Thieves-A Roses & Wyght Story: Chapter 11 - The Heist

 (Read the previous chapter here.)

System: Adventurers! 

Tools: CRGE; Never Engine Random Tables; rpgsolo.com

(The above contains affiliate links.)

[Scene 1, Surge count 4]

Main Thread: Expose Fiststeel

Minor Threads: Bhart’s Career; Conspiracy against the King

The next morning, Leira awakes feeling unusually sad. Her mind drifts to thoughts of her dead parents, memories of lost childhood innocence, the extreme poverty of the Wrecks, and several other heavy burdens. While these thoughts aren’t new to her, the overtly strong sense of melancholy is and she can’t stop the tears rolling down her cheeks.  She bids herself to pull it together but to no avail. What Leira doesn’t realize is that these thoughts aren’t entirely natural but the after-effects of the multiple goblets of Cabernet Gormac she drank the night before. Any tavern owner will tell you that when their patrons overindulge in Baron Gormac’s red wine, they often come back telling about days filled with depression and sadness. [Based on the side-effects for the Cabernet listed in the 2013 Secret Santicore Fantasy Drink List used last chapter.]

After about thirty minutes, she is able to compose herself enough to head downstairs and fix herself a cup of Mesmarian Tea. She sips it solemnly while sitting in the common room. Her brother Bhartram enters a few moments later, excited as he will be delivering his traps today and earning his first coins as a new business owner. He reigns it in a bit, however, when he notices his sister’s red, puffy eyes and the dried tear tracks on her cheeks. He asks her what’s the matter and she shares her feelings, especially those about their parents. Brother and sister sit for a while reminiscing about their childhood days in Swifthaven and by the time they are done, Bhart has shed a few tears of his own.

He leaves shortly before the lunch hour and Leira waits outside the hostel for her meeting with Harper. Soon, a Guard patrol passes by, and Harper steps aways briefly to share a few words with Leira and hand her the crude map he drew on a piece of parchment. He tells her again of his concerns and she assures him she will be fine, giving him a quick kiss which draws taunts and whistles from the rest of Harper’s patrol. 

After the meeting, Leira heads off to the Bloody Judge, a tavern several blocks from the Wooden Frost Giant Flagon. While the name might lead one to think it would be a popular hangout for the Huntsmen assassins, she knows that it is a favorite drinking spot for Vyncent, the thief who joined her in looting the House of Lost and Found. Upon entering the nearly empty tavern Leira immediately spots Vee sitting at a table holding a mug of ale high in the air. What she wasn’t expecting was Hily, the red-headed Vagnian thief, sitting in his lap and clutching a glass of wine. Ilhard had told her that the two often shared drinks together, but this looked a bit more intimate than your typical drinking buddies. [From the Thieves Relationship Table I rolled up earlier] It also appears to her that the two have been drinking much longer than one would expect at this early hour of the day. However, she guesses it makes sense, considering they were typically “at work” during the time most other citizens used for bar hopping.

She wasn't expecting Hily sitting in his lap.

Leira walks over to the couple and explains why she is there. She is going to need help the following night getting into the Duskcall Historical Museum, the building that marked one end of the tunnel that would get her inside the castle. Still, soured at the prospect of this amateur thief becoming a guild member, Vyncent, seems disinterested and suggests that she wait until she’s grown to start taking on grown-up missions. Hily is a bit more amiable, encouraging Vyncent to lighten up and “‘elp the li’l lass.” Leria can’t tell if the lady thief is legitimately on her side or just humoring her while playing with her date.

Pressing further, Leira tempts Vyncent with the prospect of having the opportunity to lift some rare and valuable items from the museum while assuring him that he didn’t need to be any further involved than getting her inside. [Persuasion (MND) challenge. Leira has advantage due to charisma, but -2 (hard task) as Vyncent is reluctant. L: 13  V: 7] Eventually, Vyncent gives in and agrees to help, claiming it must be the ale talking as he wouldn’t normally agree to anything so crazy.

