As Rengo turns back to Willard he sees his fellow prisoner beset by guards.
Knowing it was time to take matter in hand, Rengo summons the power of the Stranger in order to disrupt the guards. He focuses the energy in the ground attempting to shift the cobblestones in a mini-tremor and knock the guards off of their feet.
As this does not seem to work, Rengo readies his chain for more physical fighting.
Chance is able to snatch both the distinctive hat and badge of the Sergeant as he moves, reloading Esmerelda and readying her for another shot. The Channeling-hardened cobbles of the City prove too tightly packed to do more than a dance a bit at Rengo's channeling, though the Guard's seem far more worried as they see that, turning their attentions to the imprisoned aristocrat from the rapidly dodging writer.
Rengo grips the chain and does his best to put up a fight, but first he must survive the guards' rush.
As Chance rushes in on the scene, he skids to a sliding halt atop the smoothed stones. With Esmeralda raised in one hand, and sliding the Sergeant's hat on his head with the other, he clears his throat loudly to garner attention.
Esmeralda is staring at the back of one of the guard's heads, and the wheel is primed to spin and spark at Chance's petition. "Easy there, chaps." He calls out, trying to mask how out of breath he is and look composed despite the fact that he can only see out of one eye at the moment. "Time to play cops and robbers on some other playground. This one's real, and you're about to lose more than some prisoners. So piss off, eh?"
Scrambling along the ground, Willard's eyes suddenly fall once more to the Manhole, but not as a means of escape. The idea that occurred to him felt rather silly, all things considered. Even as a (former) Mariner, he was not even particularly good at water channeling - that fog had been the biggest trick he'd ever pulled with the art. So then, why was it that now, he felt capable of doing more? He had heard the rumors of what they were capable of, but was it true? Something like desperation was enough to convince him to give it a shot...
The men look desperate and angry, but waver on a coin as Chance rushes forward to help. "We can take them! They're nothing but a lot of worthless street scum." One of them says, trying to rile the others, but as one throws down his truncheon and runs, the others fold like a house of cards, quickly leaving only the one who spoke. "The Guards'll be coming for you. You won't get away." He says with a dark glare, then follows his comrades (at a quicker pace than necessary) leaving our heroes around a manhole and without opposition.
Where do our heroes go from here?
With the guards gone, Willard pulls himself off the ground, still a little shaken by the assault. As he dusts off his coat, he takes a deep breath before laying out his proposition.
"I have a place I need to be. A bar, The Drowned Rat. I have a friend there that could help people like us... and I could really use a drink right about now."
Also attempting to catch his breath, Rengo nurses the sore forearm he gained while trying to block truncheon hits.
"Do you feel the sewer will be the best avenue for egression, or should we locate a change of clothes from one of these seemingly empty storefronts and make our way through these now empty streets?"
"A bar you say?" Chance says with a light in his tone and features. "The Drowned Rat sounds like a wonderful one!" It's hard to tell if he's sarcastic or not, but you suspect he's being honest.
"And I'm with... er, Rengo right? I'd rather not hit the tavern smelling like sewage. Charm is more than just a pretty face." He smiles lopsidedly as his face continues to swell with the black eye.