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::Dusk is just starting to fall over the city. Summer stands in the main room of the Meade Hall and clasps her cloak under her chin. She's wearing a dark grey dress and her cloak is of the same color. Her hair is braided back and tucked under her cloak. She's also wearing black leather gloves and black boots. She lifts the hood of her cloak; her face slipping into the shadows, and quietly leaves the hall out the front door. The streets are quiet, as most everyone has already gone home for the night. Summer scans the streets for signs of patrols as she slips into the shadow of the building:: ::the city is setting into tentative quiet as night falls on the city, the temperatures cool, and a slight breeze drifts in off the Dragonsmere. In the distance the heavy tromp of orcish boots grows steadily louder, wordlessly announcing the approach of a patrol:: * Summer listens for just a moment and then heads in the opposite direction as the patrol. She stays close to the buildings as she passes them, her footfalls soundless. She's traveled the route many times in the past few days and her eyes are alert as she goes. ::the first segment of Summer's journey is smooth. Leaving the Hall, she spends a few moments along open roads, but soon ducks into streets with buildings close on either side. The footsteps of the patrol still sound out behind her:: * Summer crouches low and stops to listen for a moment. Then she starts ahead again, keeping her eyes ahead of her and one ear to the sound of the patrol behind her. ::as Summer stops, the patrol grows closer. Soon, they will approach the intersection Summer made her first turn at:: * Summer keeps moving forward. She comes to an intersection at which, instead of going straight through she goes out of her way to go around. Staying to the building shadows the detour takes her many minutes more, but offers her much more protection than the open intersection. ::the massed footprints arrive at the intersection and stop, and quiet, unintelligible fragments of the conversation drift to summer. After a short pause, they continue down the road, away from Summer.:: <Summer> ::Summer pauses again and listens and then continues on. Now back on her main route she continues on towards the Academy:: ::as Summer approaches the section of the city where the coastline juts in toward the city proper, opposite the north gate, she can see the orcs have standing watches here, several of which have large doglike creatures on chain-leashes, held by some of the larger and stronger orcs:: <Summer> ::Summer stops at the corner of the building and peers across at the watch. She kneels down, her back to the wall, and looks out for a good opening to get past the guards:: ::the watch and their dogs are mostly sedentary, standing at the crux of the intersection Summer can see. As she watches, she hears a patrol coming from across the intersection. It is still a couple blocks away or so.:: <Summer> ::She watches a moment longer and then turns to double back a bit. She moves closer to the water in hopes to be able to go around the standing guards:: ::the water laps quietly at the dock pilings. A lone guard and his canine companion stand at the intersection by the waterfront road. He takes turns looking up one side of the road and then the next:: * Summer crouches low behind some stacked up boxes and watches the guard, waiting to see if he will move from his spot. ::the guard seems to have no intention of wandering from his post. His dog goes to lie down and he rouses it to its feet with a kick, which earns him a snarl from the beast:: * Summer bites her bottom lip and glances around a bit. After a moment she moves back around the back of the building and to the other side. She kneels and gathers a few stones from the ground. She aims at a water bucket sitting half on and half off a box and throws the largest stone at it, hoping to knock it off. ::the rock thunks hollowly off the box the bucket is on, and clatters to the ground. The bucket sways back and forth once, and then falls to the ground with a muffled rattle. It stops on its side, and rocks to and fro for a bit before lying still again. In the distance, Summer can hear the jingling of chains:: <Summer> ::Summer is quickly around the back of the building. As she moves she mutters quietly to herself, her form shimmering just a bit. She does not disappear altogether, but does seem to be more difficult to pick out, ghostlike. She stops back at her original spot and looks out to see where the guard is:: ::the intersection is, at the moment, empty:: <Summer> ::Sticking close to the edge of the dock Summer quickly makes her way across the intersection. Her eyes move quickly from ahead of her to the side where the Orc guard went:: ::the orc is standing in the street, by the alleyway. The dog appears to be deeper in the alley, out of sight, straining against the chain. As she looks she hears it utter