[Scene 2, Surge Count 4]

Main Thread: Expose Fiststeel

Minor Threads: Bhart’s Career; Conspiracy against the King

After leaving Vyncent and Hily, Leira heads to a small secluded garden to await her meeting with Dedericus. She wipes tears from her eyes--the result of another sudden onset of cabernet induced sadness--as the Guard-Spy approaches.

“You have the key?” she asks.

“Yes, but I have better news,” Dede says excitedly. “Forget tomorrow night. You have a chance right now. I found out this morning that Captain Fiststeel will be out at the farmlands this afternoon.”

“The Captain of the King’s Guard has business with the farmers?”

“Once a month the Captain leads a patrol out to the farms to handle any concerns or complaints they may have. Could be bandits in the area, an edict the King issued they find unfair, or possibly a reprieve or extension on their fealty due to a poor harvest. Fiststeel claims it’s to instill trust in the farmers. While that might be true, I’m sure she also uses it as an opportunity to demonstrate the force of the Guard and remind the peasants of who’s in charge should they have any thought of revolt or insurrection.

Regardless, since she’s out there,” Dede gestures in the direction of the city’s wall, “That means her office is empty and unguarded.”

[Thinking Fiststeel’s office would probably be locked, I asked CRGE “Does Dedericus have a key to Fiststeel’s office?”  (To Conflict) 97+4=101 Yes, and unexpectedly . . .  unexpectedly roll: 2 Tying Off. Tying off means the current thread should either be resolved in this scene or significantly moved ahead. Since I couldn’t see how logically I could suddenly end the thread, I originally was going to have Dede just give Leira some additional information that would just make the task much easier. I asked the oracle a couple of follow up questions but suddenly had a moment of inspiration. Why not give Leira an opportunity to complete the mission right now instead of my original plan of having her wait till the following night, break into the museum, travel through the tunnel, etc.? So I ignored the rest of my original conversation with Dede (except for one detail that I will reveal later), swapped the order of meetings (the meeting with Vyncent was supposed to follow Dede, but I really wanted to use that picture even thought the meeting ends up being pointless), and came up with the “farm patrol” idea.]

“That’s great, but I still need to find a way into the castle,” Leria reminds him.

“I think I’ve got that covered,” Dede assures her. “The Guard on door duty today happened to be at the Fish last night and saw you bump into me. I told him that I met up with you after I left and we hit it off. In an effort to impress you, I was thinking of bringing you on a personal tour of the castle.”

“Does that happen a lot? Guards trying to impress women with castle tours?”

“It’s not uncommon. Actually, the female Guards are more likely to bring their men through. It’s not so much to impress them than to give them bragging rights with their pals. Apparently, being invited into the castle is a mark of honor among the civilians.”

“Okay,” Leria relents. “Just let me go get geared up and I’ll meet you in the Plaza.”

“No time for that. Fiststeel has already left and time is of the essence. Besides, you would never be allowed inside wearing armor and a weapon.”

“I don’t like the idea of attempting this defenseless.”

“I can slip you a dagger once we are inside,” Dede suggests. “It’s not much, but it’s probably the best that can be done.”

Leira thinks a moment. Having a Guard escort certainly made things easier than her wandering through the castle alone, able to be stopped and questioned at any moment. Also, she had no idea what to expect in the Huntsmen’s tunnels. Were they currently occupied? Would anyone believe her if she had to bluff her way through? Or, worst case, was she skilled enough to defeat a Huntsman in combat should it come to that? All things considered, going in now seemed like the obvious decision.

“Okay, Dede. Let’s do this!” Then she adds, “For the Order!”

Dede looks at her curiously. “We don’t really say that.”

“Whatever. Just c’mon,” Leira says heading off in the direction of the castle.

[Scene 3, Surge Count 2]

Main Thread: Expose Fiststeel

Minor Threads: Bhart’s Career; Conspiracy against the King

“Monsters?” seated on her chestnut mount, Captain Sacreelia Fiststeel studies the dirty farm owner standing below her. He just spewed off some nonsense about monsters attacking his herd. Sure, there were trolls, ogres, goblins, giant rats and spiders, and all sorts of other creatures. But they rarely ever came within several miles of the city walls and, if they did, Fiststeel seriously doubted their main goal would be attacking cows on a farm.

