "Some manner of faire, like the farmer's faire but... exceedingly ostentatious." His eyes flit over to the edge of the camp. "I can't begin to imagine how expensive all this is... and how much of it the Longtails and their allies will ultimately put in their pockets." He looks over at the reptilian being, smiling briefly before returning his attention to the construction site."
Kastovin nods, saying "Yes, I've been down there a few times to see what was going on. Once stumbled upon Lady Longtail herself while I was there. I was taken to her tent and we talked about her projects." He eyes the donkey, taking a step closer. "Have we met before?" He says, taking off his hood. His markings are there, but dimmed to the point of being nearly turned off, but his eyes still glow brightly, looking up to Donovan with a gleam he knows all too well. He nods to the new arrival, taking note of their strange appearance. He turns to Terry and says "Yes, I was worried about that."
"I just got to promise recently but uh.. I can imagine how expensive that might be, even though I'm kind of out of the loop." The reptile's eyes flick over to the felines and then back to Donovan as the reptile takes a couple of steps closer. "To be honest, I don't even know the Longtails that much. Heard a bit of talk about them but.. Not too much. They're the nobles around here, aren't they?"
Donovan looks critically at Kastovin, looking as though he is wracking his memory. "No," he finally says, "No, I don't think we have. I am sure I would have remembered." His attention shifts to Cary and he nods. "They were, once," he says sadly, "Before they attempted to overthrow the Good Queen of her time. Now they are all degenerate gangsters and thieves! I can only imagine that this new "Highlady" is the same. On the surface, all of this -seems- in the interests of Firmament and Sweetwater, but I have no doubts that this new leader of this 'reformed' house has ulterior motives." He turns away from the view to look at the other beings on top of the hill. "As a concerned citizen, I want you to find out what she is up to and slow down her scheming in any way possible. For the good of Firmament!" His eyes go once more to Terry and he stares intently at the Ocelot for a moment, before turning back to the others.
Terry looks to his companions, looking over them as well. "I think we're up to the task." He trades that glance with Donovan, then looks down at the construction site. "We need to get closer and see what we can do. I suggest we start silent and see how much we can find out, if there's anything we can take or break that will hamper them, or any documents we can learn from..." He nibbles on his lip thoughtfully, before nodding to himself and starting on the path down. He walks slowly, this being a job for patience and discretion rather than immediate force and rapidity. He sticks to the shadows, using the natural cover of the hillock to hide his profile until he can get close enough to spy on the construction ground from close up.
Kastovin gives a small laugh. "I've been inside of her tent! I saw the map of the planned wall and everything within. I could draw it up for you, if you're so inclined. But beyond that, what exactly do we need? Papers, some sort of evidence that this is not as it seems? That would be at her house, would it not?" The small cat looks and sees the other cat already making his way down. "Great." He says with a small smile, he runs to follow close, motioning for Cary to follow as well.
Cary tilts their head, but follows. "Y'know... I'm not the best at stealthy.. Agile things but.. I'm a good distraction. But I get what y'all mean as this sounds quite sketchy.. The lady's things, that is." Cary tries their best at following the cat, but sizes considered.. That might not go so well for them.
Donovan stands silently on the hill and watches them go. He flicks a well manicured hand and a large gold coin appears between his fingers, which he proceeds to roll adroitly across his knuckles as he thinks.
The night time camp is quiet. There is not much to see here yet aside from the half built wall and meticulously laid out plots for construction sites. There are a few stockpiles of lumber and stone and a low, temporary building for housing workers and storage. It seems that there are a few guards as well, each dressed in simple coveralls with the LongTech seal sewn onto the sleeves. Each of them carries a hooded lantern, which makes them pretty easy to spot in the dark.
Terry huddles up against a tree, using it as cover as he peers down. He looks up at Kastovin and gestures to get his attention. "You said you've been in her tent. That's a good place for us to start. She will probably have something in there that she didn't show you, or anyone, but that will be useful in some way." He looks at the large lizard being, smiling. " A distraction is what I had in mind. The trick is to do it and make it something that won't get you detailed in the process. Any ideas?"
