by Jamie Davis
"Let the night's auction begin," the Warden announced. He then walked to a set of stairs leading directly up to his booth where he took his seat. Two armed guards took their place on either side of him.
Hal nudged Kay, "Once the auction starts and all eyes are on the center of the arena, we'll sneak up behind those two guards and finish them off as quickly as we can. I'll announce the Hood is in the house. That should start a bit of a panic, and then we take out the warden."
"Got it," Kay said.
It didn't take long. The first subject up for sale was a small girl of about six years of age. A murmur went through the crowd that sickened Hal. He was going to enjoy taking out a few of these pedophiles while he was here.
Sadir stepped forward and stepped up onto the small portable platform next to the girl. He began his auctioneer's chant, falling into the singsong cadence that lured buyers to raise their bids and beat out their opponents.
Hal and Kay flipped up their hoods, fixed their masks in place while still sitting in the shadows of the top row, and then slipped up behind the raised box where the Warden sat.
A nod to each other and they climbed up and under the rail at the back of the Warden's box. Everyone’s attention was on the auction as the bidding went up and up. No one on the Warden’s platform turned and noticed them as they stepped up behind the two guards.
Hal's slot machine started rumbling again, the dials spinning and he knew it was time to strike. With a double thrust of both daggers, he lanced the kidneys of the guard in front of him, slipping the long blades up and under his metal back plate.
SNEAK ATTACK successful - Sneak attack ability to level 3
Critical hit - quadruple damage.
THE GUARD STIFFENED for a moment and then started to collapse to the wooden platform's floor. Hal reached out and held the dying guard up as he shouted over the din of the auction below.
"For the children, I, Robin the Hood, declare the lives of all here forfeit. Leave now or face my wrath!"
Hal placed a booted foot in the back of the dying guard and kicked him over the railing at the front of the platform, so he crashed to the arena below, landing atop the unfortunate Sadir who'd been standing just below him.
1,200 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED.
THERE WERE screams of panic from around the amphitheater and, as Hal had predicted, pandemonium ensued as everyone fought with each other to escape the infamous Hood with their lives.
The rolling slot machine in his head had stopped. The plan worked. The crowd was piling on top of each other trying to get away, and their escape blocked the guards rushing forward to help their master.
Hal turned to see Kay had finished off the other guard and both masked invaders faced off against the Warden who was now standing on his feet facing his attackers.
"So, you're the infamous Hood," the Warden said. He drew a sword and dagger from his belt and leveled them at Hal and Kay. "You'll not find me as easy a mark as you did my colleagues."
"Easy or not, you're a dead man walking," Hal said, pointing at the Warden with one of his blood-dripping daggers.
The Warden growled and leapt forward, feinting at Hal and then dodging in Kay's direction. Kay ducked under a swipe from the sword and parried the follow-up dagger thrust, giving Hal a chance to move up behind the Warden and try another sneak attack.
The backward round house kick to his chest caught him completely by surprise as did the blade that extended from the boot's sole. The sharpened spike punctured Hal's breastplate and pain stabbed through his chest as the blade scored a solid hit.
HEALTH DAMAGE: Health -16
HAL STUMBLED BACKWARD, falling to the floor, shaking his head against the agony in his chest. The combination of pain and surprise left him dazed for a moment and gave the Warden the opportunity to direct all his attention to Kay.
The Warden began a dizzying display of complex moves that dazzled the young woman, and she struggled to block the incoming attacks with her two short swords.
One strike and then another hit home on her, slipping through her overwhelmed defenses.
Kay cried out as the sword bit into her thigh causing her to drop to one knee.
The Warden laughed and raised his sword up to try and finish her then and there.
Hal dropped his daggers to the floor and started whipping out his knives, throwing them as fast as he could at the Warden's back.
The first two struck home, lodging in the Warden's back.
The man yelled and dropped his dagger, reaching back, trying to reach the impaled blades with his free hand.
More blades whirled in and two more sunk home.
The Warden swayed and sunk to his knees in front of the wounded Kay. She tried a weak swing with one of her short swords at his head, but he batted it aside with his own sword.
Two more blades from Hal plunged into the Warden's back and the man stiffened again at the impacts.
The Warden tried to climb back to his feet, twisting to face Hal but the final two thrown knives sunk into his side as he turned.
Those last two knives drove the man over onto his back, his arms and legs flailing to try and rise again.
Hal climbed back to his feet, gritting his teeth against his pain. He leapt forward to land atop the Warden before he could rise again.
Holding the point of one dagger against the side of the man's neck, Hal pressed forward, sliding the blade up into his brain.
QUEST COMPLETED - Kill the Caravans Warden.
8,000 experience points awarded.
Level Up!
A GROAN from Kay drew Hal's attention to her. She was lying on her side, blood drooling from her mouth and nose. Hal, pulled off his pack and started digging for the healing potions. Popping the cork free from one with his teeth, he tipped the life-giving liquid into Kay's mouth.
"Come on, Kay. Stay with me. Drink this; it will heal you. I've got two more if you need them."
Kay swallowed, coughing a little but managing to get most of the potion down. She gave him a smile as she finished the potion. Her color improved immediately.