“Yes, Ma’am!” the farmer replies. “I’ve had several of my herd slaughtered this past fortnight. The dead carcasses are left in the field with their bowels torn out. You must do something!”

Fiststeel rolls her eyes. Why doesn’t he just hire some hunter to take care of this, or set some traps instead of bothering the King’s Guard. “All right,” she sighs. “We can check it out. Where are these attacks happening?”

Ten minutes later Fiststeel and her patrol are riding along the northern edge of the farm. A small herd of cows roam in the area but stay quite a bit of distance away from the latest kill which still lies rotting in the afternoon sun. Fiststeel guides her horse along the fence line, trying to stay as far away from the stench as possible. Her eyes scan the wooded area beyond the property when suddenly a large wolf springs out of a bushy area and jumps through the fence rails. The animal squares off with her steed, its hackles raised and foam dripping from its bared teeth.

Rabid wolf, Fiststeel thinks, seeing the wild look in the animal’s red eyes. Before she can retreat the wolf charges and sinks its teeth into her mount’s leg. The horse bucks wildly in an attempt to flee the attack, throwing Fiststeel from her saddle. She lands hard on her left knee as the other Guards rush over to keep the crazed beast away. They make short work of the animal, killing it with a well-placed spear thrust.

Getting back on her feet, the Captain of the Guard tests her leg and feels it want to give out from underneath her. She limps over to one of the other Guard’s horses, seeing that her own is too injured to ride. She mounts and tells the others that she will head back to the castle early, leaving them to inform the farm owner that his “monster” has been killed and to complete their patrol.

[This scene is the result of another “unexpected” roll during my original scene with Dedericus. It came up “Pattern Change” which means the main thread gets modified drastically. I asked a Complex Question to determine what was the cause of the change. Q.C.: Overthrow/Wounds  My original thought was that due to being thrown from her horse, Fiststeel’s wounds would keep her from attending training, leading to Leira having to deal with the possibility that she would be in her office. However, when I changed the entire plan I still kept the idea of Fiststeel being thrown from her horse as a reason for her to return and catch Leira in the castle.]

[Scene 4, Surge Count 2 (CRGE rolls are not listed in-order during this scene. Surge reported in the narrative are accurate.)]

Main Thread: Expose Fiststeel

Minor Threads: Bhart’s Career; Conspiracy against the King

[It’s time to roll the “Twist and Turn” for this mission. Back in Chapter 9  I used Never Engine’s Espionage Mission generator to create the details of this mission. I left the “Twist and Turn” portion of the description unrolled until it became pertinent, which is now.

Roll: 56-Revenge]

“Luck of the goblins! Where’s Nowah?” Dededericus curses when he sees Artur, the Guard who hit on Leira the night before at the Cozy Fish, on duty at the door instead of the Guard with whom he already made arrangements.

As Dede expects, Artur stops them before they can enter the castle. The hulking Guardsmen looks the couple up and down. “Now, what business might you two have in the castle?”

“I’m just giving Leria here a tour. Y’know, to show her there’s no hard feeling about her spilling my drink.”

Artur gives him a puzzled look. “She spills your drink and you're the one trying to smooth things over? I”m not buying it. Besides,” he turns to Leira, “you’ve already had your chance to be nice to me last night. Now both of you, just leave. Yer not gettin’ in.” He punctuates the statement with a shooing motion of his hand. [Dede fails a “Very Difficult” MND challenge: 6 vs. 11]

Dede takes a step closer and lowers his voice so Leria can’t hear. “Help me out here, Artur. I don’t get a chance like this that often. What’ll it take? Ten gold?” He reaches into his pouch and pulls out a few coins.

“Ten?” Artur looks insulted. “I wouldn’t accept anything less than twenty-five.” [Per Adventurers! bribery rules, an official will accept a bribe equal to 3d6 per ATK point. In this case, 9 dice that equaled 26]

All Dede has on him is [2d10 w/DARO] 14 gp.

Leira tugs on his arm. “Let me,” she says to him, taking his place in front of Artur.