one echoing bark:: * Summer continues on quickly until she is back between buildings again. She doesn't stop moving until she is another block up from the dock. Then she pauses at the corner of another building and gets her bearings. ::behind her, Summer can hear the dog repeatedly barking, but it does not seem to be pursuing:: * Summer glances over her shoulder and then around. After a moment she moves forward and a few moments later she is back on her original path to the Academy. ::Summer keeps to her path, deviating from it to avoid patrols, and soon she is within sight of the Mage Academy -- a tall, blocky tower with a few thin windows. A quartet of guards stand outside the closed front entryway.:: * Summer studies the Academy for a few minutes. Then she slowly begins to pick her way through the streets and around the building. ::Summer winds her way through some twisty alleyways, and is soon facing the rear of the Mage Academy. There are no guards here, but no door, either. There are two tall, slim windows, however, for each floor of the building, four sets in all:: * Summer studies the window for a long moment. She glances around and waits to see if there are any guards that are going to appear. Then she moves quickly to the building, her back against it. Tentatively she stands and peers in through the bottom corner of the window. ::the inside is unlit, and things are indistinct. Close by the window, Summer can make out erratic stacks of boxes, but little else. The window has a closed window at the top that swings in, but otherwise is fixed in the fame:: * Summer glances around for a moment more and then places one foot up on the edge of the window frame. Grasping the side edge she pulls herself up flat against the window. Carefully she tests the top of the window to see if she can open it. ::the window hasp has not been locked securely, and after a few nudges it jerks open:: * Summer is careful to hold it tightly so it doesn't make to much noise as it opens. She looks carefully around the inside of the building once more before pulling herself through the window, her feet balancing carefully on the inside ledge. Quietly she closes the window from the inside and drops to the floor, crouching behind the boxes there. ::inside is mostly haphazard piles of boxes and chests, some of it covered by drop cloths. In addition to the two windows on the back wall, there is a third on the east wall. Across the room from her is the hallway leading to the door out A staircase runs up to the second floor perpendicular to that hallway. All is fairly quiet, with the sound of footsteps on creaking floors echoing from a few stories above:: * Summer peers around for a moment and then moves to the stairs. She glances up them. ::Summer looks around a corner and up the stairs in time to see an orc walking away from the top of the stairs, down the southward-heading hall that the stairs lead to. There are a few scorch marks and dark smears on the walls.:: * Summer sits quietly at the bottom of the stairs a moment and then slowly makes her way up, staying close to the wall. She carefully looks into the hallway once she reaches the top of the stairs. ::the hallway runs the length of the side of the building, the orc is about three-quarters of the way down it, his spear resting over his shoulder. Gouge marks on the walls show he hasn't been very careful turning around on the landing with it. There are two openings in the hallway, one close by the top of the stairs, the other at the other end of the hallway, by the orcish guard:: * Summer sits back against the wall and watches the guard. ::the guard reaches the end of the hallway, looks down the opening at that end, and then turns to return back down the hall to the stairway:: * Summer flattens back against the wall watching the orc intently. She begins whispering the words of the sleep spell, half ready to bolt if it does not work and the orc is alerted. ::the orc completes his turn, starts down the hall, and sees Summer. He brings his spear back to throw and is about to utter a shout when the spell slips over him, and he falls bonelessly to the floor, his spear clattering alongside him:: * Summer stays still for a moment and then moves carefully into the hallway. She quietly moves across the hall and peers through the doorway there. ::the doorway opens into a great hall that was once probably used for the students to take meals in, but from the dirty, smelly piles of cloth on the floor, it now seems to be used as a barracks. Oddly enough, given the late hour, the room is currently empty:: * Summer searches the room with her eyes for a moment before quietly moving into it and picking her way around the outside wall. ::most of the common room is filled with messy cloth piles, and a few windows, but a window opening in the northwest side of the room has a small hallway leading off of it. Occasionally, a creaking footstep can be heard on the floor above Summer:: * Summer gets