The War for the Rose: Book One Complete

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Take the coal and the lumber, place it in strategic locations around the building.
>Lead the men inside.
>BURN THE ARMORY TO THE GROUND (using the tinder and more coal/lumber).
>Laugh.

[intangibleInsight]

>Grab the hammer. If no other, more discreet, Plan A comes to mind, use it to knock out the guards.

[alexthewhite]

>Grab the hammer. If no other, more discreet, Plan A comes to mind, use it to knock out the guards.

You pick up the hammer and place it in your belt. It's fairly weighty, even heavier than the entire bag of chains. It'll make a good weapon, for sure, but you don't want to keep it longer than you have to. That, and you've never used a hammer before.

Granted, it's not a particularly finessed weapon. Smash them with the hard end, you don't need training to know that. But such a blunt, ugly weapon in your delicate hands...let's just say you prefer your knife to the iron orb on a stick.

>Take the coal and the lumber, place it in strategic locations around the building.
>Lead the men inside.
>BURN THE ARMORY TO THE GROUND (using the tinder and more coal/lumber).
>Laugh.

While the idea of burning your foes alive is certainly appealing to the darker aspects of your personality, you can't help but think that this plan has a somewhat high margin of error.

That said, it's certainly on the right track. Killing the men might not be an option, but luring them away from the fountain sounds like it could work...

[DS Piron]

> Look for a back door, if there is one, make traps to stall them while you make a break for...

[alexthewhite]

> Look for a back door, if there is one, make traps to stall them while you make a break for...

You search the hearth and the main room thoroughly, but you find nothing in the way of a back door.

As for traps, you don't really know what a trap would look like. The things in the hearth and your weapons are all useful killing implements, but traps would require some kind of bait. Some way to lure the men inside while you sneak past...

Most traps, in your quite limited experience, require rope to use. There is no rope here, so unless you can think of a specific trap that can be made with the components you possess, setting a trap isn't really an option.

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Use the burning building as the distraction.

>...look, just burn something, alright? Cause some chaos!

[alexthewhite]

>Use the burning building as the distraction.

>...look, just burn something, alright? Cause some chaos!

Hmm...burning...distraction...chaos...

You think you have an idea.

You run to the hearth and shovel coal into the fire. Then, using the tinder, you light a flame and place it over the coals.

As the black stones turn red, you begin to add firewood. In a matter of minutes, you've got a decent sized fire crackling away.

Smoke rises from the hearth and up through the chimney. There's no way that the guards won't notice it. They'll come rushing in, and then...and then...

Huh. What will you do from there?

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Wait for them to split up, strike the first one from above and strangle him silently, kill the second when he comes to investigate.

>So, basically, hide!

[alexthewhite]

>Wait for them to split up, strike the first one from above and strangle him silently, kill the second when he comes to investigate.

>So, basically, hide!

You dart up the stairs, round the corner, and sink to the floor. After what feels like an eternity, you hear a creaking noise.

"...Look, let's just give it a quick look," says a gruff male voice. "There may be someone here."

"In this district? Anyone who hangs around in Flightless territory is either blind or stupid," says a second voice, older and rustier than the first. "And we're stupid enough to go looking for trouble instead of leaving."

"I'll check the hearth, you go upstairs," the first voice says. "Be on guard."

"Aye." You hear the sound of two swords being drawn, followed immediately by heavy footsteps from the bottom of the stairs.

In your experience, strangling requires a lot of time and superior strength than the person you're choking. There's no way you'll outmuscle a full-grown man. Perhaps this wasn't the right tactic...

[OnBackorder]

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Wish I knew about this before. I would have voted for the nice cozy brothel.

Trap Option
- In some room, set hammer precariously on a shelf. Hide in another room until the guard goes to examine the inevitable thud; strike him from behind.

Aggressive Option
- Throw chains, as he reaches your floor. He will likely fall down the stairs and break something regardless of the chain choking him as it should. Take second guard out at your leisure.

Tactician Option
- We can tell these guards are heavy on their feet by sound alone. Lure one to the nice flat roof. There you have unrestricted movement, and are free to toy with the guy. Tripping him off the edge is also viable from here.

I personally prefer the hammer option, since we won't holding onto that for much longer and the other options are more likely to show themselves again.

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You said the roofs are flat. Since they are made for emergency airship landings, I also assume buildings are close together. Is a rooftop escape a la Assassin's Creed out of the question?

[alexthewhite]

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Wish I knew about this before. I would have voted for the nice cozy brothel.

Trap Option
- In some room, set hammer precariously on a shelf. Hide in another room until the guard goes to examine the inevitable thud; strike him from behind.

(This is the sort of lateral thinking I was looking for, excellent work.)

MINUTES IN THE PAST, BUT NOT MANY...

You run over to the apprentices bedroom and, finding a shelf, you place the hammer on the shelf, with the head and most of the shaft hanging off the ledge. It doesn't look like it's going to fall immediately.

