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"Please do, he's already taking such a risk trying to change things! You two might also consider heading outside for a while. If things don't work out it'd be a shame for you to get dragged into it."
Turning back to the two servants, she continues talking to them as she closes the distance between them slowly "Mitra bless you! Bless you! Please help us, all I ever did was steal to feed my family. I... No one deserves what those guards did to us."
Rei turns around and says "It's safe Zed, come down, we're saved!"
Don't worry about it too much, after all "The best laid plans of mice and men [and incarcerated criminals] oft go awry" :p Also, y'all have four versus two, and with the hall being 5' squares now, the nearer guard is actually in range for Angelica and Lukasz.
Rei takes only a moment to size up the situation after tumbling into the room. Not good, need to convince them to stay calm and quiet long enough for the others to help the guards in the hall.
Without missing a beat, Rei begins to put on an act. Speaking with a quiet urgency, she addresses the two kitchen servants. "Please, stay quiet, the guards upstairs... they're monsters. The things they were doing..." Rei winces at the thought of the imaginary acts. "For the love of Mitra, don't make me go back up there! If there's even an ounce of compassion in your hearts hold still your tongues!" As she finishes she drops to her knees and holds her hands out in supplication before looking over her shoulder with a look of terror.
Rei looks at Zed and asks "Ready?" Climbing into the fireplace, she lowers herself down until she can hear if the cooks are still in the kitchen.
Not hearing anything, she drops and pushes off, attempting to quietly tumble over the hot coals to avoid burning herself.
"That sounds like as good a plan as any. If you can get them to come at least half-way down the hall, it'll probably be close enough for Lukasz to use magic on them. In the meantime Zed and I can drop down into the kitchen and attempt to gain control of or disable the cooks"
"Actually, now might be a good time for Angelica to show off her disguise illusion. With her leading, two of you may be able to get far enough to peek into the adjoining rooms and see how many others are around."
Actually I think I like Master Spy most, but I'm pretty concerned about being functional in combat. It gets assassination as well, although a bit later than pure Assassin, and there's quite a bit more flavor in it than straight Assassin.
A question for the group: I'm currently trying to figure out which way to take Rei build-wise and have three ideas I'm kicking around at the moment: 1) Rogue/Wizard/Arcane Trickster (Touch Attack focus)
Trickster would be weakest in skills, but probably most effective in combat/utility. Assassin would be effective in combat and skills, while Master Spy would probably end up being pretty weak in combat while having the strongest skill set. I think thematically Trickster and Spy both fit her quite well, but I'm worried spy might give away too much combat ability, while Trickster gives up a significant amount of skill points and will take quite a few levels to get up and running. I'd like to know what y'all think would work best for the group. I'd be open to other suggestions as well. Questions for Spinningdice: Are you ok with me picking up the Kitsune "Magical Tail" feats for spells? Technically I qualify due to having Racial Heritage (Kitsune). I'm assuming I don't actually have to have her grow a tail when I take the feats :p How do you feel about "early" qualification for prestige classes using SLAs? I was planning on picking up a couple of the "Magical Tail" feats for Rei (although I'm assuming she won't grow a physical tail when she takes them) to get some spells. Picking up Misdirection (3rd Magical Tail Feat) that way could allow her to jump into Arcane Trickster with only one level of Wizard, although it'd be at 7th level. Mainly it serves as a way to minimize loss of skill points, tricks and sneak attack. Assuming I went Arcane Trickster, would you be ok with droping the non-lawful requirement? I can switch Rei to Neutral Evil, but I think Lawful definitely fits better.
Returning quickly back up the stairs, Rei looks slightly annoyed. "Well, there appears to only be one hall down there with two guards directly at the end of it. There's a door to the left and right, but my guess is the right door goes through some other room before coming to the kitchen." "Essentially, if we want to get through the kitchen, we'll need to eliminate the guards in the hall silently, as I'm not sure how to sneak our little troupe by them otherwise. Especially since it's not possible to fit 10lbs of potatoes into a 5lb sack." As she finishes, she glances briefly at the fireplace.
"I don't believe we should. Leaving one alive is already risk. The chance that three of them won't wake up before we're clear is to much to take. Even waking one carries the risk of them calling out." After pondering the situation for a moment, she adds "The workers in the kitchen may be a good choice. The one expressing some sympathy, I believe her name was Myrtle, should be more easily manipulated with the right words and magic." "If need be I can scout ahead down the stairs before we head out. We should definitely move quickly at this point."
