[John, Jinx, and Tairan all desperately need to get laid, but that's neither here nor there. They're in a fairly small, quaint town a bit aways from Hoshimoto City. It's a dark and creepy night - well, not really that creepy, but it *is* dark - and the Mary Anne rescue crew hasn't returned yet.] [They walked out onto the street a little while ago. Maybe to look at the purty stars? Unlikely, since they're all suspcious characters in a suspicious world.] [Session Start.] (We're not suspicious. Really. <.< >.>) * Jinx yawns. "Well, if we aren't going until tomorrow, we may as well get some rest. And it'd probably help if you could make us a map of the way we're getting in Tairan." * Tairan nods. "Was just thinking that. I ain't an artist, but I can sketch out the general layout from memory, I think. * John nods and keeps his hat nice and low. "Great. Any supplies we'll need besides what we've got?" Dunno, the main plan is going for the quite entrance and escape. What's the back up plan? Quiet entrance, loud escape, run like hell. * John eyes Tairan and nods. "Okay. Maybe we should move once you get that map done. Moving in under the cover of night would be favorable to durring the day." I thought we were waiting until tomorrow night to move? I don't see how they could've screwed things up already. * Jinx grins. "Really easily. Most likely things are either screwed up by now or will be fine the whole way through." * John shakes his head. "When things go wrong, they usually go wrong at the beginning." * Jinx nods. ... point. But we won't know until tomorrow, really. Them not being here now means nothing, just maybe that they had to stay the night to keep up the image of being diplomats or somethin'. * Jinx shrugs. "True enough. They'd likely try to get out as quickly as possible, but that may be the next morning." I'll leave the decision with you two. I'm fine either way. Yeah. Maybe I'm just uncomfortable right now... I don't like waiting. Dunno... I'd just feel really stupid breaking in, only to find them sitting down to dinner or something. Not to mention that would blow their cover, and probably land us in jail. And me really, really dead. * Jinx shakes his head. "You're confusing your thinking here. If they are being wined and dined, the odds of us being captured and killed are no worse. Better even as the jail would have less guards." However, if they are mearly being wined and dined, as you have said, our presence would be completly unneeded, and we would be making a risk with no reward. * Jinx nods. "Correct, but the level of risk is not higher." * John nods. s'why I wanna wait until tomorrow night. If they're not here by tomorrow night, we'll know for sure that something's happened, and we'll know for sure where to look for them. * Tairan shrugs. "Not tryin' to chicken out or anythin'... but I'd rather not go charging in to Hoshimoto City if I'm not absolutely sure I need to." You are most aware of what they're capable of. * Jinx nods. "The risks of waiting a night is that they'll make an escape attempt that fails or be executed in the morning. Considering they weren't counting on a rescue, I think they'll try to escape at the first possible opportunity." So the question is, if they are captured will they be quickly executed or if they try to escape and fail will they be killed? If they're captured, no, they won't be executed. Even if the old man suspects they're not diplomats, he's not gonna just chop off their heads unless he's absolutely SURE of it. Last thing he needs right now is more enemies. * Jinx nods. "That's reassuring." But I'm guessing they would be the kind to try an escape if they were caught. If they try to escape and fail... well, then they're probably in trouble. You know Millie and Mikoto. They're not gonna sit by. Well, Mikoto might. But Millie won't. * Tairan hrms. "Well... what we could do is head outta town, get a bit closer to the city. Specifically, near the west gate by the jail. Stay in the trees, hold our ground, don't do anything unless we see or hear some kinda breakout-type commotion. In which case, we provide backup." * Jinx nods. "Good call. Let's do it." * John nods in agreement. "Let's get to it." * Jinx gets moving. "If there's already a commotion, is the gate still our best entrance, or should we blow a hole in the wall?" * John packs up and gets ready to move. "Quickest path to a point is a straight line." Gate. Commotion might not bring the whole city down on our heads, but an explosion would. [John packs up things he already has while standing outside. People would look at him funny, but nobody else is around.] * Jinx keeps walking, not waiting for the man who will shortly be on horseback. "Where's the stables?" [That way.] (Meant the stables in the castle. Where Jinx's horse is.) (Well, it *is* that way...) (Then thanks. ^_^) (Too bad Jinx can't break the fourth wall! You didn't buy the power.) (*laughs*) * John mounts up and keeps pace with Jinx and Tairan. [You ride... walk... whatever into the not-sunset!] In the castle, you mean? Yeah, I would