You then run to the master bedroom, duck under the bed, and wait.

Once the heavy footsteps reach the top of the staircase, you stomp your foot as hard as you can. Nothing happens.

"What was that..." murmurs a voice outside, before the sound of your stamp is forgotten in a significantly louder THUD as the hammer falls from the shelf.

You peek over the bed. The soldier is looking inside the apprentice's bedroom, his back to you. In a fluid motion, you vault over the bed and take five steps forward. You then leap forward, onto the soldier's back.

He's big and covered in chainmail, but you catch him off balance. Before he's able to figure out what's going on, you slide your knife forward, aim it, and jam to the hilt into his unarmored neck.

There's a moment of silence before you drag the knife from right to left, coming halfway to decapitation. You pull the dripping blade out and kick forwards, and the man falls face-first onto the bed. He was dead before he made contact.

As the sheets start to turn crimson, you hear another set of footsteps. The other soldier must have heard the hammer fall and the commotion you couldn't help but make while killing his comrade.

You get the feeling that, despite it being your namesake, hiding won't work twice. It's a good thing you thought of some other tactics earlier, because now would be a good time to implement one of them.

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Take his weapon, lurk behind the door, and strike from behind.

[alexthewhite]

>Take his weapon, lurk behind the door, and strike from behind.

You pull the short sword from its sheath. The blade is rusting and low quality, but it'll have to do. It's not like you're going to be attempting a prolonged fight, which is good, because you've no experience with a short sword.

You dart behind the door, and wait for the soldier to enter. From just outside you hear him as the corpse comes into view.

"Airwalker alive!" the voice exclaims, as it slowly moves through the doorway. You stay as still as you can. "Where are you, you son of a-"

You whip out from behind the door and lash out with the sword. It catches the soldier in the chest, rattling off his chainmail. Neither you nor the blade were strong enough to penetrate his defense.

The man whips around and growls. He strikes almost faster than your eyes can follow, deep into your guard. The soldier is far stronger than you, and the force of impact knocks the blade out of your hands.

Before you have a chance to react, the man vaunts forward and smashes into you with his shoulder. The blunt force knocks you off your feet, and although you are able to land without hurting your head, you find the cold steel of his blade pressed against your neck.

"Stupid whelp," the man growls. "And what reason do you have for me not to kill you?"

[OnBackorder]

> Use feminine wiles.

[mellifluousMastermind]

> Use feminine wiles.

I was thinking the exact same thing.
It's our only hope.

[alexthewhite]

> Use feminine wiles.

You've no idea what this means! You spent all your time knife-fighting, and without a lady in the court to teach you how to use what Laughing Spire called "the weapon women wield between their legs," you couldn't seduce a handful of sand!

The soldier, unbeknownst to your internal dilemma, presses the steel against the underside of your neck. "You're...you're only about thirteen, fourteen, aren't you, lass? But you still killed Rook. Granted, he was a fool, but a well-armed fool. That isn't something a whelp off the street could pull off. And that armor of yours looks well-made, too. I know you aren't a street urchin. Tell me who you are, or..."

You involuntarily gasp as he draws blood from your neck. Three crimson droplets fall from your chin onto the steel. Tears start to well in your eyes; that hurt.

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Use childhood wiles!
>Make up some story about your starving baby brother, and how it's so cold at night being an orphan, during this war, and waaaaaaaaaaah!

[alexthewhite]

>Make up some story about your starving baby brother, and how it's so cold at night being an orphan, during this war, and waaaaaaaaaaah!

You get the feeling this story isn't going to fly. This soldier has already figured out you aren't some orphan off the street, they wouldn't have the skill to kill his friend or the leather armor you're currently wearing. You can either sell him on your cover (which, considering you just killed his friend, he is unwilling to buy and even less likely to let you live afterwards) or tell him who you really are, and try to convince him that you're too valuable to kill.

[OnBackorder]

> Lying is always the answer. "I am daughter of your lord! Were this a time of peace, your head would already be cleared of your shoulders."
> Imply heavily that Mud would want to see you personally.

[alexthewhite]

> Lying is always the answer. "I am daughter of your lord! Were this a time of peace, your head would already be cleared of your shoulders."

For a moment, the soldier's face is filled with confusion. Then, it melts into a fierce grin. "My lord? You see my tabard? My lord is mud, and Mud's got no children. His wife's power, and his son is a sword." Laughing softly at his jest, the soldier forces his eyes back to you.

"If you mean the Granite lord, well, not only is he not my lord, his only child's a man nearly twice your age. Lie to me again, lass, and I'll open your throat. My patience is run out. You've been lucky; most of my comrades would have killed you by now, and some others would have made you wish all they had done was kill you."

[mellifluousMastermind]

>You've run out of options. Offer him anything he wants of you to spare your life; you've shown how proficient you are at killing his partner, perhaps he would like to take you on as a temporary replacement? Or at least as grunt labor? Comic relief? Anything?

