Recent Posts
Looking over the edge you see an angry crowd. On one street it surges against the wall of mounted Korvosan guards. Looking the other way, a thin brown line of Guards is barely holding back more protesters. They are badly outnumbered. You can't see down the cross street.
Istas takes one look at the throng of people and then drily notes, "I don't think even I can hold the attention of that many by extolling the virtues of Pharasma again."
Then she looks askance at Heather. "Can your magic get us out of this unnoticed? The best I can offer is to entreat the Lady of Graves to summon a mist to cover our retreat."
"Madam," I say to our supposed prisoner, "May I ask if you had an escape route in mind when you started running from us? Now that we have you with us, we are duty bound to protect you with our lives till we can hand you over to the Field Marshall. Nevertheless, it might go easier on us if we did not have to march you through the mobs below."
Jeorik goes to examine the situation to see whether or not he thinks he can make the jump.
"I don't suppose you have any rope with you in your apartment? If so get it and then toss it over to me."
Then with as much of a run as he can muster he leaps on top of the parapet and jumps across.
acrobatics check:
"I don't suppose you have any rope with you in your apartment? If so get it and then toss it over to me."
Trinia shrugs. "Sorry. I might if I were a sculptor, but then again no."
Then with as much of a run as he can muster he leaps on top of the parapet and jumps across.
Trinia stops Jeorik and shows him that rather than jump across the alley side parapet, they can step up onto the parapet that runs along the street side of the building and get a good running start. (with a fairly easy balance check first)
Trinia also says, before you go listen to this. She goes into a patter of mostly bad jokes regarding falling. Oddly enough it seems to boost everyone's confidence.
Jeorik clears the alley easily.
Trinia grins, "Who's next?"
"Darthen, ... Or would you rather jump around on the rooftops with us?"
Ahhh, Darthen stayed below with the crowd control grunts. You can shout down to him if you wish.
Jeorik clears the alley easily. Trinia grins, "Who's next?"
"You are," Istas states, "It's more important that you get out of here. The rest us don't have a mob trying to reach us. But we'll be right behind you. Go on and join Jeorik. Heather and I are coming next."
After Trinia jumps across, Istas offers a small plea to Pharasma to aid their escape.
Then Istas goes next, hopefully to show Heather how easy it is...
Dress flapping, arms flailing, Heather sails through the air over the alley. She thinks she's dropping too fast, she won't make it, but her front foot hits the topside of the buildings gutter. The gutter gives with a groan of bennding copper and she lurches downward, but her momentum carries her forward in an awkward roll onto the roof of the building. A broadly grinning Trinia gives her a hand up, "Didn't suck." It's not clear if she approves of your jump or expects you to have enjoyed it.
From below the cry comes up. "Over the roofs! I saw her jump to there."
If you look down:
Some adventurous soul dashes into the alley, hops onto a derelict wagon, grabs a window sill and begins hauling himself up the wall.
"If anyone follows us, it might be best if Heather and I mislead them," Istas suggests as she keeps up with Jeorik, "The Lady of Graves can put the fear of death in those bold enough to try and take Trinia from us. Or, I could call down the mist of Pharasma's fateful waters to obscure the way across one of the rooftops to keep them from following our route."
"Well, if we just want to make time, there's a good trail through the warehouse district. We can run south to Citvolashydelnek or north toward Gaterland. We've got to do a high-wire act across Harborview to get to it. Or there's a short route west, but it ends abruptly. The houses in the Heights are too far apart."
Trinia watches Jeorik for a minute as he looks around for a route. "Not that way. We have to jog west just a little bit. Look I know my way around up here. Why don't I lead and you follow?"
Ominous rumblings from the crowd below. A few more shouts of "Up there! " "In here." and "Citizens disperse."
If you look into the alley :
Trinia smiles. "That's funny. But who is freer? The prisoner or the one who follo -- . Never mind. That one doesn't work. C'mon."
She leads you to the left side of the roof. The building next door has a sloped tile roof. It's lower edge is at about knee height. "Here's the easy part. You've got a choice. You can climb this roof then slide down the other side, only when you hit the bottom of the far side you've got to jump the gap. It will be an easy jump as long as you keep going. Don't stop. Or you can go down to that end of the building and shinny around on the ledge. Once you're on the far side, there's a laundry line strung between the buildings. You cross it hand over hand to a little balcony then up a ladder to the next roof where I'll be waiting. It's slow, but it's easier."
She begins to scrabble up the tile roof.
Trinia leads the scramble up the roof. Jeorik envies her the lack of heavy arms; the women, her breeches which, unlike their skirts, leave her legs unobstructed.
Reaching the crest of the roof Trinia plunges straight down the other side toward a 10' gap between your roof and that of the next building, 8 feet below. She is apparently planning to use her speed to make the leap easy, but mistimes her jump. Her shins slam into the side of the building and she spills onto the far roof, knocking her head against a dovecote.