like Lightning back, but more important I'd rather ride the hell away then run the hell away. Stables are... southeastern corner of the city. Nowhere near the jail, really. * Jinx sighs. "Damn, well, in the end that might be good luck for Lightning." He then concentrates on walking and doesn't seem to have anything else to say. * John doesn't have anything to say, and so instead rides. Man, we're boring today. (Yes. I demand explosions.) (So do I!) (And I have two sticks of dynamite that demand it too.) (*Jinx stays the hell awway from John) ... how long a fuse can you set on the dynamite, anyway? * John thinks for a moment to himself. Five minutes if I have some time to plan it... If I don't got the time, though, I'm not gonna be able to put much more than fifty or so seconds on it reliably. Thinkin' of makin' a boom while we run? ... five minutes might be enough. I was thinking about how we could get in, meet up with the others, get to the horses, and get out without walking into several hundred heavily armed fighters... * Jinx looks up at Tairan. "I like the sound of that." Kinda. Set off the explosion in the western area like five minutes after we leave. Might fool them into thinking there's an attack on the west gate, which would bring almost every troop in the city running. Which would give us mostly clear passage through the rest of the city. * Jinx nods. "Works for me." The stables are right by the south gate, but that's the main gate, and I doubt we could just walk out that even with a distraction. It's not far from the east gate, though, which is used less. And would probably be less on alert with the attack coming from the west. * John nods. "I'd need some time to set the fuse... And when I set it we'd better start running fast." * Jinx frowns. "I take it was still can't afford to use guns at the east gate. Noise wise." If the distraction goes off as planned, a little noise will be the least of our concerns. It'd be better not to have to use 'em... but it shouldn't be a huge deal." * Jinx nods. I'd say that's a safe assumption. Like I said, after the explosion, virtually all the troops would head for the west gate, with others near the north and south to prevent a flanking maneuver. But if the enemy's at the west, it'd be rather hard for them to *also* have been sneaking up from the east. (Welcome back. And we are still waiting, assumingly at the West gate, for comotions to start. Ard, can I time a fuse for 5 minutes here then use it later?) * Jinx waits with a tomahawk in his hand for the moment and looks fairly relaxed. (Nope. Timing it for five minutes is more than rope. You'd probably be leaving a powder trail while you're at it.) (Okay, can I time it for 1 minute so I don't have to worry about that part then?) [What's that in the distance? Why, it looks like Hoshimoto City!] (Yeah. Gimme a demolitions roll.) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for John (2d6-2) and gets 8. s'the thing about this place... everyone learns strategy from the same teachers, the same examples... I know how they think, how they'll react to a situation, because it's how *I'd* react to a situation. [John times the dynamite. Namely by putting as much rope as he believes is safe on it. It's probably right... he thinks.] * John scratches his head. "Hmmm... Let's hope this works. I'm gonna need more time once we get there to plant some powder to continue the fuse." Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that. The ideal ending to tonight is for us to end up standing here like idiots until sunrise, when we realize that nothing's gone wrong. That would be ideal. Knowin' our luck, that ain't happenin'. But we can hope. [You near the city gates. There's two guards, one on each side, lit by torches. They look extremely bored. Or maybe tired.] [Oh yes, and the gates are closed. Closed, I tell you!] ( Is there a way to open the gates from the outside? ) * Jinx tries to keep safely out of sight as he switches to his shotgun. "Maybe set the dynamite over there." He points to the wall a bit of a distance from the gate. "Close enough to the gate, but a nice safe distance from the guards." (Likely. They're heavy, but not horribly so.) * Jinx looks at the walls for a moment, trying to judge how hard they'd be to scale. (Keep in mind that you're not even in the city yet. City gates before castle gates.) * Tairan shakes his head. "I was thinking more of setting the dynamite once we got inside..." Yeah. That'd stir up more of a commotion. * Jinx switches to his tomahawk again. "Got some rope? Probably easier to sneak over the wall than to take out the guards. Particularly if we're trying not to kill them. [The guards are talking to each other about something or another. Probably trying to stay awake.] * Jinx continues to eye the walls, looking for a climbable spot. ( It's too late! The guards see you and call forth an arbalest! You're dead! :P ) * John pulls out some rope. It was deep in the pack. <.