Once Jericho moves in and swings at the guards, Rei moves stealthily out of the fireplace to attack the nearest guard.
She mutters a quiet curse as the dagger clips the side of the mantle as she strikes out, throwing her off balance.
Rei climbs back up after eavesdropping on the kitchen for a bit. Back in the room she joins the others in preparation for the ambush.
Rei inspects the fireplace and looks down the flue into the kitchen area. "Hmm, I think I'll hide in here when we wait for the guard change, but first I want to take a peek down into the kitchen. Angelica, can you get out the rope from the veil? If couple of you hold on to it I should be able to safely scout out the kitchens." Tying the rope around her waist, she climbs down into the fireplace opening and lowers herself until she's close to the opening of the fireplace.
Once lowered down, she waits for a few minutes, listening quietly from the chimney to hear if anyone's in the kitchen.
Rei thinks for a moment, observing the room, then looking back into the cell block. "That sounds like a good start Zed. We may also consider having you or Lukasz in the interrogation room with the door cracked open to allow casting the moment the signal is given." She pulls out her dagger and twirls it around in her hand a few times as she runs through the ambush in her head looking for any obvious flaws. "We'll need to keep a sharp eye out in case one of them also has a horn. Obviously if one does we'll need to disable him first. I may be able to hide near the stairs and drop in behind them as they reach the top to make sure they can't run."
Rei gathers a set of clothing and changes quickly in the corner. "A significant improvement, no doubt. I'll need to see about getting some proper clothes with hidden pockets once we get out of here though." she remarks, half talking to herself. Once she's outfitted, she turns to the others. "I too would prefer to keep moving. It might, however, be best attempt to leave the prison under cover of darkness, and we still have quite a bit of time before then. Ambushing the next set of guards would buy us time, and we could try to get a feel for the layout in the meantime."
"You should definitely be ready to assume the form of one of the guards Angelica. Even if you can't speak, it may buy us enough time to keep one of the guards from calling out. Also, perhaps we should check and see if that patch in the form of the sack contains anything useful." Rei waits just inside the door out of the cell block, ready to duck out of sight if need be. Please let them have thought to pack us a change of clothes. I really need to get out of this prison gown.
Rei concurs with Zed's assessment of the situation. "It's true that it will be difficult to pass as guards with so few here. Lukasz, could you take a look at the veil Angelica received and identify the remaining patches? I'm particularly curious about the use of window-shaped patch, but I'd prefer not to remove it to find out. At the very least we have rope available, which means we might be able to lower ourselves down to the water from the upper walks."
"Now now, Jericho, there's no reason to threaten to kill the poor man," emphasizing his implied threat. "He's cooperative, he wants to live in peace, just like we do. Isn't that right?" she says to the guard, placing reassuring hand on the guard's shoulder and looking down at him with a smile. "Tell me, what's your name soldier? Do you have family?"
"There's no reason this can't end well for all of us. Keep helping us in our time of need, and perhaps we can return the favor in the future." Rei pauses for a moment, and continues in a sterner tone. "Now, in order to avoid confrontations on the way out, we could use some information about the layout of the prison and the patrols. This is important, remember that your word here could save many lives."
As Zed and Jericho spring into action, Rei chimes in almost cheerfully, "Did you guards know that the ogre's name here is Grumblejack?" She places additional emphasis on the ogre's name, hoping the noise of the ogre crashing against the door will help keep the guards off-balance. Taking hold of the dagger she was given, she sidesteps the guard with the food and decides to aid Jericho on eliminating the guard with the horn.
Reaching between the bars, she attempts to plunge her dagger into the guard's side.
I re-moved Jericho and moved Rei as well. Didn't seem like your move had taken Jericho. Seems like you need to hit return after moving to save the changes.
Rei notices the bow for Zed's fiddle sticking out a bit too far. "Psst, Zed, adjust your bow's position a bit to the left," she whispers.
"Hmm, very well, I'll unlock Grumblejack's cell. Zed, you might want to whip up some sound to get them to approach his cell when they enter." she says quietly. Moving quickly and quietly, she slips out of the cell and works to unlock the Ogre's cell.
