LogestRoad Night Ops

So there I was, head down in a bucket of fish, and that wasn't the worst of it. The guy holding me there wasn't being too gentle, and his buddy with the knife was definitely starting to worry me. The wost part was that I had failed Lady Del Ris. Maybe I should go back a bit.

It all started with a challenge. Lady Del Ris was challenged to have one of her spies find a particular piece of information, and as I was her latest project, she put me on it. That's a bit vague. I'll try again.

Lady Del Ris was at a party with a bunch of other nobles. Lord Riljen, a big mouthed nobleman known for bragging and spinning tall tales claimed his spies were the best in Sigil, and that nobody could get through his defenses. Since this is a point of pride for Lady Del Ris, she got caught up in the conversation, and was eventually goaded into setting her spies against those of the Lord. And so she brought me this challenge.

I was to go to the hosue of Lord Riljen, infiltrate it, and find my way deep into his vault, and find some papers with a particular piece of information, and the seal of the Lady of Pain, and then get back out with it. Easy, right? Given that my training, and my skills at infiltration, this seemed like the right job for me, and I was relatively unknown, having just finished my training with Brala.

The first stage of any mission is research and recon. Find out everything you can about your target before you head in. We had a pretty good set of plans of Lord Riljen's house, including the location of his vault. This gave me a place to start. I could look at the routes into and out of the house, and get a feel for the place. The vault, unsurprisingly, was in one of the sub basements. And from the looks of things, there was only one way in or out. The rest of the house would be easier.

The downside was that I was on a timeline. I didn't have as much time to prep as I would have liked. I only had a couple of days to do profiles on the servants, but I had help. Brala and a couple of Lady Del Ris's other servants were helping me gather info, but I had the lead. I started with one of my old ploys, the kitchen. It's the living center of any large household, and so has people going in and out all the time. This time, it would get me in, but would make getting time inside difficult, since there Lord Reljin also knew I was coming. So I decided on a different tactic. I'd rely on stealth.

That was probably a mistake. I was much better at bluffing than I was at hiding. But again, I didn't have the time to prep properly, so I didn't have a lot of options. I would go in at night, sneak in through one of the empty guest rooms, dodge the guard patrolls, and make my way to the wine cellar, from which I could get to the appropriate sub basement to enter the vault. That's where my bluffing would have to come in to play. The vault was guarded at all times of day and night, and only a few people were allowed in, other than the Lord himself. I'd have to talk my way past them, get enough time to search the vault, get the scroll, and get out again quickly so I could deliver it back to Lady Del Ris, and she could bring her proof back to the nobles.

So I got myself ready. I had plenty of weapons, some other specialized gear, but really, the lighter I went in, the better. I stripped down to my lightest leathers, two daggers, since if I needed a weapon, I was already screwed. I had a small disguise kit, and a few toys to help me om my way. I left house Del Ris after dark, hidden under an empty supply cart. Not even the driver knew I was there. Once I was outside of the gate, I waited for the cart to stop, then I dropped out from under it, and snuck off into the night.

I arrived at House Riljen an hour or so later, unobserved. I don't think anyone saw me as I moved through the city. A few minutes, a scaled wall, and some more sneaking, and I'd made it to the window. The window was locked. That was ok, I was in a sheltered spot that the sentries wouldn't really see, at the window to an empty room. I had time. Which is good, because it took me longer than I'd expected to to open it. I was in the window and had it closed and relatched before anyone spotted me, but I was already starting to fall behind my schedule.

Once inside the house, I started sneaking around to the kitchen, which is where the main entrance to the wine cellar was. There were other ways down there, but they seemed riskier to me, and more likely to have people in them at this time of night. Most kitchens wind down late at night until the early morning rush. I was hoping that my late entrance would only mean that there would be fewer people in the kitchen. If that was true, I couldn't tell. The kitchen was nearly full of cooks rolling out dough, chopping friut, and generally doing things to prepare for the morning. Well, it was time to bluff my way through after all.

I ducked into a small side room, made a quick change into a disguise I hoped would give me an edge, and walked into the kitchen. And that's where things started getting complicated. See, the head cook at that time of night had a very fixed idea of what was supposed to be happening, and didn't like it when someone who she didn't think should be there walked in. I walked in posing as a wine steward, skirting the room towards the cellar, and would have just walked through like I was supposed to be there, but the head chef immediately yelled at someone to stop me so she could find out what I thought I was doing.

