Smiling, Weylyn whispers loudly up the stairs. "Victor? What in seven hells are you doing here?"
Weylyn slips from behind the statue and takes the stairs3 at a time to catch up to his old acquaintance.
Hearing the whisper, Victor turns to see Weylyn coming up the stairs. If he's surprised, he isn't letting show. He whispers, "Weylyn. An odd sight, indeed. I'm here on a job. The bigger question is... what are you doing here?"
Weylyn splays his hands as if it were obvious. "I'm here for the same job. Fifty fifty split?" He asks raising an eyebrow.
Victor scowls a bit. "A fifty fifty split? Of the thirty seventy split I already owe Colin?"
Tobias The man sputters and coughs for a minute before noticing the seal on the letter. He quickly rips it open and reads it. Then he says drily "Ah, so you are the replacement guard. He is not currently home, if you wish to start now i would recommend going to the Hendershots, He is currently visiting the Lord of their house with a business proposition." He hands back the letter. "This shows that you are a guard for the Master, keep it with you."
Tobias sighs deeply. He then drops the cigar and grinds it into the carpet or flagstones of the foyer. "Figures." As he turns he intentionally lets his cloak wave open, revealing the very sharp and very deadly blades on his person, stifling any objection. He then leaves headed for the Hendershots in the most direct route possible. The job was his as soon as he accepted the contract. It would be just his luck that the damned kid died before he even met him.
"Coliiin?" Weylyn says petulantly. "That guy has no imagination. Is he buying then?"
Victor nods at Weylyn's question. "I'm desperate and I needed the money."
"Well that's that I suppose. I didn't have a buyer and you do; we'll split our share after Colin's cut. Now let's keep moving."
Victor nods and moves with Weylyn, leading the way.
Tobias You know roughly where that house is, due to it being one of the more well known houses in the district. You stalk your way there and get there relatively quickly. Once you arrive you notice no guards on patrol like at the previous house and upon inspection you hear giggling and moaning coming out of some of the bushes in the garden.
Weylyn and Victor As the two of you head up toward the third floor, Victor suddenly notices a pressure plate on the floor and while swerving to avoid placing his foot on it crashes into a decorative table with a vase on it. making a sudden noise. You both here chairs scraping and voices coming up from the 1st floor.
Tobias stealth's up to the bushes, hoping this isn't his charge but expecting it to be.
If it is him, Tobias continues to stealth until right on them and says, "Papadako's son I presume?"
If not I continue to the mansion.
Victor curses as he makes the noise. He looks for a place to hide (behind a pillar, a dark corner, a spare room, etc.).
"Nice." Weylyn scoffs. "Come on." Weylyn rushes forward, checking doors for an open one then tosses Victor inside. "Hide." Weylyn says to Victor, then he slides himself under the bed.
Tobias Looking over the bushes you see a few guards fooling around with a couple of whores. Shaking your head you continue toward the mansion.
Weylen and Victor You make your way quickly to the next landing, and dive into the first room that you come to, it looks like a guest bedroom. As you wait in the room you hear the voices slowly make their way up the stairs.
Tobias knocks on the door.
Weylyn and Victor The voices make it all the way to the top of the stair, you can make out what they are saying now. "I am sure that that noise was something." "It was probably just a rat knocking into the table mate, your imagination is getting the better of you since you saw the lout that delivered the statue." The door knob rattles and starts to turn, then there is a faint knock from the first floor. The first voice says, "Look into that would you? I will keep looking about." You hear a pair of foot steps recede and the door opens.
Victor can very clearly see half of Weylyn's cloak sticking out from under the bed from the closet that he ducked into, but somehow the guard misses it, and doesn't even think to look in the closet. Then he turns and leaves. Shutting the Door behind himself.
Victor A younger guard in better clothes answers the door and looks you up and down. "You are calling a little late aren't you?" When you throw the letter into his face he looks a little surprised after reading it and says. "The two lords are in a meeting right now, you can wait with me and Justin, we heard a noise a moment ago and he went to investigate claiming it was robbers for one of the lords nick-nacks."