Kastovin nods, looking to the large lizard. "I bet..." He says thinking. "You could use that big club of a tail to undo those supports on the lumber over there..." He gestures to where the wood is held. "One fair swing should do the trick. But after that, you better run somewhere they won't look!" He nudges Terry. "The tent is in the center of the camp, so we need to hurry if we are to get in and out. There may be guards on the inside, so be ready for that."
"Cary lowers themselves down a little bit, whispering as they take cover. "Hmm.. Something that would not get me detained." If anything, it looks a little awkward with their face.. This close. At least, something feels awkward.
"I could have a little accident with a lumber stockpile, that's what I was thinking, yeah. That should be loud enough to give you a good distraction, but I'll obviously have to leave you to your luck, as I doubt I would be able to outrun the guards. An apology and fixing the stockpile would be a much better approach."
The tent in question is not hard to find. It is visible from the unfinished wall, though there are several guards in the way. Warm light shows through the canvas, indicating someone at work inside, and a pair of bored guards are stationed outside. The easiest path would probably be to climb the rough wall. Or there is the unfinished gate, which stands open. One would only have to get past the four guards stationed there.
Terry nods at the idea. "That sounds like a good distraction. Make enough of a mess and some of the guards might even make the time to help you straighten everything out. Should give us some time." He looks at Kastovin. "I'll follow your lead to the tent once we're in there. Since you've been here and know the layout of the place make sure to keep us out of line of sight of the lumber stockyard as much as possible." He looks up at the wall, then steps up to it and starts on his climb.
Kastovin nods and looks over to cary. "Good luck!" He gives a small pat and looks back, just in time to notice Terry starting to climb. He shurgs and gently starts to float upwards, matching the speed of the cat who's climbing. Once they reach the top, he'd check to see if there were and guards up here to be worried about.
The reptile nodded, "Alright. I'll provide the accident in a few. Good luck, you two." Cary faintly smiled, moving slowly towards one of the lumber stockpiles, trying to make sure no guards would see them. Trying being the keyword here.
There are no guards atop the partially finished wall, since there is hardly anywhere to walk or stand up there, but they patrol in a regular pattern on the ground, leaving few hiding places or gaps. Someone trained them well.
Outside the wall, where the barracks and stockpiles lie, there are no fewer guards, but being out of sight of their superiors, it seems they are more lax about their patrol. A pair of guards are seated on a tall stack of lumber taking a smoke break.
Terry perches atop the wall, observing the area silently. He looks at Kastovin as the other being effortlessly floats up to match his climb. "Okay.." He looks over the yard again, his nose twitching. "I think we're going to need that distraction." He stays in place for now, waiting for an opportunity to leap down and into good enough cover when the guards don't appear to be looking in his direction.
Kastovin moves over and sits next to Terry. He rummages though his robe showing a bottle of... something to terry. "If that lizard fails, I got this as a backup..." He gives it a very slight shake and it flairs up with a bit of red for a split second for Terry to see. "This here will cause a small, controlled fire. It will only last for five minutes." He stuffs it back into his robe. He looks over to the lumber pile, seeing Cary get closer and closer. From up here he can finally see the beings sitting up top of it, having a smoke. "They may have their work cut out for them..."
Cary slooowly walks closer to tall lumber pile. They pick up a small map and line up their tailclub to the leftmost stake. Looking up towards the guards, Cary tries getting their attention. "Hey there. Uh. I'm kind of new here, could I ask for a couple directions? Seems I took a wrong turn or.. Maybe two or tree and got a little lost." The reptile speaks in a rather friendly tone, trying to sound genuinely lost. Considering what people say about heavy clanned folks, it probably wouldn't be a surprise.
The duo sitting on top of the lumber pile jump a bit at the Anklyosaurs unexpected arrival, one of them, a large, if slightly chubby armadillo nearly chokes on his pipe! "Who goes sneaking around this time of night!?" he growls, while his companion, an older canine of mixed ancestry laughs at him. The armadillo shoots his companion a hard look, then turns back to Cary. "If you're looking for the gates, you're way off. Just follow the wall that way," he points away from the camp, "You can't miss it. Don't know if they'll let you in this time of night though."
