I see myself in the pistol smoke

[notathreat]

WHO: Ellie, Allumin
WHAT: Congratulations, you've been selected for an impossible mission!
WHEN: TBD, to avoid plot-locking. (Likely some time in Harvestmere?)
WHERE: The Spannagel auction house in Cumberland.
NOTES: Mission notes!

Comments

[notathreat]

Nightfall.

The reports had said that the auction house was one of the most prestigious in the area, but apparently, that didn't mean dick in terms of security. They'd only spotted a handful of armed guards patrolling the area, practically a skeleton crew, enough to make Ellie suspicious of what they'd find inside, or even what they wouldn't.

Currently they're a little ways away from the backside of the building, far enough to look like they're not obviously casing the place if someone happens upon them.

"We sure this is the place?" she mutters to Allumin as she wriggles her hands into the gloves from the Provost, moving her fingers to make sure they fit will. Her left hand isn't quite as secure as she'd like, given the two missing fingers, but they do seem to respond well enough, and they held up during her initial testing back at the Gallows.

"They barely have anybody securing the back. You think they have magical... I dunno, traps or something inside? Is that a thing?"

[voidtransport]

"Well, I do believe there was something about the renown of this place dropping over time," he answers first. Honestly, he's relieved to see that the security is not terribly extensive. In an attempt to appear innocuous, he opted to not bring a staff with him for this particular mission and only pack materials that 1) were necessary for spells that might be of use for this, and 2) would fit within his bag reasonably which meant no over-packing. Having his options limited in such a way means needing to be more careful should something happen.

"And yes - well, maybe. It's not impossible?" Overriding instinct is hard when such things like magic traps are typically what one has come to expect in these sort of situations.

"I still have a lot of reading to do about what is and isn't possible in this world, but supposing the chance of enchanted mechanisms for caution's sake isn't a bad idea. Spell-based traps may be present if they have mages for that, but if security isn't much on the outside then it's hard to say if it's less or more severe on the inside," he elaborates, remembering looking into some of the desired quality of life improvements back at the Gallows and seeing something about enchantments for the ferry and other such things. It would stand to reason that traps might not also be out of the question.

As he speaks, he fidgets with a loose bit of hair around his face. It will be fine, he tries to assure himself, but he's already starting to feel nervous. What if security is deceptively low outside and is more severe inside?

"Do you know how to look for traps?" he asks, equal parts an attempt to keep his mind away from his fears and to find faith and trust in Ellie and her skills to give him some peace and confidence that things will go off without a hitch.

[propulsion]

The Spannagel Auction House has a kind of ornate beauty to it found in some corners of Nevarra. Someone from Ellie's world might use the words 'Gothic revival' to describe its archways, decorative gables, narrow windows, all grey brick and black iron. It also isn't small, a long building with eastern and western wings, and a modest amount of landscape behind it, boasting hedges that were probably more manicured, once, than they are now, and dry fountains. Trees reach bare branched for the night sky, and the groundskeepers have been negligent about the autumnal leaves now rotting in earth.

For all its air of graveyard negligence, the Spannagel is not completely unoccupied. A skeleton crew, as mentioned, roams the perimeters, but hardly anyone is bothering with this angle. There's a man standing at the edge of the fencing that rings the territory, a crossbow at his back, and staring off in the opposite direction.

He turns, and starts crossing along the backside of the building, a lazy path that will take him the full length of the Spannagel, where Allumin and Ellie are both far back enough that they're not due for collision. A small hooded lantern dangles from one hand, half-raised and casting a bright ray of yellow light around, unfocused and wobbling.

[notathreat]

Ellie's starting to learn that Allumin's the type of guy who talks through his thought process; it's like a nervous habit, endearing in its own way. So long as they're on watch and won't be overheard, she kind of likes it.

"Yeah, but mostly just the tripwire kind, the noisemaker kind," Ellie murmurs under her breath, going silent to wait for the guard to lethargically pass them. She watches him, and gets the impression they're overthinking this -- but she can hear Joel's voice in the back of her head, urging her not to get too confident. All it takes is one mistake.

"Dunno what to look for with magical ones," she finishes, then turns to Allumin. "Anything I should look for once I'm in?"

Ellie lightly smacks the gloves together to activate them, keeping them tucked down and out of sight.

"Okay. Good news is his night vision is shit because of that lantern and he's not bothering to look up. I'll go up first -- then when you see me drop the rope, you head up as fast as you can."

She waits for assent before she takes a deep breath and heads off, rippling into invisibility; Allumin will hear a light step or two before she seems to completely wink out of existence.

About a minute later, Ellie winks back into view, slowly climbing her way up to the higher stories.

... just as she does, though, one of the gloves slips, and Ellie loses her grip with one hand, dangling precariously two stories up. There's a soft scrabbling noise, and though Allumin won't be able to make it out, she appears to be whispering some filthy curses.