"So you answered the door first?" Tobias shakes his head. No wonder the Midnight Sons and Daughters did so good. With guards like this who needed assassins. The employer could do the killing themselves with a little common sense.
Tobias looks around. Fancy house, lax guards. Perfect mark really. He had prior engagement with the lord's son but that could wait if there was an actual threat nearby. He doubted it. Probably just thieves. It would explain the why the guards out front were indisposed. Typical thief tactic. And an effective one too. "Which room?" When the guard looks at him a little dumbfounded he elaborates. "The noise." When he gets an answer he does his own once over the area, looking for hiding places, finger on the trigger of his quick-release bracer.
Tobias You enter the room and give it a quick once over looking in the hiding spots that you would choose, ignoring the ones like under the bed and in the closet. What kind of idiot would choose to hide in such an obvious place? Once you are satisfied you exit the room and follow the guards back down stairs.
"By the way. Might want to tighten discipline if you aim to keep your job. Front guards are gone."
After the half-elf leaves, Victor steps carefully out of the closet. He whispers to Weylyn, "Come on. Let's get to the Vault quickly. Before that the guards or the unknown man have a chance to capture us." He moves his way to the Vault.
Tobias The younger guard looks at you, "What do you mean gone?" Suddenly you all hear a clank and a thump like a sack of potatoes hitting the ground, from up stairs.
Victor You and Weylyn are making your way stealthily down the hall when there is suddenly a clack sound, Weylyn looks down at his foot with a horrified expression on his face and then an arrow seems to suddenly sprout from his chest, causing him to drop like a sack of potatoes.
Tobias is about to respond when he hears the sound above. Sounds like a trap went off. He points to the younger guard and says, "Go get the door guards from the garden." He then turns to the older one and says, "Go make sure the Lords are safe." With practiced ease he then draws two daggers from inside his duster and stealth's his way up the stairs.
Victor looks in horror as Weylyn falls. He then hears movement coming from the lower level. He decides to continue on to the Vault.
Tobias Moving too quickly to be effectively stealthy as well you make it up the stairs and see a man lying on his back with an arrow sticking from his chest. He is unconscious in a slowly spreading pool of blood but you cans hear him moaning so you know he is still alive. The other guards follow you up the stairs and pass you and the man on the ground passing toward the private chambers.
Victor remembering the hastily drawn map you make your way toward the private chambers and treasure room looking for traps along the way. You approach a large door that is very gaudy and hear footsteps approaching from behind.
Victor looks at the door. Then he looks back in the direction that the footsteps are coming from. Thinking quickly, he heads out the nearest window, making sure to close it behind him. He then sneaks across the rooftops to the window that leads to the room he needs to get into. He then waits for the coast to be clear, after which, he sneaks into the room through the window (after checking it for traps and unlocking it with his thieves tools).
/
Tobias uses a foot to roll the man over on his back none to gently. He takes a look at the face to see of he recognizes it. Picked the wrong house to steal from I guess. Doubt I could do much for that wound. Oh well."
He then leans down close and says, "Quick or slow?" If he wants to end it, Tobias takes the dagger in his hand plunges it right into the mans heart for a quick death. He then wipes the blood off and begins searching around making sure there are no other threats.
Victor You manage to climb out the nearby window but soon realize that there is no window on the room serving as the treasure room. You can climb into the next room over and see if there is a door in to the treasure room or backtrack through the window you left from when you think it may be safe. But for now you have an amazing view of the estate and side road.
Tobias Weylyn does not respond to your query, just gurgles wetly. You think you recognize him as a small time thief. The two guards pass into a room close to the end of the hall and close the door behind them. As your eyes are sweeping the corridor you notice that the window at the end of the hall appears to have been used recently, whether for entry or exit you are unsure, but the curtains are disturbed.