Determined not to make the same mistake, Jeorik leaps too far. He shoulders into the dovecote and spills to the roof also. (2hp non-lethal, 1 hp lethal)
Despite the skirts Istas and Heather clear the gap gracefully.
Curled into a ball, Trinia rolls onto her back, gritting her teeth and holding on to both shins. "Aye, stuclumpidsy! " She blinks tears from her eyes and gets to her feet. "Lucky, I didn't break anything. We got to keep moving." She takes off again. She is limping, but it appears she hasn't learned anything. She's still nearly running as if her life depended on it.
You cross a series of roofs, dodging water barrels, planters, dovecoats and light wooden furniture; leaping small obstacles and gaps between buildings, scrambling up drainpipes, ladders, and improvised staircases of brickpiles, boxes, or junk; balancing on the edge of 30 foot drops. Half the time the person in front of you is lost to view with the quick turns and zig-zags you must make. Turning a corner, Trinia dips beneath a laundryline. Jeorik isn't as quick. The line catches his forehead and his legs keep moving forward. He falls heavily on his back. (1 hp) Warned by the thud and sight of the fighter's head on the gravelly surface, Istas and Heather stop. They help the Ilsurian to his feet. Then they all continue their mad dash.
As you leap from roof to roof or run along an edge, you get glimpses of the street below. It seems you've lost or out-distanced the mob for now. Traffic below seems normal.
Trinia stops at the edge of a building. Ahead is the chasm of Harborview Boulevard. This building and the one across the way both lean out over the cobblestone streets 30' below. The chasm is closer to 40' wide than 50. About 10' down from the edge of your roof, a clothesline crosses the boulevard.
Trinia is grinning again. She has apparently enjoyed the dash. "Blaggard's bridge.
Istas hardly seems anywhere near as winded as the others.
"So...now what?" she asks Trinia, "We're expecting to drop down and catch ourselves on that line and crawl across to the other side?"
The priestess measures the distance to the ground with her eyes. "Would it be possible to just climb down from here? It seems we'd have to do the same, even after crossing the line."
Trinia's smile widens. "You can try that if you've a mind to. I'll be swinging under the roof and shining down the drain pipe." She lies on her stomach to lean out over the edge of the roof and point out the drain in question.
The roof sticks out about 2' from the wall of the building. The drain pipe was hidden by the overhang. It runs down the wall about a foot from the line.
"If you want, we can take the drain all the way to the street."
Trinia seems a little disappointed with the decision but nods. "All right then."
She waits for Jeorik to reach the street. He quickly spots a haycart with the molding remains of an old cargo. At least it will break the fall a little and lessen the hieght of the fall.
Trinia lies prone and pivots on her stomach to swing her legs into space. Then she begins to inch herself back, letting more and more of her body over the edge. She's supporting herself on her elbows, reaching for the drainpipe with her foot when she slips and starts to topple backwards. She manages to catch herself, but her legs smack into the corner of the building. Moaning softly she tries to finish the climb down using just one leg and her hands. Halfway down she slips again and drops onto the cart. Her leg collapses completely beneath her when she lands and she shrieks with pain. Her foot is at an awkward angle.
Istas descends easily. Heather does very well on the first stretch, but runs into trouble when the scarf snags on a bracket the holding the drain to the wall. She holds on desparately with one hand whiles pulling the scarf free and threading it back around the pipe below the bracket. Flushed with success she descaends to the next bracket wher e she is not so lucky. She drops about 15 feet to the waiting haycart.
(3hp nonlethal, 2hp lethal)
A small crowd of perhaps half a dozen gathers around you during the descent. One person offers "Can we help, Guardsmen?" Another chuckles, "The shingles ain't so easy, are they?" A third, perhaps the most astute says, " I thought all the women Guards were drafted into the Grey Maidens."
"Not all of them apparently," Jeorik says good naturedly.
He helps Trinia out of the haycart.
"We're just on our way to the guardhouse and thought we would take the scenic route."
"Good job Istas."
Jeorik winces as Heather slips. He helps her out of the haycart as well.
"Thank you all for your help," says Jeorik with a grin to the crowd. He offers to support Trinia, looking around for a store that might have a crutch or cane handy for her. Once the women are ready, he indicates they should proceed.
Heather winces as Jeorik pulls her from the cart...
"Well I don't want to be doing that again in a hurry." she says favouring her right ankle.
to the man in the crowd she answers.."aye all the regulars were..we're auxilaries..." she shows her badge..."but we're watch all the same..now move along please..nothing to see here"
"I don't know there's nothing to see," says Jeorik laughing, "We must make a pretty good spectacle shimmying down pipes and all."
He politely refrains from pointing out that both Istas and Heather were in skirts well above the watching crowd. No sense emberassing them after all more than they must already be.