< (Woot, arbalest!) ( Gimme a break. I'm trying to figure out how many sets of gates there are. =P ) [John has rope! Cue victory fanfare!] (Curses. That takes out all my crosbowmen!) Don't suppose you could lasso the wall? Never picked up that trick myself. * Jinx moves over to a promising look bit of wall, a bit out of easy eye and ear shot from the guards. ... one problem. If we go over the wall by rope, we have to leave the horses behind. And we need the horses. * Jinx shakes his head. "Easier to open the doors from the inside, once we've made a commotion." * Jinx points to some point on the wall. "We could lasso there, or maybe tie a pole and throw it up and hopefully it'd catch. Grappling hook would be better, but." He then shrugs. Once we set off the explosion, everyone with a sharp piece of metal in the city is gonna be racing over here. We won't have time to open the gates and get our horses. Never bothered either. Can try though... I could *blow* a hole thru the wall, if ya needed. (As lasoing is a completly seperate attack skill, isn't it? <.<) [Before you ask, the wall's about ten feet tall, and stone. Yes, stone city walls are rare in Shomura, but Tairan's clan is freaking psychotic.] * Jinx looks confused. "Correct me if I'm wrong, plan is to set off the dynamite by a *castle* wall. Which requires us to get past the *city* walls first." I'm not sayin' I would. Just that I could. No, no. Plan is to set off the dynamite somewhere near the city walls. If they're gonna believe there's an attack, how would an attacking force have gotten all the way to the castle walls? * Jinx looks more confused, "Well, then as I said originally, let's set the dynamite over here. Then get to the stables." * John looks up on the walls. "Either way, we gotta get inside. And we need an open gate." The point is to get them to think some sort of attacking force from one of the loyal Ki clans is attacking from the west, so all the fighters in the city come running to the west gate. The gate in front of us is the city gate. We need to get through a whole other set of gates to get to the castle compound, where the stables and jail are. Alright, so we rush the guards and knock them out or get them to surrender. Then we set the dynamite, then we sneak in the castle. Is that the plan? * Jinx is starting to look as if he's considering the merits of being shot in the head again as an alternative plan. * John nods. "We'd need to take care of these guards quickly and quietly, though. We can't afford word gettin' out that we're here until we've already left the scene." Yes. Rush the guards, get into the city. Set the dynamite somwhere unibhabited near the west gate with a longish fuse. RUN for the west castle gate. When the big boom goes, hide, wait for everyone to go running, sneak in through the castle gate, get the others, make for the stable, and RUN for the east gates." * John nods in agreement. * Jinx shrugs and nods. * Jinx then listens and watches for any signs of commotion within the city. (Are you guys hiding or anything?) (Yes!) ( YES! ) * John does so as well. And I would hope so! (Because it was never mentioned... o/~) (Which means yesh.) ( It was part of the plan. ) ( * Jinx tries to keep safely out of sight as he switches to his shotgun. ^_^) [Guards keep talking. One seems about to doze off. It's a quiet, peaceful, cool night. Awww.] Can ya sneak around their backs so they don't see ya commin'? 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Tairan (2d6) and gets 9. * Tairan peers at the two guards. "Awake one looks kinda familiar... can't place him, though. And our best bet would be to try to sneak up on the awake one, silence him with a gun to the head, then do the same to the other before we tie them up or something. * John nods and dismounts. Because it's really hard to be sneaky while on a horse. Hidden, that's not too hard, but sneaking is difficult. (would sneaking to the wall, then edging along the wall towards the gate work? Really depends on how the city walls are set up.) (Yeah, it'd take a while before they were to notice you, assuming they look in your direction.) Alright, here's the plan, we sneak up to the wall out of sight and work our way over. With just a bit of luck of the draw ::he knocks his fist against his leg:: the guard who isn't asleep will be looking in the wrong direction. * John eyes the dozing guard. That guard sleeping yet? Works for me. 'course, we still have no idea if a rescue is needed yet... 