to the window and peers through it before testing it to see if it's easily opened. ::the hallway leading off the window opening goes to a spiral staircase, leading up to the next floor. The window does open, and Summer looks out at the quiet city of Marsember:: * Summer looks up the stairwell for a moment and then out over the city. She listens carefully for anyone that might be near the top of the stairs. ::the spiral staircase continues up for two floors, with landings at each. No shadows move across the wall on the story above summer, and she doesn't see anyone by the railing:: * Summer slowly begins up the stairs to the first landing. She stops and kneels low, glancing onto the landing and around. ::the landing leads to a hallway that runs the length of the north face of the mage academy. Three evenly spaced windows on the left-hand side of the hall look out over the front courtyard of the academy, and there are two doorways halfway down the hall on the right-hand side. Some quiet grumbling and shuffling sounds can be heard from the doorways, along with the occasional footstep:: * Summer slowly and quietly makes her way down the hall, stopping half way to the doors and listening again. ::the sounds are a little louder, but still indistinct. They seem to be coming from the second doorway. As Summer moves down the hall, the floor under her feet shudders and creaks, and the noises in the room fall silent:: * Summer sits frozen for half a second before moving back to the stairwell as quickly and quietly as possible. She crouches down in the shadow of the stairwell. ::as Summer takes her foot off the floor, it creaks again. As she gets back to the stairwell, she can hear the sound of leather squeaking, and then shuffling footsteps approaching the doorway:: <Summer> ::She pulls herself more closely into the corner of the stairs and watches the door intently:: ::the wizened head of an old orc, tufts of wiry hair sprouting from his pointed ears, pokes out of the room and looks down the hallway:: * Summer sits perfectly still, holding her breath as she watches the orc. ::the orc squints down the hallway for a long moment, and then returns back to the room he came from.:: * Summer let's out her breath slowly and relaxes just slightly. She glances up the stairwell and then slowly makes her way up. ::Summer ascends the stairs quietly, a draft stirring her cloak slightly but not making any noise. The spiral stair leads to a final landing and a hallway that looks much like the one she just left, only it has two windows on the left-hand side, and the two doorways on the right are farther apart. Strange lights and quiet noises come from beyond the doorways:: * Summer pauses and then once again tries to quietly make her way towards the doors. She is careful with each step to test the floor for any noise before putting her full weight onto the spot. ::Summer's approach to the door is slow, but quiet. The lights from inside the room stay mostly the same colors, but shift and move around.:: * Summer pauses a few feet from the door and listens ::the grumbling is rhythmic and foreign, passing from one quiet voice to the next. After a few repetitions, Summer guesses there are three or four people in the room, repeating the same series of phrases over and over, quietly:: * Summer listens for a moment longer and then slowly makes her way back to the stairs. ::as Summer turns away she hears faintly, but most certainly, Kevil's voice behind her, from the room:: "--xtra food will be gone, soon, but it is welcome while it la--" His voice fades in at the beginning of the fragment and out and the end, until just the quiet grumbling remains.:: * Summer pauses and turns back, listening again ::the grumbling continues for a while longer, and then a voice Summer hasn't heard before speaks up, fading in and out as Kevil's did:: "...iya wishes that Kyar wa..." * Summer takes a few careful steps closer to the door, listening harder. ::the lights continue to move around, casting shadows on the wall, but no more voices speak aside from the quiet grumbling chants:: * Summer listens only a moment longer and then heads back to the stairs again. ::the muttering and grumbling becomes quieter as Summer recedes from the doorway:: * Summer continues on to the stairwell and down to the floor below ::as Summer sets foot on the third floor stairs, a loud ringing starts that echoes through the whole tower:: * Summer freezes for a moment and then quickly but carefully descends the stairs ::footsteps come running both from the fourth and third floors:: * Summer crouches at the landing to the third floor, pressing back into the shadows there. ::the old orc comes running straight at Summer, and has added a wand to his outfit. He points it toward the stairwell and shouts a harsh word. Thick, sticky cords begin to build up around Summer in the stairwell:: * Summer pulls with all her might and tumbles away from the cords, some still attached to her. She