[alexthewhite]

>You've run out of options. Offer him anything he wants of you to spare your life; you've shown how proficient you are at killing his partner, perhaps he would like to take you on as a temporary replacement? Or at least as grunt labor? Comic relief? Anything?

Groveling?

You are Hiding Spire, fourth child of Towering Spire, lord of a family that is over a thousand years old. Your ancestor was made a lord by Swirling Sand himself, nearly a thousand years ago. Since then, your family has been nothing if not one of Whitesky's proudest, loyalest, and most of all, bravest families. Both your father and brother earned commendations from the liege lord in the war with the bandits when you were just a little girl.

You would rather die than beg for your life.

No, you need to either convince this fellow you're more valuable as a prisoner than as a corpse (and at least prisoners can then hopefully find a way to escape) or, though you can't think of anything off the top of your head, get rid of him somehow. Come on, Hiding Spire, think! Surely you have some sort of tool or strategy that can save you!

[OnBackorder]

Trying to remember all of our items. Didn't we have a cylinder with a get out of jail free card in it? Whats the situation with our chain bag, can we strangle the guy from this close? I think our knife is pinned to our side by this point, and lying has failed us. Not sure if we can stall long enough for the armory to catch ablaze. Screaming for help would be just stupid. The 15 silvers in our pocket is nowhere near enough to bribe him, and he would kill us anyway. Reading backlogs, probably missed something.

This guy has an awesome Sense Motive score. Knife to our throat . . . We really need to stop fucking up soon. I wonder how much he knows about the Thieves Guild . . .
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==> "Would you believe I am Ten Knives' Apprentice." To prove her point, "You can clearly see my skill with the knife, my well fed features, and stolen armor. . . Still need proof, I will show you a passage to the Underworld."

Further responses to his incessant questions that ruin all my good lies

If he starts getting on her case about the apprenticeship, "How do you think thieves operate? It is a business, and there are rules. A normal urchin can only get so far, but should one be scouted as I have . . ."

"Why would I betray the guild? My life is more important to me. Ten Knives may kill me herself for my betrayal so I must buy enough time to escape this city. Lord Mud is a great protector and could use my skills."

"You will let me live, I have Guild secrets. Lord Mud could not stop us as Guard Captain, and his troubles will grow with his power. Information . . . is more valuable than a hundred airships! I hope you understand my tight lips earlier. Lord Granite falls by his own ignorance, and Mud would be wise not to repeat Granite's folly."

"Do you want to be the reason Mud falls?" This should be enough to convince him I am who I say I am, and the threat of Mud's conquest failing because of him should at least make him feel that Mud should be the one to make the decision.

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This whole thing relies on Ten Knives being infamous, I can't be sure if she is actually the boss.
I don't think he will let his guard down even after we reach the hidden passage, but running though the maze when we get there sounds awesome though. Lets hope we pop out at a pet store this time around!

I really hope this one works because otherwise we will have to tell the truth!

[OnBackorder]

Questions.
1. If we get her killed, heaven forbid, what are the chances she can be revived? I know there are those super rare vials of Awesome Water (tm) and at least a handful of people who respect or love her. The kid with the great-sword from earlier seems a likely candidate to quest for such an item, but that changes the story from politics and subterfuge to something akin to the Knights of the Round.

2. Would you mind if I copied the story parts into a Google.doc ? I figure that having the story intact would gather more readers. Could spam it elsewhere, etc. Also makes for easier searching. Alternatively, you might want to edit the original post with a summery, some spoiler tags and whatever will make it look nicer. The block of text might be scarring folks off.

[alexthewhite]

Questions.
1. If we get her killed, heaven forbid, what are the chances she can be revived? I know there are those super rare vials of Awesome Water (tm) and at least a handful of people who respect or love her. The kid with the great-sword from earlier seems a likely candidate to quest for such an item, but that changes the story from politics and subterfuge to something akin to the Knights of the Round.

2. Would you mind if I copied the story parts into a Google.doc ? I figure that having the story intact would gather more readers. Could spam it elsewhere, etc. Also makes for easier searching. Alternatively, you might want to edit the original post with a summery, some spoiler tags and whatever will make it look nicer. The block of text might be scarring folks off.

1. I honestly don't know what I would do if Hiding Spire died. My original idea was to send the reader back several commands, give them a chance to survive whatever it is slew her. For example, if Hiding Spire takes too long to save her skin here, the guard will kill her, so I would send her back to the decision that got her into the scenario: attacking with a shoddy strategy. At this point in the story, I can't really switch perspectives to anyone else other than a couple characters like Whispering Dune. I suppose if Hiding Spire's death is brought about by the reader, I'll send us back in time a bit and call that a divergent timeline. If Hiding Spire dies for story purposes (not that I'm saying this will happen, but it could,) she'll stay dead unless she gets brought back through mystical means.

2. The Google Docs thing sounds like a great idea! I'll also take your suggestions regarding the original post. I don't really expect too many readers, text adventures tend to be lacking in that department compared to ones with pretty pictures.