“Artur,” she starts, flashing a friendly smile. “That’s your name, right? I’m so sorry for last night. I had other things on my mind and I just didn’t take the time to notice that you were trying to be gentlemen and offering to buy me a drink. Tell you what, I’m just humoring Dede here. He seems, well, a bit desperate.” She says this soft enough that only Artur can hear. “I thought there’s no harm in showing him some attention. However, later tonight I’d be happy to take you up on that drink. What ‘cha say?”

Artur’s gaze shifts from the young woman to Dede and back again. “Alright,” he gives in. “You can take her in, but I have to search her first.”

[Leria’s Charisma gives her an advantage in the same “Very Difficult” MND challenge and she wins. 9 vs. 6.

Does Artur still require half the money? (To Conflict) 34 No]

Leira stands still and lets the Guard frisk her for weapons. She bites her tongue and represses the desire to give Artur a swift kick when his hands linger and press in some rather inappropriate areas, knowing the mission is more important than her dignity. She hopes Dede understands this as well and is grateful when he doesn’t protest.

“Okay. You’re clear,” Artur announces when finished. “You own me one, Dedericus. And you,” he whispers in Leira’s ear, “had better be there.”

Across the training grounds, Harper helps some of his fellow Guardsmen with repairs to the barrack’s roof. He notices Leira and Dedericus enter the grounds from the plaza and head to the castle entrance. [Does Harper see her enter the castle?  (To Conflict)  94 + 2 surge = 96  Yes, but . .  .]  He wonders what she is doing here since he thought her plan was to sneak in through the tunnels later that night. Is she doing reconnaissance? Or possibly taking advantage of the Captain’s current patrol outside the city to search now? And why is Dedericus with her?

He desperately wanted to investigate, however, his current task prevents him from doing so [the “but”] and he can only watch from afar as the two gain entry into the castle. Still, he is now on alert and is prepared to act should any trouble arise.

[Scene 5, Surge Count 2]

Main Thread: Expose Fiststeel

Minor Threads: Bhart’s Career; Conspiracy against the King

[At any time Captain Fiststeel may return to the castle and her office. At key points, I will make one or more encounter checks to see if she does. The chance for an encounter will increase as more time goes by.]

Once inside, Dedericus slips Leira a dagger. She slides it in the waist of her pants and conceals it with her shirt. The pair head directly for Captain Fiststeel’s office, only stopping momentarily for Dede to say a few words with fellow Guards or servants so as not to arouse suspicions.  [Encounter Chance 1:10. Roll d10=4]

They make it to Fiststeel’s office and, once the hall is clear, Dede uses his copy of the key to let them in. Leira quickly scans the room to see if there are any weapons she can use in a hurry only to find that there are none. There might be some in the adjoining rooms but she doesn’t take the time to look. [Weapons in office (Likely)? 43 or 32, both no] Dede wastes no time unlocking the cabinet for Leira before stepping back to the slightly open door to keep watch. [Encounter Chance 1:8  Roll d8=3]

Fiststeel's Cabinet

Leira bends down and peers in the cabinet. She sees several books and papers and thinks this might take a while. However, before grabbing the papers another item catches her eye. [Perception MND Check: 16] It’s a metal stamp. She picks it up and examines the impression on its face. She calls Dede over and he confirms that it is a replica of the King’s official seal.

“This means she could send orders or letters in the King’s name,” Leira says.

“Just getting caught with that is grounds for arrest,” Dede explains. “Even if you are the Captain of the Guard.”

“But it’s not enough. I need to find something that directly ties Fiststeel to the assassination.” Leira continues to rummage through the cabinet as Dede returns to his lookout. [Encounter Chance 1:6  Roll d6=2]

[Perception Roll to see if Leira recognizes any other evidence. 5,3+5MND=13. Success!

How many turns does it take for her to find it? d4=4. Each turn will require a 1:6 encounter check.]