bolts for the stairwell and down it. ::Summer's cloak is caught tightly by some of the strands, and she has to pull herself free of it to continue. Above her, loud shouts and yells bellow down at her. As Summer gets to the second floor, she can see the quartet of orc guards across the great hall, one is checking on the still-asleep orc, and the others are looking at the staircase she just descended. They point and shout:: * Summer pauses on the stairs and casts the sleep spell again. ::one of the guards manages to hurl his spear at Summer before he falls unconscious with the rest of his companions in a grizzled heap:: * Summer ducks out of the way of the spear and is quickly down the rest of the stairs. She doesn't stop on the landing and rushes down the next set of stairs. ::Summer bursts into the great hall, and has started across the room when the orc who was examining his slumbering companion comes 'round the archway and into view. He points the spear at Summer and shouts, "'alt!" It cannot be seen what the orcs on the above floors are doing in the webbed-up stairway, but they're making quite a bit of noise doing it.:: * Summer slides to a stop and turns. Trembling hard she casts the sleep spell once more. ::as the lone orc falls unconscious, there is a loud crashing noise behind Summer, as three orcs are jumped (or pushed...) from the top landing. The one on the bottom of the pile does not move, but the other two start to get up on shaky legs:: * Summer dashes across the room to the stairs down and runs quickly down them. ::the front door is open and unguarded, to Summer's right. To the left is the rest of the ground floor, and across the room, the window she crawled in through:: * Summer looks to the window and then to the door. She runs to the door, stops, and peers out hesitantly. ::the courtyard appears to be empty. From the top of the building, a horn sounds:: * Summer dashes out and across to the shadows of the buildings across from the school. ::Summer can hear more horns blowing across the city, and in the distance she can hear the sound of troops approaching:: * Summer doesn't stop as she retraces her path back through the streets. ::Summer has to detour several times to avoid rushing patrols. She gets back to the line of orcs with dogs, and things are boilingly active. Orcs rush to and fro, and there are many weapons out:: * Summer makes her way back to the waters edge, hoping to find a little less activity there. ::the same guard and 'dog' are at the intersection. As Summer approaches, the dog's nostrils flare and it turns towards the side of the street she's on and starts barking loudly:: * Summer pauses and flattens against the wall of the building. Her eyes dart around the area and she locates a pile of boxes under a tarp opposite the intersection from her, and a bit up from where she is. She mumbles softly and looks at the boxes intently. After another second they start to smoke and glow red. ::the boxes sputter and catch on fire. The orc holding the dog doesn't notice right away, as he's looking to see what his pet is barking at, but his attention is soon raised as another orc sees it. He slips the last link of the chain on a hook in the road to keep the dog from running off, and then runs to collect water in his helmet to throw on the fire while the other orc runs over to kick the boxes away from the building they are stacked against, which is also starting to catch on fire. * Summer watches as the orc runs towards the fire with the water and runs across the intersection as soon as his back is to her and he is past where she is. She again stays close to the edge of the dock ::the dog goes El Berserko as Summer runs by, and keeps trying to leap for her throat, only foiled by an insufficient length of chain. Once she is across the intersection, it tries one last leap, and then stands at the farthest reach of the chain, barking as loud as it can at Summer's back:: * Summer keeps running, probably faster than she has the whole night. She stays close to the edges of the buildings and makes quickly for the Hall. ::Summer makes it the rest of the way back to the Hall unseen, though not without several close calls:: * Summer is quickly into the Hall, leaning back against the door as she closes it behind her. She's trembling hard and is quite out of breath. ::outside, the sound of patrols running back and forth can be heard on a regular, frequent basis:: * Summer slowly moves away from the door and up to her room. She closes and locks the door behind her and then crawls into bed, not bothering to change her clothes. She is still trembling hard as she pulls the blanket on her bed up over her. For a long time she lays there, thinking over in her mind the things she saw and heard. She falls into a restless sleep, her last thoughts of the women and children being held. Hoping they do not have to suffer because of her actions that night. |
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