Success:
Rei deftly unlocks the cell and whispers to the ogre to get near the door in preparation. "Wait for the signal, we'll call out your name when it's time to move" Failure:
Rei tries for a few moments to get the door open, but can't quite seem to get it to click. She whispers to Grumblejack, "It's not open, but when we call your name, hit the door as hard as you can." After finishing up with the lock, Rei heads quickly back into the cell making sure the cell door appears properly closed. Taking her place on the wall, she wraps the unlocked manacles around her ankles and wrists, doing her best to appear restrained.
Rei positions herself back in her shackles and leans back against the wall, whiling away the time by thinking about notoriety they'll gain if they succeed in escaping Branderscar.
"It's certainly possible that they won't fall for it, and something we need to be prepared for," said Rei, responding to Jericho. "Another possibility is to use Grumblejack to get the guards in here and focused on him, and use the distraction to jump them. In fact, the ability to conjure sounds might be quite helpful in getting them to investigate Grumblejack's more closely than they would otherwise." "Also, having chains available as additional weapons definitely won't hurt, Zed."
Listening to the suggestions from the others, Rei thinks for a few moments and responds. "Yes, Elijah, getting a feel for when the guards come and go is essential. We have the tools now, but moving without information is too risky. We still have time, we must be patient." Looking over at the cell, she continues, "Our neighbor is likely an asset, although we'll need to speak to him to really see if and when he'll be useful. He might also be useful as a diversion after we've incapacitated our two guards." She turns back towards the door which exits the cell block, half expecting it to open at any moment. After a moment she continues speaking. "If we had some sort of illusion, setting an ambush behind the door would be quite effective. Generally it's the sort of trap that my clan-mates would've set, and an excellent observation Jericho. If we lack illusions, however, we're risking our success on the hope that the first guard is not attentive enough to notice our cell is down one occupant." "Ideally, I would say we need to convince one of the guards to come in here without his partner. If we can overpower one without alerting the other we gain two benefits: Firstly, we can have the knocked-out guard stand place for one of us in the cell, allowing us an opportunity to ambush and kill the second. Secondly, as Elijah has demonstrated, allowing your guard-mates to be killed due to dereliction of duty carries a high price. When the first guard awakens we can use that fact as leverage to gain his cooperation. A man faced with three unsavory options--namely death, execution for dereliction, or aiding us--is much more likely to turn." She crosses her arms and leans back, resting her head against the wall. "That, however, is much more easily said than done. Seduction is likely the most effective route to achieve it, but that's never been my forte."
Rei takes the dagger from Angelica and immediately hides it behind her in the waistband of her pants.
Speaking quickly and quietly, Rei comments on the situation. "I'll unlock the door, but we need someone to pay close attention to the guards and alert us if they sound like they're coming. I would suggest most of us arrange ourselves so we appear as if we're still in manacles until we're ready to make a move. Ideally we'd have an illusion to replace those who are looking about, but I'm unsure if anyone here is able to work such magic."
Moving over to Angelica, Rei quickly begins working on her wrist manacles. After a few moments they pop open. "Well that's a surprise. It seems our jailers can't be bothered to use separate keys for all of the locks. This will simplify things greatly." From that point she moves with a studied quickness, progressing from manacle set to manacle set, focused entirely on the task. Within a minute she's finished freeing everyone and kicks back against the wall to give them all a moment to stretch.
Rei looks at the thieves tools with great interest. "I'm not sure about the others, but I'm quite familiar with their use. Send those my way and I'll see what I can do about getting us unshackled."
Picking Locks: Rei gets ahold of the toolkit and adjusts herself to better get at the lock on her wrist manacles. Working meticulously, she fiddles with the lock mechanism trying to get it to unlatch.
Waiting until a few minutes have passed after the departure of the guards, Rei decides to take a stab at getting out of the manacles in a less ostentatious manner.
While she slowly works her wrists around in the manacles, she looks over at Angelica and the veil she's holding.
Success (Int Check):
"I've seen similar magic items before, they're an excellent tool for smuggling items undetected. That appears to be quite an assortment too, everything one might need to get out of a place like this. It looks like we owe your mysterious friend some serious thanks, although I imagine our gratitude is not what they're after." Rei says in a hushed voice. Fail (Int Check): Whether due to the poor lighting or just poor memory, the veil and patches don't seem to click in Rei's mind. She shakes her head and returns her focus to the shackles.
