Daidalos looks pleased at this new development.
"In that case, might I recommend that we save one of the potions? If we use the sleeping draught, any one of us-perhaps the stealthiest? can use the potion, put the hounds to sleep, and never break the effects of the magic."
"A sleeping drug. That will be perfect. If you'll allow me Asturu?" Timo says before taking the drug from Asturu. He then takes a bowl from the kitchen and puts the meat into the bowl he got from Morthos. He then pours in some of the drug to marinate the meat.
"Give it a few minutes and it should have soaked enough into the meat." Timo says before giving himself a look over. "I think I've disguised myself well enough as one of the guards. If no one objects, I'll go out and feed the mutts.
Price rests her spear against the wall and readies her shortbow, in case events turn against them.
Morthos shakes his head, "You'll not go alone, Timo. If you run into one or more these pathetic guards, better you have another there to help put them down. We do not need to leave any of us outnumbered."
Disguising himself as best he can as one of the guards, "There, that should do it. Alright, Timo, I believe it is time to feed the mongrel dogs."
Looking to see that his fellow escapee(s?) are ready, they proceed to the double doors. Pulling the stopper off his potion, he downs it and readies to move. "Remember, we are guards. All we must do is act like fools and they will never know the difference. Let it begin," he says, nodding, as he opens the door casually and keeps his head down as they head toward the kennel.
INeluki flies over the two, keeping an eye out for trouble.
With a groan, the double doors slowly swing open and the night air of the ocean waits outside. Even the high castle walls cannot keep the air here completely stale. Morthos, Timo and Luke see a faint flicker of a shadow from the rooftop of the gatehouse; likely the two guards moving in an effort to keep warm.
A dog comes cantering about the corner but, when he sees nothing, pauses and sniffs at the air. Sensing nothing, he whines slightly, looks around in confusion, then a sausage lands in front of him. He briefly scurries back, trying to take in this new development, then grabs it and runs off to the gardens in the southeast of the courtyard.
You begin to cross the courtyard towards the kennel, walking pass the fountain. At its center is a statute of the Mitran pantheon's patron saint of law and order: St. Dothan the Just. In his outstretched hand is a sword pointing towards you... no, the great hall. At the base of the statute is an inscription, barely readable in the twilight: "Thus is justine done."
You arrive at the kennel and one of the dogs looks up, curious, responding more to a sound than anything else. When the pieces of meat materialize in their kennel, however, they barely give it a second thought. Both jump up and quickly devour the links of sausage, disappearing down their gullet. The dogs are huge and you realize it wouldn't take much more effort to fit a man's arm down there.
Within moments, both of the beasts are woozy, wobbling as they move about, one of them bumping sideways into the wood fencing that contains them. A moment later, they've both collapsed, drooling heavily in a deep stupor.
In the garden, Luke sees the other dog, just as unconscious as the other two, passed out in a row of vegetables. Meanwhile, a sentry shivers in the protection of one of the guardtowers, trying to warm himself in the autumn breeze, chilled by a northern ocean air.
Ineluki flies about the heads of Timo and MOrthos a couple of times and then back to the others to tell them it's time to come out...
When he arrives back with the others he circles their heads a couple of times while whistling softly, then flying back to the door and out... he'll repeat this if they don't follow.. ...
He'll transform into his humanoid form and tell them outright... "The dogs are asleep, time to go now. The guards on the walls are on the watch so be stealthy if you can, or be sure of your disguise."
Price nods to the circling bat. She shoulders the bow, grabs her spear, and proceeds quietly across the compound. At the main door she listens for voices and checks to see if the gate is locked.
Affyria crosses the main courtyard swiftly, under cover of darkness. Glancing at the statue, she smirks to herself.
Oh yes, justice will be done.
Asturu falls in behind Affyria and sneaks towards the gate.
But where the step of the priestess is full of nimble grace, Asturu struggles with keeping his calm. Those first few breaths of freedom were glorious and left him wanting more, making the desire to run to the gate, to simply run, oh so tempting.