Victor moves to the next room's window. He listens carefully and stays hidden, checking for traps.
Victor works on unlocking the window and disarming the traps using his thieves tools.
He then opens the window and heads in, making sure to shut the window and leave no trace. He then heads into the nearest hiding spot to wait out the hysteria.
I'll take that as a yes. Tobias flips the dagger to a reverse grip and drives it quickly through the heart. Thief. Not what I was hired to protect them from. Then again. My new employer is trying to set up a deal. Might appreciate a little snooping and I need him and his money on my side to get the info I need. His contacts will be my contacts.
As he takes a cursory glance around the room he notices the open window. So there's another? Either left when things went south or is still here. Better option since a body would make us think the threat is over. Need to find out what their after.
He walks over to the door the two guards entered and knocks. Just walking in might get someone killed. "Its me. The dead one was a thief. Might be another." Best not to ask straight out where they keep the valuables. Might make them suspicious. He was just hired today. Better to let them come to the conclusion that they need to check the valuables and hope he gets to go with them. They'd be stupid not to but it didn't really matter.
Victor After quickly but carefully making it to the other room. Things seem to have quieted down. You can hear no shouts or any other such noise that would make you think you were being chased. Once you look around the room you can see that you are in some sort of storage space with stairs heading up to the attic. It seems to be filled with stuff under dust covered sheets.
Tobias One of the two guards opens the door, the other training a crossbow on it. When they see it is you they let you in. "Well what did you find?" The younger asks. While the older says to two foppish looking young men. "He is the one we were telling you about. Apparently he is your new body guard, my lord." With that the young Papadakos looks you up and down. "He appears low born, but perhaps he will fare better then the last." He sneers. "A thief you say? Not a very good one to step on a basic arrow trap. Well I suppose we should check the vault." With that he stands and makes to leave the room.
Tobias sneered right back at the youth. He was not used to taking orders. The guild allowed quite a bit of freedom. So for now he would obey. Tobias would have to get on his good side to find out what he wanted. So he says nothing as he follows his employer out of the room. The thief appears to have gone out the window but he or she might still be around.
But the other guards heavy feet make it hard to hear anything.
Victor waits for a moment before looking around. He carefully climbs up to the attic and pokes around. 'There may be something of value in here.'
After that, he slowly heads to the door and sticks close, not opening it until he's sure that he's safe.
Tobias The two lords lead to the entrance to the room with the vault, using an ornate key to open the door. Once they enter the room you can see that the entrance you came in from is the only way in. 'Minor' riches are about the room as though in a viewing gallery including some paintings and small statues. On the outside facing wall there are no windows but on the inward facing wall is a large solid door. Approaching the door Papadakos steps aside and allows the other young lord to open the door via the combination lock. Once unlocked is swings forward almost effortlessly. Inside you can see many lock boxes each with a very fine locks, as well as some desks that you can only assume hold some form of documents, probably wills and the like. There are also pedestals with jewelry, ornaments and jeweled statues. After giving the area a sweeping look Papadakos states "Seems as though nothing was disturbed, he must not have made it this far."
Victor Climbing into the attic you find more old furniture and clothing, some items so old that they have been eaten by moths or dry rotted. You manage to find some fine gold threading from one garment and a number of fine jewels off a dress that was begging to fall apart. You didn't mind helping it along at all. Once you get back down to the 3rd floor you approach the nearest door and check it, noticing nothing on the other side you peak in and see a sort of sitting room, on the other side of the room you see an open door that appears to lead to the hallway you just vacated through the window not too long ago. You presume with the distance from the window that you entered this hall in that there is a sizable room between this sitting room and the outside wall, but the only way in you remember seeing was in the other hall.
"Probably panicked when his partner went down. That just means whoever is still here is about to have a better payday. Better keep watch the next couple of days."
Victor smiles as he collects his newfound loot. However, he looks out the door and thinks, 'Okay. According to the map and the general layout of the place, the vault should be right there. However, there's only one in and one way out. How do I get in there? Hmm...'
