by Jamie Davis
"We have to free her, Kay. She could tell us a lot about what is happening inside," Hal said.
QUEST ACCEPTED - Free Ilsa from the slavers
"AGREED," Kay said. "I'll follow them. You circle ahead without them seeing you, and we'll come at them from both ends. When I see you nod to the guards in greeting, I'll attack from behind."
"Sounds good. I'll see you in a few minutes."
Hal darted down an alley and ran up a parallel street until he was certain he'd gotten ahead of the guards and Ilsa. Cutting back over to the main street, Hal slowed down and turned the corner. He tried hard to put on an air of nonchalance and a little drunkenness.
It worked. Hal saw Ilsa and her captors walking in his direction with Kay about ten feet behind them in the crowd. Hal needed a bit of luck, and he concentrated for a moment. He was rewarded when the slot machine started rattling in his head again.
Hal approached the lead guard and nodded with a big smile on his face. At the last minute, he pretended to stumble and the guard, on reflex, reached out to catch him.
In a single, smooth motion, Hal drew and shoved his dagger up under the guard's half chainmail shirt, feeling the blade slip up beneath the man's ribs and into his heart. The guard gasped once and collapsed forward, dead into Hal's arms.
400 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED.
THE SECOND THE SLAVER DIED, the rolling slot machine chimed in his head. Hal smiled and looked around.
A quick glance told Hal Kay had dispatched the other guard and was pulling the body into the shadows.
Hal lifted his dead slaver as best he could and dragged him over to the shadows of an overhanging roof by a nearby building. He dumped the body in an empty wood bin there.
Standing up, Hal turned to reach out for Ilsa, too. He wanted to pull her into the shadows as well, getting her out of view from the street. Her expression showed terror, though. She was staring at the pair of dead guards.
Hal realized Ilsa was about to scream and he rushed up and placed a bloody hand over her mouth.
"Ilsa, it's me, Hal Dix. Hal from the Gilded Cage. We're here to rescue you."
Her eyes were wide already and went even wider in recognition then she stopped struggling and sank into his arms.
QUEST COMPLETED - Rescue Ilsa from the slavers.
500 experience points awarded.
HAL PULLED her into the shadows near where the guards lay dying or dead. Kay was watching the street for signs that anyone had seen them.
"Ilsa, hold still. I'm going to try and get these chains unlocked."
"How did you find me?" Ilsa asked.
"We were watching the slave pens, trying to come up with a way to help you all escape," Kay said. "Are all the others still inside or did they take others away like you?"
"They're all there," Ilsa said. "I was taken because the Merchant's Warden wanted a guest for dinner tonight. The guards selected me from among the others and pulled me out of the cage."
"This might force us to change our plans, Hal,” Kay said. I know we were going to wait until tomorrow night to rescue the girls, but with Ilsa’s rescue, we might be forced to reconsider.”
"You can’t wait until tomorrow night," Ilsa said. "They're holding a special auction tomorrow. It has to be tonight or early tomorrow."
Hal finished unlocking the chains with a key he found on the lead guard. He dropped the shackles and chains into the woodbin atop the dead guard there.
Standing up Hal’s eyes met Kay’s. They both nodded at once. It would be tonight.
"We have to get you to safety and make some changes to our arrangements for getting you away," Hal said. "Come with us."
The three of them returned to the docks and the ship they had chartered. They left Ilsa with the captain to prepare the rest of the rooms for passengers. He was not happy about the change of plans moving the departure up by twenty-four hours.
Hal offered the captain half of their remaining silver, and the seaman ceased his grumbling. He agreed to prepare the ship to leave with the early morning tide.
With that taken care of, Kay and Hal started back into town.
Hal had an idea.
An hour later, Hal and Kay were cloaked in the dead slaver's red cloaks and surcoats. Conical helmets perched on their heads finished the ensemble.