North Carolina here, GMT -5
"This certainly was an interesting turn of events. As with Zed, I'm curious to hear what happened," Rei says after she's sure the guards are out of earshot.
Rei watches the auburn-haired worshipper of Asmodeus as she speaks. When she finishes, Rei speaks up again. "Given how tight the security is here, I imagine the next, and likely only time we'll have a shot at doing that is when they come to haul one of us off for execution," Rei says flatly. I can't make it work in my head. I can't see any plausible means of escape. If San and the others didn't make it out, how on earth can a group like this? And yet it feels like there's something at work here... Rei begins studying the room and watching the door with renewed interest, despite having done so many times already during her stay.
Shackled in the corner, a slender woman with short blonde hair stares at the ground lost in thought. So much time and effort, such a perfect plan! So close to getting to the King, and all lost because of that traitor Hachi. Now they're all dead and I'll be following them. When the door opens and a new member is added to the crew, Rei looks up briefly as he's brought in and then lowers her head again. As the conversation picks up and the others begin introducing themselves, she eventually speaks up. "You may call me Rei, I am...", she pauses for a moment and corrects herself, "no, was a member of the Shadows. Our clan once solved problems for those nobles and merchants with the money to hire us. Since the purges, however, there has been almost no room to operate. The seven of us who were left were captured just two days before we would've had a shot at removing the King, betrayed by a former member." She lifts her head and looks at Elijah, her hair still partly covering her eyes. "I'd give anything to kill that traitorous wench and to have another shot at the King. I've never been much for gods one way or another, but you can tell Asmodeus that if he comes through he can take whatever he wants."
Checking in! Hello to the lucky few and GM spinningdice! Glad to have been picked, and I'm definitely excited to get started. I've not run an evil character before, so this'll definitely be quite a bit of fun.
Rei stands up and turns around. Putting her hands up on the bars, she eyes the various occupants. All these people would no doubt love to see the kingdom in ruins. Perhaps if we can find an opening... They say no one has ever escaped from here, but there must be a way. "One way or another I'll be checking out of here in three days. Since I'd prefer it not be by way of four horses who can't agree on their direction of travel, you can count me in." Her mind focused again with a challenge before it, she sits down facing the bars and begins reviewing everything she remembers from her arrival in Branderscar up until this point, trying to think of anything that might aid them.
well... professionals don't get caught... he quips Rei looks pensively up at the ceiling after hearing the rogue's retort. I'm certainly no professional, I haven't even recieved my number, and at this point I never will. Half a dozen of the best professionals in the business have been executed in the past two days, and when they finally execute me, that'll be the end of the Clan. "There was a time that I'd have agreed with you about that, but not anymore. The purge changed things, and it's all been going down-hill since then. The day there aren't professionals in this accursed place is either the day there aren't any professionals left in Talingarde, or the day one of us burns it to the ground." She returns to leaning quietly against the bars as the conversation turns to escape.
Leaning with her back to the bars, Rei takes in the conversation. Hearing mention of petty thievery, she laughs. Without turning around, she begins speaking, "There are many reasons people come to Branderscar, and petty theft isn't one of them. They don't waste the cells here on amateurs." She turns around and takes a look over her shoulders at the others in the cells. "Doesn't matter to me what you're here for, but if you're going to lie about your crime, at least invent something entertaining," she adds, leaning back against the bars before raising her hand and waiving dismissively.
Here's the crunch for my (Xentik's) Human Rogue (Kitsune Trickster). She was adopted and raised as a runner/lookout for a group of Kitsune assassins known as The Shadows. Most of the clan was wiped out during the purge, and the few that remained made it their goal to gain vengeance by killing King Markadian V. Their plot eventually unraveled, and Rei is the last of the group in Branderscar awaiting execution for High Treason. Will whip up a full background and appearance/personality info tonight and throw it in her profile. :
Rei of the Shadows Female Human Rogue (Kitsune Trickster) 1
Init +4; Senses; Perception +7
Melee Dagger [+4 hit (0 BAB + 4 dex), 1d4+2 dam]
Feats Weapon Finesse, Racial Heritage (Kitsune)
Languages Common, Sylvan, Infernal, Celestial, Orc, Goblin Combat Gear None
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