He ponders for a moment before coming up with an idea. Carefully, he sneaks over to the farthest end of the mansion.
He then heads into a nice large, spacious room with only one way in and out. After... "liberating" the room of its valuables, he begins his trap.
He starts by sabotaging the door so that when it closes, it will lock, trapping whoever is inside.
[dice=Disable Device to sabotage the lock]1d20 + 9[/dice]
After sabotaging the door and leaving it open, he then begins to create a lot of noise, luring the guards over to him. After he makes enough noise, he then carefully leaves the room and lies in wait.
Once most or all of the guards enter the room, Victor closes the door, trapping them inside. He then sneaks over to his starting point and lies in wait for the moment to strike.
Tobias after looking over the vault you all suddenly hear noise as though someone I banging things together and knocking items around from the other side of the manor. Papadakos and the two guards look at you. "Well, do your job." he says pushing the vault door so I begins to swing shut. The two guards look to you expectantly.
Tobias gives the group a withering look. "You are my job," he says looking at Papadako. "That's an obvious distraction. Send one of the guards that abandoned the front door and let those thieves in, in the first place." He then folds his arms and leans against the wall, obviously not moving.
Tobias The guards look to each other and then Papadakos. He does not challenge you so they shrug and leave.
Victor You find a bedroom with a very solid oak door and set your trap, banging a candlestick against a bed pan and knocking over furniture. Once you feel you made enough noise you throw the candle stick and chamber pot and make your way to your hiding spot. Shortly after two guards come over and investigate entering the room. You wait a moment and when no other guards appear you move and shut the door keeping them inside. You then move back to where you started, bumping into a painting and knocking it off the wall in a moment of carelessness.
boom. Only needed one.
Tobias You hear someone attempting to move stealthily, then bumping into something that falls. You assume it's not the guards.
sound I will move towards cause it sounds like a mistake rather than intentional.
I guess that means Victor gets a perception and then we do RP based on that?
The two lords don't seem to have noticed anything as they continue talking to each other about the art in the room as you leave.
Victor curses as he bumps into the painting. But he continues to make his way, drawing a dagger since he knows he's caught. But doesn't know when they're coming.
Tobias spots a man that is obviously not part of the mansion staff. He moves in with practiced ease. Transferring weight from one foot to the next to prevent creaking. Swinging his arms in time with his legs to prevent his clothing from twisting. He slows his breathing so it barely makes a sound when coming out. The quick sheath in his arms would cause too much noise so as his arm swings by he quickly removes a dagger. The recently oiled leather lets it slid out without a whisper. But the most important thing to remember is to quell his killing intent. To pretend to be nothing more than a piece of furniture. Many who lived in the world he did developed a second sense when danger was near. It had saved his life more than once. But it was a double-edged sword. The same instinct in others to alert them to your presence. He seemed to be doing everything right because the man before him remained oblivious. Ever so gently he places the dagger to the mans throat, ready to drive it home if he makes a threatening move.
"I take it your the ghost making racket?"
Feeling the blade to his throat, Victor turns to look at the assailant behind him. Seeing the half-elf behind him, his hazel eyes seem to glow with fury. He remembers this man. He remembers seeing him at a good deal of the scuffles between the thieves and assassins. He remembers seeing this man kill several of his friends. Scowling, he whispers out, "Assassin. What an odd sight. Never thought you'd survive the destruction. So what are you here for? I'm assuming you're hear to kill someone. But then again, you might be hired to be these nobles' guard mutt. Stand aside. All I'm here for is the statue." He adjusts the dagger in his hand, anticipating a fight to break out.
Tobias was never one to give away more information than was absolutely necessary and after dealing with thieves and assassins so long, insults rolled off him like water on wax paper. "Just hand over the dagger and walk away."
Victor scowls. "And how do I know you won't stab me in the back? I'm not trusting you."