"It's a good thing these things are already red," Kay whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
"Just lucky I guess," Hal said. As soon as the two of them had donned the slavers’ garb and started towards the compound, the lucky slots in Hal’s head started up again. It wasn't just rattling this time; it was rumbling in his head. It was almost painful.
"This is crazy, you know. They'll never fall for it," Kay said."
"It only has to get us inside and close to the interior guards," Hal assured his friend. "By the time they recognize us, it will be too late. Then we fetch the women, and we're gone."
"Something tells me it's not going to be that easy."
"Shhhh, we're almost there."
The two of them walked up to the gate and Hal waved up at the guard on the wall. The guard waved back and called down to someone inside, and the gate opened to admit them. Kay walked through first, and Hal followed. The slot machine in his head was starting to distract him, as if they were trying to tell him he was using his luck harder than usual.
Inside the gates, a red-cloaked guard nodded at Hal in the darkness and pushed the gate closed. There were only the two guards, just as Ilsa had told them on their walk to the docks.
Hal spun around and whipped two throwing knives up at the guard on the wall.
The knives took him in the unarmored back of his thigh and knee. His leg buckled and he tumbled over backward with a yelp to crash to the ground headfirst.
Hal heard a snap, and the body settled in an awkward heap below the wall.
400 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED.
KAY HAD WAITED until the other guard turned away to see what the noise by the wall was, and then kicked his legs out from under him. As the guard fell with a yelp, Kay dove on top of him, shoving his short sword through the guard's leather breastplate.
The slot machine didn't stop rolling yet, telling Hal their task wasn’t completed yet. It seemed to rattle less fiercely, though, which Hal took as a good sign.
Hal went over to the body by the wall and pulled the dead guard behind a stack of grain sacks. He turned and helped Kay drag his now-dead guard over to join the other.
With the guards hidden, Hal held up his hand for a high-five from Kay. The blank stare Kay returned reminded Hal he wasn't in Kansas anymore.
Dropping his hand to his side, Hal pulled out the keys he'd taken from Ilsa's guard.
"Let's hope one of these keys opens the slave pens like Ilsa said."
"The pens are this way. Let's find out," Kay said.
Keeping their slaver disguises on so they could walk openly across the compound, Hal and Kay walked past several buildings and over to a series of tall, metal cages, each holding up to ten individuals. Most were empty, but the final three in the row held the women from the Gilded Cage.
"Come to take another one of us, have you," Marta said, standing up and approaching the bars. "Take me then, instead of one of the other girls. I'll make sure you have a good time."
"Marta," Kay said. "It's me, Kay. Hal and I have come to get you out of here."
Marta stared at them before she said anything.
"Kay, are you insane. Get out of here before you find yourself back in here with us."
"You know better than that. I'll never let myself end up back in these cages. Besides, we have to get you all out of here. Hal's got the keys. Everyone get ready. We're going to march right out the gates if all goes as planned."
Hal had already started trying the keys in each of the three locks. He went through all the keys twice before he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"None of these keys are the right one, Kay."
"What?" Kay said. "B
ut Ilsa told us she thought one of them was the one the guards used."
"Well, she was wrong," Hal said. "Let me try and pick the locks. I’m not sure it will work, though. They're a lot heavier than the other's I've tried."
Hal pulled out his folded leather pouch containing his lock picks and started working on the first lock in the darkness. Kay stood in the shadows nearby watching for any guards.
A soft snapping noise sounded from inside the lock and Hal pulled the lightweight iron pick free. The pick had broken off partway into the lock. Hal fished out the broken piece, selected another pick and tried again. Again, the pick snapped off inside the lock.
"This isn't going to work, Kay. The picks are breaking off in the lock. We have to find the key."
"The slave boss probably has one," Marta said. She pointed up at the low building nearest the pens. "He lives in there."
Kay came over and whispered to Hal. "We have to hurry, Hal. Someone is going to discover the gate guards are missing soon. Once the alarm's raised, we'll never get away, let alone rescue the women."
"Agreed. Let's go find that key." Hal turned back to the cages. "We'll be back, Marta. Don't worry."