That little flash of light atop the unfinished wall might not have been the stealthiest choice. "Who is up there?" comes a firm voice from the ground, "Come on! I saw you skulking around!" One of the guards down below has stopped his patrol and has raised he lantern high, trying to spot who might be sneaking around.
Terry ducks back down behind the wall, dropping down and hanging by one hand as he tries to hide himself from the guard. He reaches behind his belt to retrieve a small blade, keeping it on hand just in case it is required. He considers his options. Running now will cause noise and blow his cover, so he opts to wait and see what will happen.
Kastovin freezes, and the very same shell of darkness grows and shrouds himself. He looks over to where Cary is and sees that he was not able to knock the wood down, but he waits to see what Cary will do, but is ready to throw the bulb at the second he fails at his task, if he does. As for the guard down there, quickly flicks his wrist and a brick falls behind him, making some noise.
Cary:locks her tailclub with the stake, pointing over to the wall. "I.. Never really tried sneaking to be honest but uh. That way? I'm a smithy looki-" As the reptile tried to strike a small conversation, Cary pulled their tail club, trying to break the stake outwards, possibly getting it to look like a clumsy accident from a clumsy heavy clanned.
The suspicious guard is not about to give up just because the perps aren't speaking up, and the sliding brick falling from the wall certainly doesn't dissuade him. "Intruder on the wall!" he calls out clearly, waving his lantern and raising the shutters so that he and the area immediately around him are bathed in warm light.
Other guards on patrol start to jog over, their lamps starting to converge on the area of wall where Terry and Kastovin are hiding.
Outside, Cary finds that the stake is very firmly rooted in the ground. It seems that there is no way to make this look like an accident!
Except. . .
Now his tail is trapped, wedged between the stake and the pile of logs by his tugging.
Terry drops down quickly from the wall, breaking for the low cover nearby the wall. He doesn't have much time, or the ability to fly, so he slinks behind one of the nearby trees and waits to see how the guards are going to react to this alarm.
Kastovin takes out that bulb of something and tosses it behind him. He waits for it to hit the ground and once it does, a quiet pillar of flame shoots upwards with the help of his fire mathemagic. Once he does that, he climbs to the back, moving along it to get away from where all the guards are. Once he's away from there, he moves up, grunting and jumping in the direction of the target tent, floating silently as he does so.
Cary, now noticing that their tail was pretty much stuck, tilted his head. "Um.. How the... Well.. This is awkward. I seem to be a little bit stuck in here..." The reptile strongly gripped their own tail, trying to pull it. "-Hnngh, useless, damned thing, you always do this!"
The armadillo guard rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "Just when you thought it was safe to take a break," he growls, climbing carefully down the stacked wood while his partner snorts another laugh and follows, "Hang on, we're coming. We can get you-"
The guard is interrupted by the FWOOSH of flame when Kastovin's bomb explodes in the grass, casting wild shadows everywhere, including on to Terry's hiding spot in the bushes not far away.
Guards inside the walls react with cries of alarm and the four guards at the gate come running to help put out the flame.
"Split up!" calls the young guard who first spotted Terry and Kastovin, "You, you and you, go see what that was. Murray and Flint, keep on patrol. I'll go back up the foreman's tent!" The guards all give nods or grunts of approval and they scatter.
Kastovin's magic aided jump floats him gently toward the centrally placed tent, moving just ahead of whoever the commanding young guard is. The only trick is finding a way to land without being spotted.
Terry covers his eyes from the firebomb as it detonates not far from him. He uncovers his eyes to look at it and shoots a pointed glance at where Kastovin likely floated off to. He's going to get framed for this act of arson now, if he's caught. Having no other choice at this point in time he retreats, running back up the hill before the guards can catch up. His best hope is not being actually caught and connected to the act of arson.
Kastovin lands not far from where the centeral tent is, he dares not get closer right at that instant. He reaches inside of his robe and pulls out a rod tipped with a crystal and tucks it in his belt, just in case. He keeps an eye out as he makes his way over to the tent on tiny cat feet. If he could, he'd obstruct the path of the guard who's making a b-line for the main tent, once that's done he'd listen closely...
