Deerslicer grabs some chilled refreshments, taking the time to look over how the elemental is bound. Once he grabs some refreshments, particularly anything with meat in it, he takes some out to Gracie to reward her for her patience.
As soon as the creature sees Deerslicer paying him any attention, it says "Free me, sir! Safa said you might be sympathetic to my situation.”
"Vix" it whispers fearfully. "No Tricks. It's Vix."
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Deerslicer glances around, then sees Endra trying to pull the team back together and whispers, "Me be right back." He shoves one of the snacks into the creature's mouth, then gathers up with the rest of the group.
He shrugs at Endra's suggestion. "Me got no poison, if d'at what you mean."
He then motions over toward the refreshment tent, as he hands out snacks to everyone. "So ... d'is elemental keepin' t'ings cold, d'ey say d'eir name be Vix, not Zoha, but d'ey know Safa. Safa no mention a Vix, but say to help free a Zoha, so me am very confused. How many people Safa wantin' us to rescue in da middle o' d'is blackmail job?" He shrugs. "Anyway ... want me to pick da lock?"
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Deerslicer glances around, then sees Endra trying to pull the team back together and whispers, "Me be right back." He shoves one of the snacks into the creature's mouth, then gathers up with the rest of the group.
He shrugs at Endra's suggestion. "Me got no poison, if d'at what you mean."
He then motions over toward the refreshment tent, as he hands out snacks to everyone. "So ... d'is elemental keepin' t'ings cold, d'ey say d'eir name be Vix, not Zoha, but d'ey know Safa. Safa no mention a Vix, but say to help free a Zoha, so me am very confused. How many people Safa wantin' us to rescue in da middle o' d'is blackmail job?" He shrugs. "Anyway ... want me to pick da lock?"
"I'd offer to help, but I'm not always good at tasks like that in the exoskeleton." they hold out their gauntleted hands dissapointedly.
"I don't have any poison either, but maybe we don't need it... they've got other food, right? We could add something to the drinks to make them taste bad. No one wants salt in their drinks, especially if it's not cold."
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Deerslicer says, "No, me can do it no problem. Just not sure if good idea. If you t'ink is good idea, me go do it."
He sneaks back in and, once hidden beneath the table, pulls out his thieves' tools. He whispers to the elemental, "You maybe help us? We need a dis'raction so we can sneak over and mess with guy's box while he talkin. Any ideas?"
After a few seconds of effort, Deerslicer seems to have gotten a better handle on how the mechanism works.
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Alanosse nods to Endra as Deerslcer starts over to put his nimble fingers to work. He walks in the opposite direction, and makes a loud announcement…
”Anyone hear looking to hire an acrobat extraordinaire? No? Perhaps a demonstration is in order,” the Elf says loudly, before making a tumbling run, making a hand over feet vault into a double flip with a tuck and a twist…
”Impressive, yes? And I’m just starting to warm up…any requests?” he asks, hoping this will give Deerslicer the time he needs…
Deerslicer & Purrlock
Deerslicer silently sidles up to Vix’s cage and begins picking the lock. Undeterred by his initial difficulties moving the tumblers, he continues trying. Frustrated at the slow pace of progress, Purrlock tries to smash open the cage, but only dents the ice-cold bars, which might have caused several of the party guests to frown and move away from you obvious ruffians but for the amusing diversion created by Alanosse.
Deerslicer eventually gets the lock open and Vix bows soberly before him. ”I am indebted to you! Not all mortals are as awful as they say, I guess! Farewell!” And with that, the ice mephit flits off for points unknown.
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Alanosse
Demonstrating his acrobatics skills draws quite a bit of attention to Alanosse, who realizes he might be enhancing Azam’s feast instead of detracting from it. ”Hey,” says one of the crowd who watches him. ”You should go talk to the Twisting Embers. They’re that ifrit tumbling troupe across the lawn. You’d have a lot in common.”
Hallow
Endra
What’re you going to do, Endra?
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Hallow, Endra and Alanosse still have rolls to make. Creative solutions highly encouraged.