QUEST ACCEPTED - Find the key to the slave pens.
HAL AND KAY jogged over to the Slaver Boss's home. It was a small single-story building with one door in the front and several barred windows facing the pens.
Hal tried the door and when he found it was locked, tried one of the smaller keys from the key ring they had. He was rewarded with a soft click, and the door popped open. Kay pushed open the door, and Hal followed him into the building. There was an entry hall with a door to the left and right. The door to the right was closed. The door to the left was open, and Hal saw a desk from his vantage point.
Pointing to the left, Hal headed for the office, figuring the other room was a bedroom. Kay followed. The large office had a broad wooden desk and cabinets around the walls with stacks of papers and ledger books. A big wooden chest was set in the corner, and thick iron bands bolted it to the floor.
Hal pointed to the chest while he searched the desk drawers for the key to the pens outside. Kay moved over and inspected the lock then bent down and started working on it with his picks. He shook his head after a few minutes of trying to open it.
"I can't get it. It's unlike any lock I've ever seen."
Hal started to answer when a loud voice in the doorway interrupted him.
"Of course you can't open it. I had it specially designed so thieves like you couldn't pick it."
Hal crouched, instantly on guard. Kay spun around to face the intruder as well.
A tall, muscular man, wearing heavy scale mail armor stood in the doorway to the entry hall. He held a wicked, barbed whip in one hand and a hooked battle axe in the other.
"No one will ever know that because I'm going to kill you, just like I kill every thief who enters this room to steal from me."
"Actually," Hal said. "We came to find the key to the pens."
"That I always keep on my person. You'll have to come take it from me, if you can."
Hal thought, at least I know where the key is. Now I just have to go and get it.
Whipping two knives from his sheaths, he threw them side-armed at the boss.
Hal was surprised, when in a move so fast he could barely see it, the Slaver Boss simultaneously slid sideways while he ducked under the thrown knives.
Hal tried to pull two more knives free while he circled around the desk, but he had to dive to the floor when the tip of the barbed whip whistled past his ear.
Kay pulled his dual short swords and moved around the desk in the opposite direction from Hal. While Hal rolled back to his feet, Kay called out to their opponent.
"You have used that whip on a slave for the last time, you scum."
The taunt did not have the desired effect. The Slaver Boss laughed and pointed the axe at Kay.
"I like you, little one. I'm going to leave you for last."
"You're not going to last long enough to have a choice, fat man," Kay said.
Hal tried using the momentary distraction with Kay's banter to fire off two more throwing knives at the boss. This time he aimed to either side of big man.
Hal figured the guy couldn't dodge both knives at once.
He didn't even try.
The boss dodged one by sidestepping again.
The other incoming knife, he knocked away with a flick of his axe.
The whip came whistling in again and Hal dove for the floor. It wasn't aimed at him this time, though.
The barbed leather struck Kay, lashing at his bare arms before snaking back to the boss.
From his place on the floor, Hal heard Kay's cry of pain, and he popped up from behind the desk and ran at his opponent from the side. Hal pulled both daggers free of their scabbards and led with them.
Once again, Hal misjudged the speed of his opponent. The axe blade came whistling down at him, parting the air as it went with a whoosh.
Hal was moving forward too fast to dodge backwards. He realized his only chance was to run inside the axe's sweeping arc.
Launching himself forward in a last desperate spring and roll, Hal just barely got inside the axe's razor-sharp blade.
It still managed to score a line of red down his trailing forearm, cutting deep enough to make Hal's hand lose its grip on one of his daggers.
HEALTH DAMAGE: Health -8
DAMN, that wasn't good. If that was a grazing blow, that axe would kill him in one blow should it score a solid hit.
Hal tried to stab upward with his remaining dagger as he slid past. The blade skittered across the scale armor with little effect at all.
The boss tried to turn around to face Hal who was now backed into a corner right behind him.