"..What was that?" The dino asked as the bomb exploded. "Hold on, I think I got this." Cary wipes their hands and firmly grips their tail again, this time pushing a foot against the stockpile before finally pulls the tailclub, trying to get it unstuck. This could -probably- break the stake if successful.
Fleeing from the scene may have been one of the safest routes, though Terry finds the hilltop where the group started from empty. Donovan is nowhere to be seen, though this is as good a place as any to watch the action below.
Cary successfully manages to retrieve his tail from its wooden prison. And snaps the wooden stake in the process. The logs wobble a bit under the weight of the two descending guards, but they are still held by the other two stakes. "Hey!" call the armadillo, "Watch it! You'll bring the whole thing down!"
Alighting in the middle of the construction area, near the overseer's tent, Kastovin finds himself in a rather large staging area for materials. Stacks of brick and straw bales and lumber are scattered about in neat formations, but it does not look like anything short of an earthquake is going to slow the quickly approaching guards. Then there is a new problem.
"What is going on out there?" comes a loud shout from the overseer's tent, followed by the sounds of running footsteps from that direction as well!
Terry couches down before a boulder. With he large rock's shade masking his profile and cloaking him in shadows, he observes the goings on with an intense stare. He still wants to go in there, but this place is a hornet's nest now, all nice and kicked for him. That stranger who claimed to have been in Flora's presence sure managed to bungle this entire thing in seconds...
Kastovin looks to the tent and to the advancing guards. He crouches down, trying to avoid being seen. Once he gets into a corner and shrouds himself, he takes note of his belongings as he waits for everything to calm down enough for him to try anything. He has a few more chemical concoctions left, one of them being a seperated section vial that when thrown would cause irritating smoke, causing coughing after prolonged exposure, good for escapes and clearing out an area for a few seconds. He has a second fire bomb ready for use if needed and the last thing he has is a heartfire poison. From checking what he has, he looks to see what's going on.
"Woah woah woah!" In a swift motion, Cary pushes their hands against the stockpile, as if the reptile was the only thing keeping it from falling apart. Cary gazed at the guards and exclaimed. "I'm really sorry about getting stuck and all, but I can't guarantee this thing won't go down if you stay up there and don't get any help!"
It is only a moment before the staging area is full of guards from all over, from along the wall, around the tent, and from the area beyond. Flora Longtail certainly likes to have a lot of security. It is only a good thing that Kastovin is small, or even his magically enhanced hiding spot would fall victim to a guardsman's foot! Quick explanations and reports are swapped between the various guards and they are dispatched to various parts of the construction camp, while a healthy contingent remain to protect the overseer's tent and to patrol the area. While Kastovin's shadow magic certainly helped hide him in the dark, it is not going to be much of an aid when a lantern finds him. The guards have started moving in pairs, instead of alone.
The guards who have rushed outside the walls have finally managed to put out the potential brush fire and the pair atop the lumber pile are once more on solid ground. "Get out of here!" he growls at Cary, "We got more than enough help without you bumbling around!" His angry visage balks a bit at Cary's strange appearance, but he does not back down.
Kastovin is starting to think this is getting a bit too hairy for him. He sees that they are, indeed, pairing up and there is no doubt that there are more inside the tent. So, he would wait for the guards to show some sort of lax in their patrol and he'd bolt out of there, flying upwards and away from them, back to the town because he knows going back to the hill would just be a bad idea.
"Your call." Cary replied, swiftly taking their hands off the stockpile. It's their fault if it falls now, anyways, which may or may not make the pile all wobbly again. Seeing as there wasn't much for the reptile to do now, whether the pile fell or not, Cary would go back out and try to head into the inner city.
Back up on the hill, Donovan saunters out of the brush with a pair of ledgers in hand. "Well," he says to Terry, "That was a less than stellar attempt. But I have what I needed anyway. What would you say if we just kept this little misadventure away from our dear Katrina's ears, hmm?"
Terry stands up to look at Donovan. He smiles, looking relieved. "Well done sir! And yes.. I.. I suppose we should." He looks back at the construction yard, frowning slightly. "That went south far too quickly.. I'm going to have to think about what that other fella did step by step as I don't think he was quite as much a factor for success as we might have wanted."