I stopped and acted the part. I waited for the chef to come over, and started complaining that the guests were waiting for their wine. She didn't seem to care, and started grilling me about who I was, why I was there, and why I was in her kitchen. I thought I knew the answers. Ends up I was wrong. My cover for this phase was that I was replacing someone who'd recently left. I had a name, who hired me, who I was working for, all of it. The only problem is that the person I was replacing had come back that afternoon and begged to get his job back. I knew I would be screwed if the head steward was called, so I had to think fast. So I fell back on my best skill. I lied.

I told the chef that I was being allowed to stay through the evening, but that I would be leaving in the morning with a bit of extra pay because of the unexpectedly short stay. She was still skeptical, but told me to get the wine and stay out of her kitchen. I became grateful and skittish, and practically ran for the cellar at that point, figuring that was the right response for my cover. I thought I was clear, at least for the time being. I went into the cellar, which was quite extensive, and got distracted. Some of the wines in there were legendary, and a few bottles I saw were of vintages thought to have been finished years earlier.

I only realized my mistake, and was awoken from my browsing of the stock when I heard voice from above, one of which saying I was down there. I quickly made myself scarce, and started sneaking towards the stairway down. Fat lot of good that did me. Seems Lord Riljen wasn't comlpetly wrong about the skills of his spies. While I was sneaking around to the stairs, someone else snuck up behind me. I didn't even know he was there until I felt him grab my arms and force my wrists behind my back. He was fast and strong, and better at hiding than I was. I was quickly hooded, grabbed by a couple more strong hands, and dragged back up to the kitchens, and from there into a store room.

The questioning was brutal. They found a bucket of fish and used that as torture, since it was on hand and full of water as well. The one holding me under in the bucket of fish was the spy who'd caught me. The one with a knife was one of the cooks assistants. Of course I wasn't going to tell them anything, but I was pretty solidly caught. Well, I figured what the heck. I'd go for broke. The next time I was let up to breathe, I started triggering my toys.

Within seconds I had a knife in my hands, and had startled the guy holding me enough to break free from his grip, got a concealment going, and then I got out of the room. I knew that I'd be lucky to get out alive, but I had to try one more time to get to the vault. I ran for it, hoping the surprise would hold. I triggered my last toy, giving myself some invisible armor as well, and made it to the wine cellar again. This time I wasn't distracted, and made it all the way down the stairs to the vault doors before I realized what was going on. Corrin was coming out, and the guards were standing still, apparently unseeing. He spotted me, we nodded to each other, and ran back out. We split up, and I went back out through the kitchen while he ran a different direction. I couldn't help myself and did grab one bottle of exceptionally rare wine on my way out.

I ran for my life, and straight out the back of the kitchen, rather than trying to sneak back out. The bustle of the cooks preparing for breakfast was all the distraction I needed, and nobody was able to react before I was past them. I was out the door and into the yard, where I quickly hid and snuck back out to the wall. I made it out despite the alert and the guards.

Back home, I reported to Lady Del Ris, and Brala was already there again, with the scroll. I should have known there would be a backup. I was the distraction, and that stung, because I didn't even know it. I presented Lady Del Ris with the wine I'd stolen, which amused her, and began to appologise for my failure. That's when she silenced me and I was told that I'd performed exactly as expected. From the beginning, Brala and the Lady had decided that they'd give me a chance, but expected me to be the distraction while Brala did the actual infiltration. They also expected me to fail, more or less as I had, to provide Brala with his opportunity and a distraction.

Sure I was a little bitter at not being told before hand, but I also realized very quickly that if they had told me, it would have modified my plan, and made the whole thing less likely to work as well. Logic had to win out over emotion this time, so I bowed to the Lady, and formally proclaimed my honor at serving her. She's always been spectacularly good at reading people, and rewarded my service with the wine I'd stolen, thanking me for my commitment to her house, and dismissing me for the night.

I enjoyed that bottle of wine some years ago, but the lesson has stuck with me. Sometimes you're just the distraction, even if you don't know it. And others will use you to their greatest advantage when you're in their service. And when someone is in your service, and you have an objective, it's your duty to use them to the best of their ability, and sometimes you can't worry about their feelings until after the objective has been achieved.