Hal pressed the second vial into her hands and then tipped his own head back, drinking the third healing potion he found.
HEALING POTION EFFECT: Health +16
OUT OF THE corner of his eye, Hal saw eight of the Warden's guards finally work their way through the crowd and charge towards the raised platform.
Hal's pack was open, and he saw the other potions he had there. Grabbing the potion of speed, he drank it down in one gulp, chasing after the healing potion. He picked up his daggers, spinning around to face the oncoming attackers. He had to buy Kay time to heal and get back on her feet.
His head swam all of the sudden, and the perspective of the onrushing guards changed.
Everything slowed down, and Hal felt energized as if static electricity played along his skin, standing the hair on his arms on end.
The guards were still charging forward, but now they were all moving in slow motion.
Hal jumped to his feet and charged the onrushing guards. In his mind, he was moving at normal speed. Everything else was slowed down. Hal decided he had to work fast. He didn't know how long the potion’s effects lasted.
Hal weaved his way through the eight charging guards, stabbing with his daggers, again and again, ducking under their slowed attacks, dodging their blades.
Eight times the following message displayed in his vision before he turned around:
1,200 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED.
NOT BOTHERING to watch the last of the guards fall to the ground, Hal turned towards the tunnel through the raised amphitheater leading to the children's cells. A fat jailor with a ring of jangling keys hanging from his belt dragged the little girl who had been up for sale moments before, back to the tunnel and her cell.
Hal roared with rage, leapt over the platform’s railing down to the floor of the cavern, and raced over to where the jailor held the girl.
The man tried to bring a jagged,
saw-toothed dagger to the girl's throat as Hal charged him. His arm didn't make it halfway to her neck before the speed enhanced rogue made it to him.
Hal's dagger blade hit the jailor in the neck so hard as he ran past, it nearly severed the jailor's neck all the way through. Blood fountained in the air and his head folded backward to hang like a hood against the man’s back. The body collapsed.
1,500 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED.
SNATCHING the girl and the keys away in one swoop, Hal turned the girl around and pointed up to where Kay was just standing up. The healing potions had their effect.
"Go up to where my friend is, and she'll protect you. I'm going to release the other children, alright?"
The girl didn't say a word. She only nodded and started to climb into the stands up to Kay.
Hal raced down the tunnel with the keys, enjoying his enhanced speed. He'd have to ask Colin about whether he had anything else like this in stock. This could come in handy on other missions.
The tunnel opened up to a passage between cells full of children. Hal ran down the line, unlocking door after door, calling the children out. The effects of the potion started to wear off as he opened the last cell door. He felt himself slow down. His chest was now heaving at the cost of the potion on his body.
The children in their short white robes all stood milling around, unsure what to do next. They appeared to range in age from four or five years old up to twelve or thirteen.
"All of you, I'm here to rescue you, but you need to come with me now. We're all going to leave here together."
A few of the kids cheered. Most of them just nodded, a little shocked and disbelieving. They did follow him, though, and that was good. He ran out of the tunnel back to the open stage of the amphitheater to see Kay standing with the little girl.
Hal pointed to Kay. "Everyone, climb up to my friend and follow her back to the surface."
Kay nodded and called out to the children as she started through the curved stands back towards the catwalk above the cells. Hal retrieved his throwing knives from the dead Warden, quickly cleaning and sheathing them, and then he ran to reach the front of the line of children. He was sure there would be more resistance by the time they reached the surface.
They saw only one more guard on their way up into the barn, and he turned to run away. Two thrown knives took him in the back and dropped him to the landing at the top of the stairs.
1,200 EXPERIENCE POINTS AWARDED.
"KAY, get all the kids into the covered wagons. I'm going to open the barn doors so we can get out of here."
"Got it," Kay said. She started directing the older children to help the younger ones into the two wagons.
Hal was surprised to see the children almost loaded by the time he opened the doors. He heard shouts from the other side of the building but didn't see any guards. He ran back and vaulted into the seat of the first of the two large wagons just as Kay was climbing onto the other one.
Taking up the reins, Hal shook them, so they slapped down on the backs of the two horses hitched to the wagon. They lurched forward, slowly picking up speed with the heavily loaded wagons. Four guards ran in front of Hal's wagon just as he got going but he barreled through them, scattering the group as they dove out of the way of the rumbling wagon.
Hal's wagon took the lead, racing down the broad road between the livestock pens. Kay was just behind him in the other wagon. He heard the children in the wagon behind him cheering as they left the stockyards behind them, running the wagons into the city beyond.
QUEST COMPLETED - Rescue the children from the stockyards.
8,000 experience points awarded.
HAL TOOK a moment on the way to the stable and looked at his stats, allocating his new level points. He increased his speed from twelve to fourteen giving him a plus three defense adjustment and then added a skill level to his acrobatic dodge bringing that ability to level six.
NAME: Hal Dix
Class: Rogue
Level: 9
ATTRIBUTES:
Brawn: 14 -- +3
Wisdom: 8
Luck: 22 -- +7
Speed: 14 -- +3
Looks: 8
Health: 72/72
SKILLS: Taunt - 2, Dark vision, Acrobatic dodge - 6, Hide in shadows - 2, Sneak Attack - 3, Open locks - 2, Find/remove traps.