And so he wobbled back and forth between walking forth in a calm and composed manner, as would a guard, and dipping down through his knees to embrace the courtyard's many shadows.
With the dogs neutralized, Timo makes his way to gate house to wait for the rest of the group. Seeing Price already there, he keeps a watchful eye on his surroundings and backs her up just in case things go south.
From the roof of the gatehouse, a voice calls down, "Oh thank the maker! The game's over! How much did the sarge take you for tonight!? Get up here. I'm freezing!"
Daidalos nods, "Excellent work. Now for the real show. Remember, if you can't be stealthy, don't try. Someone confidently walking through the courtyard will attract less attention than one trying to sneak through."
That said, he outstretches his hand, holding it over the table as he concentrates. A single glowing red rune appears in the air before him ([color=red]∆[/color]) and it traces out lines, creating the outline of a thick book. Then, what appears to be black paint pours from the air, filling out the shape created by the glowing lines. Finally, silver edging appears in the corners of the book as it is suspended slightly above the table, thudding down as gravity takes over, red ∆ being replaced with a silver one inset in the cover of Daidalos' spellbook. He looks up, expecting to see at least slightly shocked expressions, but shrugs it off if there aren't any. He flips through the pages, settling on one indistinguishable from the rest- covered with eldritch runes of all colors, alphabets, and size. He reads over it, muttering to himself for a few seconds, then looks up and nods, stowing his book. Standing up straight, he slides his hands down his limbs, across his torso and across his face as he chants the phrase, "Obscuram identae." As he does so, a mist follows his hand, first wiping clean his appearance before solidifying into the shape of Blackerly. "I- ahem." Daidalos' voice comes across, before he shakes his head and tries again, now with Blackerly's voice "How do I look? Convincing?"
"Well, not a moment to waste. Let's get going." He strides towards the front door, confidently walking through them as though he owns the place- which, in a way, he does. Without hesitation, he either opens the door to the gatehouse (if it's unlocked) or knocks on it (if it isn't), and either enters or waits for someone to answer.
Hearing the guard above, Timo calls back trying not to appear suspicious and buy his team time. "Quit your yamerin, we're on our way up and without a penny to my name. I swear the sarge cheats. No one is that lucky."
Morthos attempts to aid his fellow antipaladin, "Yeah we'll be there in a minute. Give us a sec," he says in a voice that is a far cry from his own - as if he hails from a rural area and one with much more 'life' to it. "We're just glad we didn't lose our shorts too."
Daidalos (disguised as Blackerly) turns around, glaring at Timo.
"Hey! Shut yer mouth! I'm no cheat. Remember that." he looks up at the guard on the roof, "Get down here, soldier! You'll get your shift change in just a few moments, but I need all hands on deck inside the gatehouse for a few minutes. So get your lazy bum down here!" then he turns back to Timo, "You! Get up there and relieve that poor man! Double shift for you tonight, that'll teach you to talk smack about me!" he lowers his voice, "Could you up and relieve him? Once he's down, follow him and wait out of sight for the signal."
That said, Daidalackery confidently enters the gatehouse, looking around for who (and what's) inside.
As you approach the gate and exchange banter with the guards on the roof, you see the inner gate is made of stout double doors that are shut and secured with swing bars and braces. There is no "lock" that requires a key but it's obvious that unbarring the doors and opening them up will create enough noise that anyone in the gatehouse will be alerted.
The single door into the gatehouse itself, however, is unlocked and opens at your approach. The wiser and more intelligent among you probably begin to realize something, if you haven't already: Security here is lax and lazy. Yes, there are--or was--a decently sized garrison, but the prison is hardly living up to its reputation.
Stepping into the west part of the gatehouse, you see arrowslits to the right and a trap door in the ceiling above you. There is movement, too, as the two guards who were on the roof make their way down to you.
Daidalackery strides into the gatehouse confidentially, making sure he doesn't show a single trace of hesitation. If he sees any guards, he yells at them to assemble in the main room for, "Weapons inspection! Get yer lazy a-- in the other room , and you better hope I don't find a speck of rust on your gear! I want swords drawn and laying on the ground in front of you, bows unstrung and held in your hands! Anyone not ready in two minutes will be assumed to have been last-second polishing their kit, and will be disciplined accordingly! Move it!"