The former bar thief pulls papers, journals, and other items from the safe, scanning each for any importance. Most contain legitimate Guard business or unrelated personal correspondence. [Encounter Rolls: 2,6,6,...] About three-quarters of the way through the contents, she pulls out a black, leather-bound journal. Flipping through its pages she begins to read entries tracking the King’s movements and events. Also listed are the names of other people, possibly Guards, and under each informative notes regarding the security of the King, castle, and city locations. More damning are detailed plans for the Sacrament Day assassination and possible future opportunities. The coup de grâce, however, is a contract between Captain Fiststeel and the slaver Orcan Nightstrider signed by both parties. [Final Encounter Roll: 3]

“I found it!” Leria exclaims and hurries over to Dedericus to show him the book.

“Wow! This must contain everything dealing with her work for Orcan,” Dede declares after glancing at just a few pages and the contract. “All these names must be allies within the Guard. And the contract . . . of course she’d have a copy on hand, to keep her partner honest . . . if such a thing is possible. So what do you do now?”

Leira hadn’t really thought much beyond finding the evidence.  She assumed Master Beada wanted her to bring the evidence to her, but that wasn’t made explicitly clear. “I guess I will bring this back to the Order. Unless you have a better idea?” [Does he? (To Endings): 67+4surge=71 Yes   What’s the idea? C.Q. Change/Anger  - Tell someone influential who would be angered by the news and change their trust regarding Fiststeel.]

“I might,” Dede admits. “I know Beada. If you take this to her it might be weeks before she will use it in a way she deems appropriate and most beneficial. I say we take this opportunity and bring it to the King right now.”

“You can just get an audience with the King whenever you want?” Leira asks, surprised.

“No, but I am good friends with his personal Guard, Isambard the Reliable.”

“The ‘Reliable’?”

“A nickname he earned by his extreme loyalty to King Angelo. He won’t let this slide.”

“Then let’s go,” Leira agrees. She quickly puts the paperwork back in the cabinet and locks it, keeping only the stamp and the journal before she and Dede slip out and head toward the King’s chambers. [Encounter Chance leaving office 1:3  Roll: 3]

[It will take them (d6+2) 8 turns to find Isambard. Each turn will require a d3 check to see if Fiststeel returns to her office

Turn 1=3 ;  Turn 2=2 ;  Turn 3=1 Fiststeel returns. Once each turn I will make a CRGE check against Endings to see if she notices the theft.]

[Scene 6, Surge Count 6]

Main Thread: Expose Fiststeel

Minor Threads: Bhart’s Career; Conspiracy against the King

Captain Fiststeel limps into her office, exhausted from the patrol and the ride back to the castle. Tossing her weapons aside, she heads through the archway into her sleeping quarters to lay down and take some of the weight off her injured leg.

[Turn 4: CRGE roll: No and . . . Doesn’t notice theft and rests on her bed for (d4) 1 turn. Will skip the next CRGE roll.

Turn 5: Skipped]

After the brief respite, she can’t keep her mind from her duties. In her head, she keeps thinking about assignments that need to be made and tasks that need finishing. Finally, she decides to get up and head to her desk to work on schedules and orders. 

[Turn 6: CRGE roll: No, and… Doesn’t notice theft and does work that keeps her distracted for (d4) 1 turn.

Turn 7: skipped]

Fiststeel works for a while until she comes across a particular matter raised by several shop owners. Wanting to refresh her memory about the specifics, she opens her storage cabinet to retrieve several correspondences she has received concerning the matter. Immediately, she notices the missing stamp and the disarranged papers. Concerned, she sifts through to confirm her greatest fear: the journal is missing!” [Turn 8: CRGE roll: Yes]

“Hellhounds!”

[Scene 7, Surge Count 2]

Main Thread: Expose Fiststeel

Minor Threads: Bhart’s Career; Conspiracy against the King

About the time Captain Fiststeel is discovering the missing journal, Dedericus and Leira find Isambard. Taking the lead, Dede introduces Leira as one of the “Saviors of the Sacrament,” (she cringes at the title), explains their suspicions about Fiststeel, and shows him what they discovered, trying to be vague about how they came about having these items in their possession. Leira chimes in with her own observation when appropriate. Since Isam trusts Dede he doesn’t ask too many questions but accepts the story at face value. He at least believes enough to bring it to the King’s attention and wastes no time leading the others to the Monarch’s office.