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Deerslicer frowns as the ice mephit scampers off. "So ... me guess he not helpin' wit' dis'raction?"
"At least not intentionally, although I'm sure having him running around won't hurt."
Hallow
Hallow is not exactly stealthy. Between the very loud mechanical exoskeleton and the massive pumpkin on their head, they tend to be relatively easy to spot in a crowd, so directly causing anything to go wrong would likely draw more attention to themself than they'd like.
They walk over to the area with the camel, keeping their distance in case the beast gets hungry, and finds a hidden spot to work, gently weakening the corral structure and loosening the ropes--not enough to cause them to break immediately, but enough that if the camel gets spooked by something (which they can't imagine won't happen) neither the rope nor the corral will be nough to hold it.
ENDRA & ALANOSSE
Endra and Alanosse attract the attention of a lithe ifrit woman, whose red skin is contrasted with a deep aquamarine costume. ”You’re good,” she admits. ”Azam should have hired you instead of forcing us to perform at his feast.”
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HALLOW
Hallow, it’s hard to hide an animate scarecrow, but you manage to do it and sneak up close to the camel. You wait until the boy who attends the camel has gone to fetch water and swiftly cut almost all the way through the leather thong that ties the huge bull to a stake. The corral itself is mostly designed to keep onlookers at bay and would never stand up to the strength of the beast... if it were frightened.
What now?
ENDRA & ALANOSSE
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”You’re good,” she admits. ”Azam should have hired you instead of forcing us to perform at his feast.”
Endra keys in on this and inquires, with a curious expression
Oh? What would you be doing instead if we took over and performed? Perhaps you could find a way to upstage Azam if you were unfettered from your duties?
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Plenty of ways to frighten a camel, though few without drawing attention... although.
Deerslicer feeds snacks to Gracie, then glances around to see if there's anything he can do to help anyone else.
Hallow heads over to Deerslicer and Gracie. "It occurs to me, if Gracie just stood by the camel, it'd probably get plenty frightened without us being directly culpable, since it could just be written off as an accident."
"Either that, or I use the Wave Oscillator Mk 1, but that is very unsubtle."
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Endra and Alanosse attract the attention of a lithe ifrit woman, whose red skin is contrasted with a deep aquamarine costume. ”You’re good,” she admits. ”Azam should have hired you instead of forcing us to perform at his feast.”
Alanossë arches an eyebrow at the ifrit’s words and follows up after Endra speaks. ”He’s forcing you to perform? How so? And what kind of performance do you have planned? Perhaps we could help in some way…”
ENDRA & ALANOSSË
”You’re good,” she admits. ”Azam should have hired you instead of forcing us to perform at his feast.”Endra keys in on this and inquires, with a curious expression
Oh? What would you be doing instead if we took over and performed? Perhaps you could find a way to upstage Azam if you were unfettered from your duties?
Endra and Alanosse attract the attention of a lithe ifrit woman, whose red skin is contrasted with a deep aquamarine costume. ”You’re good,” she admits. ”Azam should have hired you instead of forcing us to perform at his feast.”Alanossë arches an eyebrow at the ifrit’s words and follows up after Endra speaks. ”He’s forcing you to perform? How so? And what kind of performance do you have planned? Perhaps we could help in some way…”
”No,” she says. ”Not like that. But we’re under contract and even though he’s a vile man, the Twisting Embers do not break contracts.”
She considers, looking at the two of you. ”Still... maybe...”
She’s clearly considering something. If you can convince her to tell you, it might help.
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HALLOW AND DEERSLICER
Plenty of ways to frighten a camel, though few without drawing attention... although.
Deerslicer feeds snacks to Gracie, then glances around to see if there's anything he can do to help anyone else.Hallow heads over to Deerslicer and Gracie. "It occurs to me, if Gracie just stood by the camel, it'd probably get plenty frightened without us being directly culpable, since it could just be written off as an accident."
"Either that, or I use the Wave Oscillator Mk 1, but that is very unsubtle."
