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 Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 7:31 pm
One guard was headed away from Mik, patrolling down the stream. Two more were stationed by the entrance northward. None of the three looked terribly alert. There was a larger group of five by the southern entrance, where the palace walls met the higher ones surrounding the entire grounds.
The gate was not terribly strong at this point nor was the lock. Being underwater (and unused) for centuries now had created a great deal of rust and decay. In a cloud of rust that surrounded Sei before being carried downstream, the lock snapped and the gate came open with a nails-on-chalkboard sound.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 7:34 pm
And the gate gave, as he had hoped, though with it came a showerful of rust in the face.
Ew.
Letting the energy flow back to the orbs, which returned to hover around his waist, he started what would probably be a somewhat long trek trough to reach the other side.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 7:40 pm
Even if they weren't paying much attention, Mik was pretty sure that that was not where he wanted to drop down. Still being as careful as he could, not really trusting the tile roof, he moved northwards in search of a better spot.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 7:55 pm
As Mik made his way over the roof, one of the conversations in the rooms below grew loud enough for him to hear. "...but I just can't," a smooth voice said below. "I have my wedding to plan, my wife to murder, and some jealous princess to frame for it. I'm swamped."
Fortunately for Sei, while he was underwater he was unlikely to be noticed. The cloud of rust drifted by the patrolling guard without him seeing it. If the teen stayed with the current, he'd reach the bridge about when the guard crossed over it. If he swam, he could be on the other side of the palace in the same time.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:00 pm
Sei wasn't so much swimming than.... walking and crawling along the floor as needed. He eventually made it, at least it would seem to him, but stopped just before he could come out of the tunnel, and realized a rather fatal flaw in his oh so amazing plan.
How was he supposed to see anything from there ?
Drat.
He peered out, just slightly, in hope to be able to see what was going on on the surface.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:09 pm
The angel stopped dead, frozen in disbelief for a moment. He could hardly believe what he was hearing - that he was overhearing the man who wanted to murder his friend, just talking about it. And not only talking about it, but like it was nothing at all. Just another thing on the schedule.
Once he heard it, he couldn't just keep going, keep looking. So he tried to position himself just above the sound, and then looked over the wall again to see if he had anyone to worry about, or if it would be safe to just drop down. Whatever room that man was in, he was going to find it. He was going to find him.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:24 pm
Even just ambling along, the patrolling guard made better time than Sei did underwater. He crossed the bridge and waved to another man headed toward him, presumably his relief.
The courtyard Sei looked out into was very open, paved with large slabs. The stone bridge was fenced and the walkway it connected had statues lining both sides. To the north, the path connected to a wide set of stairs, the center portion of which was an embossed stone slab five feet across. Two more guards stood at the top of the stairs by a door.
The conversation beneath Mik continued. From the sound of it, there were only two people in the room.
His glance over showed that he was at the second, larger courtyard now. This one had walkways around the interior and doors at regular intervals for rooms. There were two guards patrolling walkways on either side; the one on the east walkway was turned away from Mik and headed north. The western guard was headed south on his loop. Two more guards were stationed at the center north entrance. This courtyard was much like the other, without the bridge or stream.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:34 pm
Sei waited, and watched - a door with guards...
Hmm.
Maybe.... ?
He came out of the water as carefully as he could, using the statues to conceal himself from the relief guard walking along as he made his way toward the stairs, trying to think of a way to distract them...
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:39 pm
More guards! He wasn't surprised, but that didn't make it any less annoying, or what he was about to do any less risky. The truth was, however, that as soon as he'd overheard the conversation, he'd stopped thinking ahead - he was too angry to think ahead. It was all he could do to wait for what seemed like the best moment to drop down from the roof, landing much more quietly on the solid ground than he had on the tiled roof.
He didn't wait to see if he attracted any attention - he didn't have any time to, especially if he had - and made for the door he thought was the right one.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 8:55 pm
Neither of the guards saw Mik as he dropped down; decades upon decades of no intruders had them complacent. The room Mik entered was empty of people and dimly lit. It was small and sparsely furnished; a guestroom study from the dest with writing utensils to one side. The adjacent room however had light streaming under the connecting door and voices coming from within.
The guard's leniency was helping Sei as well. The new patrolling guard had so far confined himself to the southern half of his route. Both the ones by the door were chatting to each other, obviously bored and wishing they had the night of so they could be at that party.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:00 pm
Sei stopped at the back of the last statue before the stairs, pondering his next move. He had two choices - distract them somehow, which would end up with more alert security later on, or barge in in a blaze of energy shots...
...Which would result in much more careful guards. There wasn't much variation in choice, it seemed.
He let one of his orbs drop down in the grass, rolling to the other side with only the barest sound until it was quite a bit away on the other side, where he made it lunge to hit the wall.
ping
ping
ping
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Meepfur rolled 1 8-sided dice:
6
Total: 6 (1-8)
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:07 pm
Mik closed the door behind him quietly and took a second to look around. For once tonight, things actually seemed to be going his way. Before he moved on, he took the rest of his knives from the pockets he'd hidden them in, finally putting them back where they belonged. He was probably going to need them.
He appoached the door to the adjacent room carefully, drawing his bowie knife as he came to it. After taking a moment and a deep breath, listening to the voices on the other side, he flung the door open and lunged for whoever happened to be closest.
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Nimaina Sekan rolled 1 8-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-8)
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:09 pm
Mik's lunge hit the closest man in between the ribs. With a grunt of pain he tensed, then went limp and dropped to the ground with a thud. Blood seeped over his plain clothing as the second man stared in shock. But only for a second. He grabbed a seldom used sword of the wall and swung it to point at Mik. Then he got a good look at his assailant. "What...are you?" Han-gyong asked, looking over the angel with an expression of rage and disgust.
The guards by Sei didn't notice the pinging at first, but as it steadly grew louder they would have to be deaf not to. "What in the world is that?" one asked in irritation. "I'll check it out, you wait here," he ordered his partner, trotting off after the sound.
His partner was curious as well and neither were well disciplined. He walked a few yards after the other and called. "What did you find? Can you shut it up?"
((For refernce, Han-gyong has 7 health.))
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:25 pm
Sei remained as still as he could, watching the first one come down, and for a moment fearing that the other wouldn't, though he was thankfully proven wrong.
He continued with the pinging for as long as he could, through it ceased once he no longer had eye contact, and he darted up the stairs as fast as he could, hoping to make it to the other side of the door before the guards came back.
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Posted: Sun May 31, 2009 9:33 pm
Distantly, Mik was surprised at how easy that was, but for now, he didn't have time. There was still one left, and he thought by the voice that it was the one who'd been so casually listing his plans earlier. He was the one he really wanted to kill.
"I'm Fa'e," he answered coldly, eyeing the sword. It would give his opponent longer reach than he had and make it hard to get close. So he stood ready, waiting for the man to strike first.
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