[A successful MND roll allows Leira to help Dede and add +1 to his Persuasion challenge. Factoring in that and Dede’s and Isam’s friendship, Dede wins the “easy” persuasion (MND) challenge 11 to 6 and convinces Isam to take action. This conversation and the trip to reach the King takes (d6) 3 turns.]

[Scene 8, Surge Count 2]

Main Thread: Expose Fiststeel

Minor Threads: Bhart’s Career; Conspiracy against the King

Captain Fiststeel grabs straps on her sword and starts to leave her office, her plan being to round up her allies, find whoever invaded her office, and either arrest them or, better yet, silence them by death. However, just before she leaves she rethinks her plan. How long before she returned had her journal been taken? Just the time she’d been back was long enough for someone to pass the information onto other officials. It’s even possible that Guards loyal to the King are already.coming to question or arrest her. She had to escape while she still had time!.

[What will Fiststeel do? (d100) 1-67: Hunt the thief or 68-100: Flee  Roll: 76 Apparently the dice don’t really want an encounter to happen.]

Her preference is to flee using the Huntsmen tunnels as they would hide her exit from the castle and offer her a place to hide, if necessary. Unfortunately, she would have to travel almost the entire length of the castle to reach the secret entrance, increasing the opportunity that she might encounter anyone looking for her. She couldn’t chance it.. She had to get out as fast as possible. That meant leaving by the shortest route possible: through the training grounds. [Does not use the tunnels per a CRGE roll. It will take her 1 turn to exit the castle.]

[Scene 9, Surge Count 0]

Main Thread: Expose Fiststeel

Minor Threads: Bhart’s Career; Conspiracy against the King

Dede, Isam, and Leira reach King Angelo and explain their discovery, showing him the journal and contract. The King recognizes the treason immediately for what it is and orders Captain Fiststeel arrested. He names Isambard interim Captain and personally accompanies the group to Fiststeel’s office to arrest her. Along the way, Isam recruits four other Guardsmen to join them and tells several others to search the rest of the castle.

They arrive at the office and find the quarters empty. [Fiststeel left 2 turns prior. Both Leira and Dede make successful perception checks.] Leira spots the open cabinet and sees papers on the desk that were not there before. 

“I think Fiststeel’s been back and discovered the theft,” she whispers to Dede.

“I was thinking the same thing,” he confirms. “This is not how we left the office.”

“Where would she have gone?”

“We didn’t pass her on the way here, so I would guess the training ground exit.”

“Quick! We have to go!” Leira grabs his arm and pulls him out of the room after her as they race to stop the escaping traitor.

[Scene 10, Surge Count 0]

Main Thread: Expose Fiststeel

Minor Threads: Bhart’s Career; Conspiracy against the King

Fistseel exits the castle and heads directly for the gate leading out to the plaza. She quickly discards any thought of getting a mount as saddling it up would take too long. [CRGE Roll: 34 No horse.] She waves off anyone who approaches and tries to ignore the pain from her injured leg. Her only goal is to get away, find a safe house, change out of her armor, and hide among the citizens of Duskcall until she could think of a plan.

The King's Guard Training Grounds

By the barracks, Harper sees the Captain leave and head for the gate. Earlier he saw her return to the castle and was concerned that he would find Leira inside. Now, her haste leads him to believe that she knows her secret has been discovered. What he can’t know is if she ran into Leira. All he could do now is keep her from getting away. [Does Harper try to impede F’s progress? 88+2 surge. Yes, and . . ]

“Captain Fiststeel!” he calls out, running to catch up with her. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”

“Not now, Wyghtwing. I don’t have the time.”

Harper trots past her and physically blocks her progress. “It’s important. It involves the King’s safety.”

“What are you doing?” Fiststeel screams. “Get out of my way before I remove you from the Guard!”

“Captain, there’s talk that you may have been involved in the assassination attempt of the King.” Harper decides to go for broke and simply confront his superior. [the “And” from the CRGE roll] “I know it’s crazy but the accusations are rather strong.”