"Yeah ... She usually only sneaky in da woods, but da people at d'is party really not payin' attention to anyt'in dat's 'appenin', so might be able to sneak her over."
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"Problem is, d'en d'ey see a bear around in middle of party, and d'ey try to chase Gracie..." Deerslicer considers Hallow shrewdly, with his cunning ranger wit, "You know, you pretty smart and good at makin' stuff. You able to mix up some fireworks or somet'in? Maybe cause big distraction, an' cause da animals to run around?"
ENDRA & ALANOSSË
She thinks for a moment and extends a hand. "Name's Abina. We don't like performing for this jerk, but we never break a contract. However, if he were to break it by dismissing us..."
She reaches into the folds of her flowing sleeves and pulls out a small vial of silvery liquid. "Drop that into the oasis pond during our performance and let's see what happens!"
The Twisting Embers go on to perform an elegant high-flying acrobatics act, drawing a great deal of attention...
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Walking around the rest of the festivities, Hallow takes note of the structures making the festival up, occasionally carefully tinkering with things to create a rudimentary Rube Goldberg machine, eventually ending in the tent near the camel collapsing quite spectacularly, hoping to frighten the beast.
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Endra smiles and holds out her hand to receive the vial, responding in a low voice.
It will be done.
This assignment feels quite natural to the elf scout.
Nodding to Alanossë, she skulks towards the oasis pond, drawing the hood of her cloak over her head and blending into the nearby crowd.
They await Abina's performance.
A clothes pin pulls loose here, triggering a small pebble to slide down a wooden incline, hitting a little toy boot on a spring, which kicks over a small torch that burns through a string which releases tension on a ramp that spills several dozen marbles to rush down a curved ramp landing in a small basket. When their weight is accumulated, the basket descends, triggering a last spring that flings the camel's stake loose and simultaneously strikes the animal on the rump with a riding crop. The camel bursts from its flimsy enclosure and charges down the greensward of the feast. Revelers leap out of the way or run hither and thither seeking to escape the maddened bull camel.
Meanwhile, Endra and Alanossë use the distraction to pour Abina's silvery liquid into the fabulous fountain pool at the heart of the feast. As they hasten away, it begins to bubble suspiciously, then to spew water, then to fountain enormous gouts of water forty feet into the air. Meanwhile, the water of the pond itself rises rapidly, spreading across the feast's meadow. Partygoers are swamped to their ankles, to their knees and rush away from the rising water before it eventually dies back, slowly returning to its former banks but leaving the meadow sodden and unpleasant.
Azam rises up, stopping his poetry recital as his guests are in full riot. He strides forward, yelling at the Twisting Embers to stop their capering. With a smile, Abina and her crew immediately cease their acrobatics and begin to put away their things, leaving Azam sputtering in anger.
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Hood still drawn, Endra makes a move on the pillowed chest. She waits until Azam steps forward enough so that it leaves his sight. Surely as he's barking at the Twisting Embers and his guests, he'll lose track of it and she can swap the gift with the toy soldier.
With his attention fixed on the Twisting Embers, she goes for it.
Endra slips the raggedy soldier doll into the box and removes Azam's gift, a beautifully ornate dagger with crystals and gems in the pommel in the traditional Qadiran style. As she slips away, Azam returns to the stage.
Whispers spread through the milling crowd as an important personage arrives. It is Avisha al-Isman, captain of the Satrapian Guard in an immaculate uniform. People make way for her as she approaches the stage. Bowing obsequiously, Azam approaches, doing his best to hide evidence of the chaos you've sown. He offers her the ornate chest saying "Honored One, I believe this gift truly captures your true nature perfectly."
She opens the chest and sees the toy soldier in its ragged, oversized uniform and a crimson blush spreads across her face. "What? Outrageous! How dare you treat me so, you miserable worm!"
She turns, bellowing to the crowd. "By order of the Satrap, may Sarenrae bless him forever, I declare this gathering to be illegal! Vacate this field now or be subject to arrest and imprisonment!"
The crowd begins to hurry rapidly way, avoiding either Avisha's livid gaze or Azam's apoplectic one.