's true. * Jinx nods and keeps watching and listening. [He's awake... he's awake... he failed his boredom roll. Zzzzzz.] * John nods. "He's sleepin' now. We can move whenever we need ta." ... so, what now? Do we wait for some kinda commotion, which I now realize we probably won't even be able to notice from here? Or just assume things have gone to hell inna handbasket? I'm thinkin' we should at least get inside the city in case. If we need ta, we could get out easily enough. True. * Jinx frowns. "How about we just go in, if nothings going on we could always just steal our horses. People in the east do steal horses right, that's not just a western thing...." * Jinx draws a pistol in addition to his tomahawk and looks ready to go. We can't just walk in, Jinx. This is a heavily fortified military compound filled with people who, at best, distrust Westerners. And I'd be recognized. * John smirks. "And if all *does* go well and they find their horses stolen, wouldn't that hurt um, what's his name... Hoshimoto's reputation?" Yes, we stick with the plan, but if there's no one to rescue after we set off the dynamite we just pretend we're here for something else, namely horse stealing. Woulda kinda embarass him, yeah. Good, let's do it. ... Ya know, we could just take their armor and try ta look like them, couldn't we? * Tairan shrugs. "Sounds like a plan. You guys ready to try something massively stupid?" (I should have you start, then end the session, just to be mean.) * Jinx doesn't bother to answer and just starts to sneak up to the while staying out of sight of the guard. * John shrugs and stays out of sight. * Tairan nods, tying the horses to trees to keep and following Jinx to the sneaking starting point. * John makes sure Hazel won't run off and follows Jinx and Tairan. Stupid guys do stupid things... (We need rolls?) (Maaaaybe.) (Give me Stealth (Silent Movement.) This is an opposed roll.) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for John (2d6) and gets 9. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jinx (2d6) and gets 9. (dr1) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jinx (2d6) and gets 11. (dr2) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jinx (2d6) and gets 6. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Tairan (2d6-2) and gets 2. ( Should have had Tairan carry John. :P ) (Hold me!) [Jinx moves with considerable Injun stealth, and Tairan's practically ninja. John more or less walks... but looks cool doing it. In fact, so cool, the guy doesn't even notice, as he's trapped in a zone of boredom.] ( Like the Cone of Silence from 'Get Smart!'. =P ) (Shhh.) (That's more of a zone of frustration for the chief ) * Jinx then tries to sneak along the wall, taking his time, but prepared to rush if the guard notices anything. * John is not so sneaky, but hell. He looks *good*. * Tairan has his pistol out, and is ready to do the "Don't make a sound or I'll shoot you" pantomime if need be. (Anyone sneaking behind him, gimme another roll. +2 this time.) (Have fun you ninjas.) * Jinx thinks for a moment and gestures for Tairan to lead. * Tairan nods, pistol out. He moves sloooowly and deliberately, eyeing the ground for anything that would make sounds if stepped on, and timing his steps to when the guy seems to be looking away. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Tairan (2d6) and gets 7. * Jinx hangs back and crouches a bit to prepare for a run in case Tairan gets heard. * John tries to stay hidden and probably does a poor job. But he's still lookin' coo'. No shiney teeth right now. <.< [The guy yawns widely and glances around, but doesn't look behind him. Where Tairan is sneaking!] ( Fortunately, he has a +3 boredom penalty. ) * Jinx grins to himself. * John smirks. * Tairan is right behind him, then! He puts his pistol to the back of the poor schlub's head. *whisper* "Make a sound and you get a new mouth." ( A new mouth? Cool, I could eat twice as much! ) [The guard freezes, and his eyes widen. He looks to his buddy, but he's snoozing quite happily.] *whisper* Get up. Slowly and quietly. And walk this way. *gestures in the direction of Jinx and John* Do what I say, and you get out of this with nothing wounded but your pride. * John gets his rope ready to tie up guards. I knew I'd need some rope! * Jinx maneuvers himself so the guard can see him once he turns this way. [He stands, very slowly, and looks in that direction. He pales when he sees them, and hesitantly takes a step.] * John looks good. But you knew that. :P * Jinx keeps the gun trained on the guard and tries to look like he knows his way around the tomahawk. *whisper* Good. Now keep going. * Tairan directs the guard towards John and Jinx for binding. [He does so. "You're not going to get away with this," he says, apparently having found his voice.] * Jinx gestures to John to hurry and whispers. "Gag him first." * Tairan pokes the guard in the back of the head with the gun, fairly hard. *whisper* Sure I am. And quiet, remember? * John gags the guard, of course. And also searches him for any weapons that might be used to cut the bindings. [He grimaces, and growls faintly, then his gagged. He struggles as they bind him, but y'know.] * Jinx grins like he's got nothing to lose. Don't have to worry about showing up on a wanted poster if being a Westerner with a gun is reason enough to be arrested. [John finds a knife and a wakizashi.] (Who's doing the binding?) * John takes said items off of the guard's person. (Me, I think.) (Give me Sleight of Hand -1.) * Jinx stays in front of the guard, to remind him what'll happen if he struggles to much. 2d6-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for John (2d6-1) and gets 5. * John finishes