“You’re treading on dangerous ground, Wyghtwing . . .”

She is interrupted by the castle door being thrown open and Leira and Dede running into the yard, shouting for her to halt. Fiststeel glances back at the commotion before drawing her weapon and taking a slash at Harper. Even though he was prepared to get physical if necessary, Harper is unable to draw his weapon fast enough and takes several blows. [Harper makes a successful surprise check, but is hit by both of F’s attacks (Flurry of Blows) for 3 damage]

He is finally able to pull out his sword and deflect some of the attacks. However, the traitorous Captain is the better fighter and gets under his blade to inflict another stab. Harper clutches at the wound and falls to the dirt. [Receives another 1 DMG. This latest hit fells Harper, fulfilling the vision Leira experienced from the ring back in Chapter 6.]

Leira, who has been running with Dede across the yard to reach Fiststeel, sees Harper fall to the ground. Terror grips her heart as she recalls the man on the ground in her vision the night she put on the silver bat ring. Did she just see her friend, the man she was quite possibly falling in love with, die? 

“No!” She screams, lunging at Fiststeel with her dagger.

Fiststeel turns and raises her hand just in time to catch her attacker’s wrist.  [Even with +2 due to “Wild Attack”, Leria loses 11-13] The two struggle as Dedericus is helpless to attack for fear of hitting Leira. [Missed both “Flurry of Blows” rolls.]

[Morale check for Fiststeel (based on OSRIC), Target <70. After modifiers, she rolls 44 and keeps fighting. She targets 1-4 Dede, 5-6 Leira. Roll: 4  I skewed the roll toward Dede believing F would consider a trained King’s Guard more of a threat than a common woman.]

Guard and thief continue the dangerous dance while Fiststeel quickly assesses the situation. How much damage could this young girl be with a dagger? The bigger threat was clearly Dedericus. Making up her mind, she shoves Leira back and faces Dede who wastes no time moving in to attack. With a quick swing of her blade, Fiststeel turns away the tip of his sword and side steps another blow. [Dede misses twice.] This last move positions her behind her opponent and she raises her sword for a deadly blow. Before it drops, however, Leira plunges her dagger deep into Fiststeel’s sword arm. She cries out in pain, nearly dropping her weapon. [A combination of a critical fail by Fiststeel on her attack and a successful hit by Leira 8-5. F losses next attack.] Fiststeel spit curses while trying to regain her grip. Leira makes another stab [1 DMG] and Dede drives the point of his weapon into the wounded woman’s side. [3 DMG]

Several feet away, Harper slowly gets to his feet and shakes his head to clear the fuzziness from his sight. He sees his former Captain stumble back, blood running down her sword arm and dripping from the wound in her side. Despite this, however, she does her best to straighten up and prepare for another attack. She doesn’t Harper who comes up behind her and strikes the back of her head with the pommel of his sword.  Fiststeel falls unconscious into a crumpled heap at his feet.

[I allowed 1 turn for Harper to recover. Since F was distracted by Dede and L, F had a -2 DEF. 

H: 3,4+3 ATK=10   F: 2,4+4DEF-2=8   Total of 2 DMG. 1 for the hit and for every 2 points roll difference. This drops her to 0 END, which is only unconscious per my Death Table. Also, I forgot to factor in -1 ATK for Fiststeel due to her injured leg. However, after quickly calculating the rolls I determined that other than some altered END points the outcome wouldn’t have changed.]

Leira looks up from the fallen Fiststeel to the still hazy eyes of her boyfriend. He was alive! Harper was alive! She had done it. She exposed the Captain’s treachery, possibly saving the King’s life again. She completed her mission and would be accepted as a member of the Order. Everyone she knew was safe. Things couldn’t be better! Emotion floods through her, wanting to burst out. Leira tries to hold it in so as not to make a scene in front of all the Guards who have gathered around. However, she soon realizes it is a losing battle and gives in to her feelings.

Dropping to her knees, Leira covers her face and the air fills with the sound of her Cabernet sobs.

(Read the next chapter here.)