Price stays at the rear of the guard coming down the ladder, knowing she wouldn't pass more than a cursory look from the warrior. She readies herself to spear the man like a fish. Price winces as Daidalos keeps talking.
A midnight weapon inspection? Suspicious.
Daidalos surreptitiously tries to signal to price to hide off on her spearing, at least for the moment. However, he takes no chances in his disguise slipping.
"Yeah, yeah, sarge, we're coming! We're coming!" Either they're ignoring the order, they can't hear it, or it just doesn't make sense to them.
The first of them begins descending the ladder...
...and, while his face starts to scrunch up as he stares at a couple of you, things don't quite click until he's already on the floor and his partner is half-way down the ladder. "You're not...", he utters while staring at Timo. "And you're not...", to Affyria. It seems you have a moment of confusion while he processes what to do.
"You have a problem, soldier? I gave you an order."
Price doesn't hesitate, she hurls her spear with tremendous force into the back of the guard still on the ladder.
While Daidalus tries to continue the bluff against the flabbergasted guardsman, Price throws subtlety to the wind, driving her spear deep into the second one's back. A grisly scream breaks the tension as blood rolls down the length of the spear before Price pulls it free and the man's limp body flops to the floor.
Seeing this, looking at Morthos and Timo and the others, the other guard simply raises his hands, very slowly, away from his weapons thinking, perhaps, surrender will save his life.
With the ruse starting to fall, Timo starts to reach for his blade when a flurry of motion catches his vision and a guard drops dead. Seeing the body has Price's spear stuck in him, Timo turns to Price with a grin. "I knew there was a reason I liked you." Timo then points to the remaining guard. "Now what do we do with this one? Drag him back to the cells? Feed him to Grumblejack maybe?"
"You said they wouldn't be harmed!" Daidalackery says, in a low but insistent voice, "When I agreed to help, you promised that you'd leave as many alive as you could manage." Daidalos hopes the others catch on to what he's doing, "Come over here, soldier. Lay down your weapons, and they won't" he shoots a glare at Price, "Harm you- unless, of course, you try to raise the alarm."
Well, that just happened. Asturu walks forward without saying a word and eyes the ladder, fearing that scream might've been heard by someone. Or worse, someones.
Asturu hears nothing from above. This is consistent with Luke's scouting earlier, which revealed no one in the gatehouse but for the two on the roof.
As the ruse is broken, Morthos turns to the one guard left. "This one is going to help us escape," he answers in response to Timo. "I suggest you listen to what 'Blackerly' advises otherwise the threat of the loss of your life will no longer be a threat. But I believe you are not as foolish as your comrades and will make the correct decision."
Daidalos nods to Morthos' statement, "Not even that. I saw them feed the cook Margery to the beast because she screamed. And they didn't even kill her first. Just... cooperate and we might all come out of this alive."
The guardsman takes all of this in and nods numbly. "I... uh... yes, sarge."
With the ruse starting to fall, Timo starts to reach for his blade when a flurry of motion catches his vision and a guard drops dead. Seeing the body has Price's spear stuck in him, Timo turns to Price with a grin. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."
Price gives him a wink and a sly grin. "Flirt. Wait til you see what I can do in the bedroom."
She turns a colder eye on the guard, "He seems compliant. I say we render him unconscious, tie him up here, and be about our business... If you have no objection, Sergeant?"
Daidalos wrinkles his lip, "Fine. Just don't harm him beyond that. I want you to know I do not find your 'concern' for my opinion amusing."
Once the guard is taken care of, he to the group, "Shall we press on for now, getting the last guards in a similar manner? My veil will last for another five minutes, so we would need to do it quick. Or, do we take our time in securing the gatehouse before moving on?"
Nodding, "Let us make sure the inner doors are secure and then we make our escape."