Experience: 64,100/76,000
27
ONCE THEY REACHED the empty stable where they’d hidden their laundry wagon, it took four trips with the laundry cart to get all the kids back to the Harbor District and to the team of local mothers who'd offered to take the children in. By the time the last load of children was dropped off, the whole district was humming with news of the Hood's latest caper.
Besides Griff and the barmaids at the Chum Bucket, now just under twenty people knew Hal and Kay were behind the Hood's capers.
It was risky to trust so many with their secret, but Hal had to admit they were doing a fine job of talking up the legend of the Hood everywhere they went. The rest of the city's rumor mill was more than happy to take matters from there.
In less than a day, the whole city knew the Hood had struck again and wild tales spread of the rescue of hundreds of missing children held by the evil Caravans Warden.
In two days, there were grand descriptions of the supposed duel between the Warden and the Hood that lasted for almost an hour.
Hal laughed at that last piece of the legend. His memory of the fight was a lot shorter and much less heroic than any tavern tale of it he heard.
"Every time I hear the tales of the Hood, they get grander and grander," Hal said when he and Kay were eating in a private booth at a tavern near the Temple District. They had already started planning their next mission and were out looking for a way to defeat the Temple Warden.
"Just don't let it inflate your head any more than it already is, Hal," Kay quipped. "Try and stay just a little humble."
"You're jealous there's no mention of the Hood's heroic comrade in arms in this version."
"I could care less," Kay said. "In fact, I'm glad no one mentions my part. That means no one is looking for me."
"You’re an important part of the story too, Kay," Hal said. "They should get the story right."
"Let's turn our attention back to the problem at hand and figure out how we can break into the Temple Warden's hideout," Kay suggested. "From everything I've been able to discover, she's now holed up in the Temple of the Sun and refuses to come out or let anyone she doesn't know in. That's going to make it difficult to get to her."
"What else do we know about her and the Temple of the Sun?" Hal asked. "There's got to be a way either to coax her out or to sneak inside."
"Based on what I’ve heard today, I don't think she's coming out," Kay said. "That leaves finding a way inside. We're not going to be able to bluff our way in the way we did at the stockyards."
“Death from above,” Hal muttered.
“What are you talking about?”
"How about going in high?" Hal asked. "We come in from the top down. If we could enter from the roof, we could come at her from a direction she'd never suspect."
"What are you thinking, Hal? I don't like the gleam in your eye."
"The Temple of the Sun backs up on the palace wall. What if we come down the palace wall at night to the Temple roof?" Hall said. “They’d never expect an attack from that direction.”
Kay thought about it for a minute. Hal could see she was trying to pull the plan apart.
"There are two problems I can think of. First, the palace wall is patrolled. We can get into the palace via the courtesan's gate, but getting from the Duke's quarters to the wall above the Temple is a long way to go without getting noticed. Second, I'm sure the Warden has put guards on the roof of the temple. They might not be looking up for danger, but they'll spot us as soon as we climb down to the rooftop."
"We could disguise ourselves as members of the Duke's guard. If we masquerade as a patrol, we could get to the wal
l and be over the top before anyone spotted us." Hal paused, thinking of the second problem Kay mentioned. He didn't have a good answer. "The only thing I can come up with for your second point is to distract the rooftop temple guards in some way."
Kay snapped her fingers. "Actually, Hal, that's not a bad idea. We might need some help, but I suspect we could trade on our notoriety in the city to create a distraction that would pull the guards away from the palace side of the roof."
"What sort of distraction are you thinking of?"
"Perhaps we stage some sort of spontaneous riot in front of the temple," Kay suggested. "We could ask a group of our friends in the Harbor to go to the Temple and start something loud and eye-catching at the right time."
"That might work,” Hal said. “Let's finish up here and head back. Maybe Griff has some ideas about how we can get people to help us out.”
They finished their meal and paid their bill; the headed back to the Harbor and the Chum Bucket to enlist Griff's help. When Hal and Kay arrived at the harbor side tavern, Griff was out, and the Barmaid said there was a personal message for us behind the bar.
The note read:
"I require another visit from a courtesan."
It was signed only with the letter D.
"The Duke wants us to pay him another visit," Hal said. "Perfect timing. We can ask him about access to the battlements and the wall above the Temple."
It was nearly nightfall, so Hal and Kay started down towards the docks to retrieve the boat they'd used the previous time they'd visited the Duke. As they walked through the Harbor Distric, they were greeted by a friendly and accepting populace.
The mood of the people in this district had changed markedly since the death of the Harbor Warden. As each Warden had died, the circle of the Emperor’s influence in the city dwindled, and the people began to work their way out from under the oppression of the Wardens’ guards and edicts.
It was good to see more smiles on the residents' faces. Most of them only recognized Hal and Kay as a pair of gentlemen who lived and worked somewhere in their neighborhood, not knowing who they really were. For the few who were aware of Hal's identity as Robin the Hood, there was an extra wink or the offer of a free morsel from their food booth.