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Ernhild shakes her head. "I doubt special interrogation treatment is particularly reliable. Most would say anything to get it to end."
"We know where the shingles are. We will find Trinia. If only to discover why she'd take the pain of nearly completing a portrait before making her move. Perhaps there is something we're missing."
Dunno. No doubt we'll find out when we bring her back. Briggi is ready to go.
If she is about my size, let’s go pick up a Change of clothes and a wig from my flat before we go. That way we can disguise her as we bring her back. If they spread her description, we don’t want to be walking openly with her through the street or someone might try to take her from us…
Narciso turns back to the Field Marshall and asks "How deniable do you want this? There are probably people out there who can place us as working for you at this point. If this is really black, we could put Tisha's disguise kit to work before we go looking for Trinia. Second, you say "safe and sound", do you think Trinia come in voluntarily? If she resists, how much force can we use?"
"I want her in one piece. I'd prefer that she comes voluntarily, but once the word is out, she probably won't. That you work for me is no problem. You arrest her. Of course if we later find that she is innocent and don't want her executed, it might be easier if no one knows we had her in the first place."
"You do what you can to make my life easy, but the priority is getting her before someone else does."
Cressida adds "You are probably taller than her."
Narciso, perhaps you can make her go to sleep with your your magic?
"Maybe. but a sap might be just as effective. That said, if that's the plan, let's have a more subtle way to transport her than dragging an unconscious body through the streets."
He pauses and then comments "We shoud have kept Vancaskerkin's wagon; then we could be just a bunch of drovers carting a chest about..."
A cloak, wig and some booze could be a bunch of friends bringing home a drunk woman. A sheet, streretcher and some cows blood could be used to fake bringing someone to the Grey quarter.
Either should be doable quickly with a passed out woman and stand up to basic scrutiny.
"The stretcher is a better trick; it can be used even at mid-day. Not too many ladies getting drunk at noon. So let's get what we need for it, and start looking for Trinia."
"If the Temple is not too busy today, we could borrow a stretcher and a sheet from there."
"No, we don't want it to look too organized. We want the stretcher to look improvised, not like some sort of organized medical service. Let's go to the Shingles via the flea market. We can pick up an old blanket (for the stretcher bottom), and a sheet there, as well as a mop and a broom that we can use to improvise the poles."
The way from Citadel Volshyenek to the Shingles leads past the castle while you walk past at safe distance, you witness how the riots flare up again and then you hear a scream. Turning you see a guard falling from a tower.
vs DC 20
3 rank +3 trained +2 wis+2 racial
Does that tell me who that is or do I need a different roll for that?
Oh Crap… someone pushed that guard.
Her eyes lock on the distant castle as she continues.
Do we go check on the guard? I want to, but if the riots are starting up again, we may not have much time to get to this woman before the mobs spread farther….
What the bloody hell happened?
[Dice=Perception]1d20+10
** spoiler omitted **
Oh Crap… someone pushed that guard.
Her eyes lock on the distant castle as she continues.
Do we go check on the guard? I want to, but if the riots are starting up again, we may not have much time to get to this woman before the mobs spread farther….
"You're certain?" asks Narciso, and then he continues "No, from that height, the poor bastard is done, no need to check. But double timing it to the Shingles might be a really good idea."
Narciso picks up the pace to a hustle...
You arrive at 42 Moon Street ahead of the mob. You find the address in a densely built section of the city, a place where, at ground level, direct sunlight is a rarity. Above, jury-rigged catwalks, overhanging roofs, lines of laundry, and homemade bridges of rope and boards create a cluttered tangle, a multi-level mess of gutters, upper floors, and rooftops. This is the slum above—a sprawl known as the Shingles.
The building is an old tenement, three floors high and containing two dozen flats, many of which are homes to artists, singers, students, and
artisans.
So perhaps Tisha can scout and use Narciso's magic to keep in touch with us.
Narciso casts message (linking all of us), and whispers "We can whisper to each other now, and I will hear it. Agree to Briggi's plan, but let's get the rest of us off the main drag as well. Briggi, cut around the back and cut off a back exit. Ernhild and I will stay in the foyer, while Tisha knocks on doors..."
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Ernhild is not too happy about having to move on from a murder - but even if she were to rap on some doors, what could civilians do? The city guard was too busy quelling the riots to move on the scene. She tries to remember where she saw the man fall to report it later.
"Her neighbours might want to protect her," she warns Tisha. "I'd recommend making it clear that we are here to move her out for everyone's safety."
This would work so much better with a little preplanning... but here goes.
Tisha waits for the others to head to their assigned places while she pretends to be looking for an address on the street.
After the others should be in their spots, Tisha walks up to the flat house and heads in the front door making no effort to hide that she is looking for something. A list of flat names, labeled post boxes or anything like that...