That gave Kay an opportunity, though, and he sprang forward and swung a double sword blow at the boss's back, protected only by a leather back plate.
The boss grunted at the blow, but he wasn’t seriously injured because he turned and swatted at Kay with the flat of his axe blade as if the smaller thief was a fly.
Kay ducked under the blow.
"Hal, get up. We've got to team up on this guy."
"I'm trying," Hal said. He rolled up against the wall in the corner, pushed off with his arms, and kicked upward to plant his feet against the scaled armor breastplate of the slaver boss.
If caught the big man by surprise. He'd expected Hal to lead with his dagger again and aimed the backswing of the axe too high, missing Hal's head by mere inches as the thief's booted feet connected with his chest.
Hal's powerful kick knocked the boss back a step, knocking the next strike by the whip off target entirely.
The end of the braided leather whip sailed high and wrapped around an exposed beam, the metal barbs biting into the wood and locking the end of the whip in place.
Kay took advantage of the momentary change in the fight’s momentum to swing a vicious double blow with both short swords at the boss's left knee. The slaver cried out in pain for the first time.
Blood now seeped from under the battered greaves that covered the Slaver Boss's lower leg, and he moved to the right with a marked limp.
He wasn’t moving as quickly anymore, and he was trying to get out from between the two thieves.
Hal noticed what the man was trying to do and he lunged forward.
Hal extended his reach to it farthest extent, aiming a thrust with the dagger at the boss's arm pit. It didn't sink in very far but Hal shouted when his dagger tip came away with several inches of blood coating it.
"I got him!" Hal shouted.
"Me, too," Kay replied.
They shouldn't have gloated quite so soon.
The axe blade swung in a broad arc striking both of them with painful, hacking blows.
Kay was flung backward, and Hal saw a spray of blood fly from his belly.
Hal's chest burned with pain and stars flashed at the corners of his eyes from it.
He found himself crashing backward against the wall.
HEALTH DAMAGE: Health -16
"OUCH!" Hal yelled. "Damn, that hurts."
Putting a hand to his chest, Hal's fingers brushed against a section of his hardened leather breastplate now laid open by the blow. His hands came away sticky with blood seeping through the gash in the armor.
"Don't let up," Hal called to Kay, even though he could no longer see his friend.
He forced himself to push through the pain and shoved off the wall, using it to propel him more quickly at his opponent. The increased speed it gave him caught the now sorely wounded boss by surprise, and Hal was able to get inside his guard.
Using a downward blow and gripping his remaining dagger with two hands, Hal tried to drive the blade through the individual scales sewn into the underlying leather armor.
This time he succeeded.
The two scales ripped away and the tip of the dagger plunged through the boss's armored chest piece and into his heart.
Blood fountained from the Slaver Boss's mouth, and he collapsed to his knees. His lips moved as if he was trying to say something. Hal's ear was right there by his opponent’s mouth, but he heard nothing but a gurgling sigh.
Hal held onto the dagger's hilt, riding the bigger man's body all the way to the floor. The slot machine chime sounded as the rattling in his head stopped.
1,000 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED.
Level Up!
HE LAY THERE ATOP the dead man, his breaths coming in ragged gasps, each shooting fire through his wounded chest beneath his armor.
Hal focused and tried to pull up his personal stats. He added two more attribute points to his Brawn score and raised his acrobatic dodge ability to level 3. He could have used that against this more powerful opponent.
NAME: Hal Dix
Class: Rogue
Level: 6
ATTRIBUTES:
Brawn: 12 -- +2
Wisdom: 8
Luck: 20 -- +6
Speed: 12 -- +2
Looks: 8
Health: 16/48
SKILLS: Taunt, Dark vision, Acrobatic dodge - 3, Hide in shadows - 2, Sneak Attack - 2, Open locks - 2, Find/remove traps.
Experience: 4,900/9,600
KAY STAGGERED TO HIS FEET, his hands cupping a gaping hole in the belly of his armor. Blood seeped out through the gash.