[voidtransport]

"Any sort of glowing or light that isn't from a traditional light source is worth being wary of - also any sort of visual distortion could mean there's a trap or something being hidden at least. What else... um," he pauses a moment to think, hands steepled against his mouth as he does. "Also, stones that seems off from the rest? Like an off color or level where the others are consistent with one another. Those are usually mechanical traps but still worth being cautious of. I don't know if this place would have any - that's more of a dungeon sort of thing, but, you know."

He listens as Ellie goes over the plan, biting his lip a bit - despite the guard seeming to be tired and at a visual disadvantage, there is still worry to be had. There's a nod of affirmation as she finishes, and he watches her move and then blip away before beginning her ascent.

When the glove gives out and she's left dangling there, he unfortunately lets out a very loud, audible gasp before he can catch himself. He covers his mouth and ducks down to cling to shadows, hoping that he hasn't been heard by the guard making his lap around the building.

[propulsion]

That wobbling dip and swing of the lantern suddenly steels itself, going still and alert when Ellie's boot first scrapes the wall. The dimly golden beam of light from its lens suddenly sweeps around like an accusing finger, the eye of it gleaming brightly when it borderline brushes over Allumin as he ducks back.

The light prods after the shadows several long feet below Ellie, plays over the wall, the dark glass windows, the path the guard just took as he stands still and listens. Hard to make out his expression—certainly not at an angle that Ellie can see, and even with any night vision abilities that Allumin might have, the contrast of the shadows and lantern light make it tricky.

The guard lets out a sigh, gruff and annoyed. Then, he sets down the lantern, at such an angle that the hazy beam unfurls like a carpet in Allumin's direction but isn't powerful enough to reach him all the way.

Then, below her, Ellie can hear the distinct sound of liquid pattering against the stonework wall as the guard goes ahead and takes the opportunity to relieve himself.

[notathreat]

It was her bad hand that slipped. Ellie clings to the wall as best she can with one hand, her full weight on her single shoulder while pain sings through her arm. She whispers fuck fuck fuck and presses the soles of her boots against the wall to try to stabilize herself, and turns to look down.

Her face is a little pale, her cheeks high points of color as she dangles there, locking eyes with Allumin.

Slowly, deliberately, she brings a finger up to her lips, then gives him a thumbs up. She's okay, she's not going to fall.

Then very slowly, Ellie takes advantage of the... noise, to bang her hand against the wall until the glove re-activates and latches on. Her shoulder feels tender and she's breathing hard with fright, but she manages to get up to the ledge of a high window and nudge it open as quietly as she can. She pulls up to sit on the ledge, shakes out her arms, and disappears again, checking inside for more guards.

As far as she can tell, there aren't any.

Carefully, she pulls out a grapple and affixes it to the ledge of the window -- as soon as the guard's well enough away, she'll let the rope with an attached ascender down.

[voidtransport]

There is a moment between the searching gaze of the guard and before Ellie signals to him that she's fine where he lives in his imagination's terribly mean conjuration of the worst case scenario. Behind his hand, which presses deeper over his mouth, he bites his lip to fight back any further sounds of alarm as well as an attempt to pull his thoughts away from hypotheticals and to the present. He nods at the thumbs up, and waits in the shadows for the guard to finish his business and carry on with his patrol.

When it's safe to follow Ellie upward, he hurries over to the rope and ascends. He does his best to keep a consistent rhythm and pace - interrupted a moment about halfway up as his footing falters briefly before continuing. His mind is buzzing with little fears about the consequences if they're caught.

"It'll be fine. You've been through worse, this will be a piece of cake by comparison," he mutters to himself as he nears the window, "Unless they have liches for security, then this is nothing. And if they do have liches, you've survived that too - well--"

He stops himself as he makes it to the top of the climb and pulls himself through the window, accepting any assistance from Ellie should she do so.

[propulsion]

Allumin climbs into the room that Ellie has had some time to survey in the moments between letting down the ascender and pulling the elf inside after her. It's an office, and a smallish one at that, although its smallishness is possibly just due to the fact it's stuffed full of filing cabinets. There's a small desk and two uncomfortable looking chairs on either side.

It smells musty. Papery decay.

Nevertheless, the door is locked, rattling stubbornly when tried.

[notathreat]

Ellie listens to the soft mutters, Allumin's way of soothing himself as he gets up to the top. She's antsy about being caught, knows it'll be shitty if they are. So as soon as he gets into reach she grasps his free hand and pulls him up, catching a grip on the back of his outfit.

She's stronger than she looks, so it doesn't take long. She takes a moment to wind the rope up top, then ease the window shut enough to pass muster.

The lock rattles, and Ellie goes silent, listening to see if it brings anybody, but she doesn't hear footsteps right away. She pauses, then takes a step back.

"We can check this place out for keys, or risk that spell of yours," she says. "If nothing else works I'll just shiv the lock off."

But that should be a last resort, if they want to get away clean.