If there is nothing that Indicates where this Trina lives, then she will head farther into the building looking for people or possibly children she can talk to.
An old grumpy man opens the door of his flat. "You are not from here. What are you doing here?" he demands to know.
Tisha puts on a slightly vapid smile and the words start tumbling out.
Hi! Sorry to bother you, but could you help me? You see my Uncle got this portrait done by this Artist named Trinia, and after my aunt saw it, she liked it so she hung it right by the main table, and then she told me that Matron Kalissreavil was so impressed by the life captured in the portrait's eyes, that she actually complimented my aunt when she was over for tea. Well then my aunt said...
The Elf seems to catch herself
Oh there I go rambling on again. Ummm... Long story short, she sent me to give this artist Trinia a bonus thank you for the work she did, as she says that uncle El is never showing artists the respect they are due. So umm, do you know where I can find her?
The guy looks like he is unsure if he should believe you.
Sure, but we better spread out the doors we knock on.
Have you seen any of the portraits? They are so interesting. The art style, are you an artist? I’ve always wanted to learn how to paint but I’ve just never had the time….
"Yes I have. But she doesn't live here anymore. She moved to her uncle in Veldrane. So you're in for a long journey, or you need to find another artist."
Ohh. Aunty will be very disappointed…. I guess I will be going then.
Tisha turns to go. She will start to walk back to the door keeping an eye out for how the guy reacts.
If she can she will slip into the stairs up trying to get out of his sight so she can try again out if his hearing.
Seeing how they react, The truth will just send people scurrying to get her away before we can get to her
The old grumpy guy closes the door.
With the guy gone, Tisha sneaks up the stairs one floor. There are more doors and more stairs.
That guy Tisha just talked to just shouted out his back window that we are snooping around.
Can you see the direction he called?
Rear of the building.
Narciso whispers to Briggi "Well, if there's been a warning, keep watch for anyone sneaking out the back..."
He turns to Ernhild "Briggi says the old man is calling a warning out the back window... Clearly he suspects something and knows more than he is telling. Do we want to try knocking on his door and threatening him to get him to cough up?"
Soon after you see a woman matching the description of Trinia climbs out of the window on the third floor and onto the roof.
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"Well. Who could have foreseen that? Tisha, is there any way you can chase her?"
"Narciso, you can try to go out and spot her. I'll try to make the man talk." It's not like she had the speed and acrobatics skill to actually catch the woman, Ernhild figures.
Instead, she goes up the stairs to loudly knock on the man's door. "I know you've figured we're here because some serious accusations have been leveled against Trinia," she states calmly, once the last knock has faded into silence. "And I know you don't particularly like our lot. But an angry mob is going to reach this place at any moment to ask for your friend once again - and this time, I doubt they'd be polite about it."
"The reason why we used a cover is because we want to take her to safety and evacuate this building before the rioters take care of that for you. And you still have a chance to be safe."
"Now that you've told her to take to the streets, unless we manage to catch her, she could have her throat cut in less than an hour. Is that what you want?"
The door doesn't open. But the guy would have to be deaf to not listen to Ernhild's accusations. Still there is no response.
Briggi tells the others what happened. No way I can jump the rooftops in my armor. I can follow down below though.
What window?. Tisha asks as she runs up the stairs to the third floor
There she looks to see if she can get out a window to chase her. If she can’t see a way to directly chase after her, she tries to open the door to what she guesses is the flat the woman crawled out of, picking the lock if she has to.
Then she dives out the window and chases her as fast as she can.
Tisha opens the window in the stairwell and climbs onto the roof too. Of course Trinia is fleeing already and has now a proper headstart.
action to move through a single card. When a character exits
from a card, he must choose one of that card’s two obstacles
to face as a standard action before moving to the next card.
Success means the character moves to the next card, while
failure means the character must face the obstacle again
on the next round. Instead of exiting a card, a character
can choose to take another action not directly related to
navigating the chase’s course, such as casting a spell or
drawing a weapon.
A character who wants to attempt to move three cards
during his turn can do so by taking a full-round action.
That character must overcome both obstacles on the card
he is leaving. In this case, if a character fails either obstacle
check by 5 or less, he only moves one card forward and his
turn ends. If a character fails either obstacle check by
more than 5, he cannot move at all that turn. A character
unfortunate enough to fail two obstacle checks in a turn
becomes mired in his current square (he might have fallen
from a ledge, gotten a foot stuck amid roots, or got caught
in a crowd, for example). A character who is mired must
spend another full-round action becoming unmired and
effectively loses his next turn in the chase. In some cases,
becoming mired might impart additional penalties (such
as falling damage).
Mired means falling off the roof for 2d6.
Getting back up is a DC15 Climb check.
Moving on the ground allows only to follow the distance of one card.
Trinia continues her flight.