binding the poor guard and speaks quietly. "What should we do with the weapons? You're not crazy about them like Millie is, are ya?" * Tairan shrugs, still whispering. "Hold onto 'em. Spares are always nice, and we can always sell 'em." * Jinx waits til the binding is complete and then whispers. "One of you tie up the other one, the other help me hide this guy out of sight from any visitors to the gate." [The man GLARES at you all, then his eyes widen when he finally sees Tairan. He makes muffled sounds.] [His buddy keeps sleeping. Poor sucker.] * John nods and hides the two weapons on his person. Man, John's a frickin' armory. He moves the poor guard out of sight of the gate. * Tairan waves sheepishly at the guard. *whisper* "Sorry. Forgot my lucky shirt in the city, and I just gotta get in." *turns to the others* "Stay here for a minute. I'm gonna knock out the other guy, then drag him over so we can tie him up." * John also keeps watch on this guard until the dozer joins him. * Tairan goes to sneak up on the other guard, planning to KO him with a shot to the back of the head from the butt of his sword. * Jinx helps John move the guy. He tries to be reasonably gentle about it. Before he goes off he whispers, "You may want to consider joining the other side when you get up. I hear your leader isn't very forgiving." ( Session title's gotta be "Quest for Tairan's Lucky Shirt" =P ) (Yes. Yes it is.) (Tairan, roll... uh, one-handed bashy -2. I wanna see if you critfail, so then I can laugh.) * Jinx moves back to the cover of the wall. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Tairan (2d6-2) and gets 4. * John stays with the (probably) struggling guard to make sure premature escapes don't happen. [The guy crumples to the ground, out like a light. Oh wait, he already was.] * Tairan nods approvingly, muttering a soft apology as he drags the guy over towards Jinx to be bound, gagged, and hidden. * Jinx moves to help Tairan and speed up the process a bit. * John binds Mr. sleepy man, of course taking weapons that he's keeping on his person first. (John's real goal is to open up a weapon shop) (Maybe I should get Portable Armory and be done with it. <.<) * Tairan nods approvingly once everything gagged, tied, and hidden. "Nicely done, guys." Now, we move on to the 'fun' part... [The first guard might be cursing. It's hard to tell, but the tone's about right!] * John looks back at the first guard. "Maybe we should knock him out, too." [He shuts up.] * Tairan looks down apologetically at the awake guard. "Sorry about this, man. But I gotta get in there, and I can't get caught doing it." * Jinx walks over to the gate staying close to the wall, he's seen people knocked out before, doesn't interest him. ... now. Question for you. Any guards on duty inside the gate. Please answer honestly; if you lie, and we find out... well, I'd rather not hurt someone from my former clan, but my Western companions... well... * John checks his pistol and looks down. "Hmm?" * Jinx would look menacing, but he's already wandered off. [He glares at him. Doesn't seem keen on talking. Or indicating, for that matter.] [Jinx has the attention span of a gnat with Easily Distracted: Gambling.] * Tairan points to John. "That one's family's village was razed by pops during the war. He *really* doesn't like the Hoshimotos. Right?" *looks at John* ( If tairan and John can't handle one guy who's tied up and gagged, we're screwed anyways. :P ) (And I'll note Jinx didn't contradict my statement!) * John nods and looks down fairly angrily. "An' I got an itchy trigger finger too... Or I could just slit your throat with a knife." * Jinx inspects the door, and pushes lightly at it, getting a feel for how to get by it. [He says something. Could be "screw you", or possibly less flattering.] (Gnats have a hell of a lot of attention span. They'll swarm you for hours, and that's like 20% of their life span. ^_~ ) (But they forget they've been swarming you and think you're new and swarm you again without ever leaving!) * Tairan shakes his head. "Ah well. Was worth a shot. Not usually any guards on duty inside the city gates at night, but it woulda been nice to know for sure." *looks over at John* "Y'ready?" * John makes sure there's no bullets in the gun, and spins the barrel. He points it at the KO'd guard's head and GLARES. "Now, you gonna let us understand what we want to know, or is your friend gonna get it?" (Oh, give me an intimidation check, John.) 2d6-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for John (2d6-1) and gets 5. * Jinx then carefully checks whether the door opens in or out, don't want to find the perfect spot only to realize it's a pull door. Then he glances over to the guys to see if they need help. (Oh, I thought the gnats were just waiting til they picked you dry ) [The man looks from John to Tairan, then shakes his head.] * John nods and holsters his gun. Well, in the back holster. "Ready." * Tairan shakes his head. "Into the breach, then." [And so, they go out of the frying pan, and into Session End.]