"I suggest we find the way to open the outer gates and be on our way as soon as possible. It would be embarassing to be recaptured this close to escape," Affyria suggests as she looks around the gatehouse.
"I agree with Affyria. We are so close to getting out of this place and truly, that's all that matters. Logic would dictate that the mechanic to open said outer gates is located above us and with there being a ladder here .." and Asturu taps it with his hand, ".. we should move up and make it happen."
Price gives him a wink and a sly grin. "Flirt. Wait til you see what I can do in the bedroom."
"Be careful, I may just have to take you up on that offer."
As the discussion turns to the gates, Timo listen's intently, weight the options before replying, "The last several guards we've encountered have complained about shift change being late, I expect no different from the rest of these guards. It also would not be suspicious if the gates opened as the guards outside are expecting relief. So I see two options, we open up the gates and send out a small party pretending to be the relief, or we open up the gates and charge in all together. We are only talking about two guards on the bridge and two more on the wall as well as a wizard doddering around somewhere in here. We should be able to take all of them regardless, so we probably no longer need to worry about alarms."
"Whatever we do, we need to do quickly if we hope for my illusion to hold. I personally agree with Timo- it is hardly cause for alarm for a pair of guards, accompanied by Blackerly, to venture to the end of the bridge. Luke could likewise come without raising suspicion, while the rest search the gatehouse and try to get Grumblejack into the gatehouse without alerting the few guards remaining."
Price puts a hold on the guard's neck, using only a mild amount of pressure. She explains, "I'm just restricting the blood-flow to your head. It won't hurt, just knock you out. You're going to start feeling light-headed now. Just relax and fall asleep. You'll wake up without so much as a headache." She keeps the hold on until the man passes out and then holds it for several seconds longer to make sure he stays out. Once she's sure he's unconscious, she pokes his face with a fingernail to make sure he isn't playing possum. Satisfied the man is out, she lets him down.
"I'll sneak out and open the gate. For the record, given the light defenses here, I think we are missing a golden opportunity to send a real message to these bastards. I think we could kill the rest of the guards here, take the outer defenses, and then wreck this place on our way out." Price looks to see if that idea interests her allies.
Once the guard is unconscious, Daidalos drops the act, "Why, Price dear, that sounds marvelous. While I disprove of killing those that surrender- they're just doing their jobs, after all, and are also fighting against chaos- we may as well ensure that no more need bear the horrors of Branderscar, leaving it nothing but a ghost fortress when our executioner arrives. Hmmm.... if only there weren't some guards that lived in the village, we could even rest here overnight before venturing to meet our benefactor."
"I am in agreement with Affyria and Asturu. I care nothing for these pathetic guards. They are nothing more than a waste of our time and space. And I am also in agreement with Timo's plan." Giving his guard uniform the once over, "I am ready to proceed. Freedom is our goal - let nothing stand in our way."
The looks on their faces, if not their words, speak to Price - they desire to escape. With the decision made, she shrugs then slinks out into the night to jimmy the main gate.
Price goes to open the first of the gates. While it makes a fair amount of noise, there is no call of alarm from the walls. While it's likely the activity has been heard, it seems as if nobody has cause to suspect anything out of the ordinary. If the guards can even see her, Price's disguise holds at this distance and low light.
"Ok, don't rush it, keep your back straight.." It isn't entirely clear whether Asturu is instilling himself with a sense of courage and calmth or he's instructing the others what to do. Regardless, he's ready to start walking. Towards freedom.
Price moves into the main gateroom. She slowly douses any torches closest to the inner doors, to darken the entrance to make it easier for Grumblejack and the team to sneak into the gatehouse.
Price stands guard in the darkness by the inner door, keeping watch over the courtyard and ready to signal Grumblejack to come across when the guards' attentions are turned away. She readies her bow in case something goes wrong.
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A faint smile plays around Affyria's lips as she pushes open the door and gets a faraway look in her eyes. "Big doors swing on little hinges."
Luke is back on price's shoulder , waiting to fly when the others,are crossing the bridge, so as to help defeat the guards there when combat eventually breaks out.