It was an abnormally cold morning. There wasn’t any wind or precipitation to make it nightmarish. There was just a bitter dry chill that hung in the air. So much so that the guards of the Speculum Sorcere spent the morning arguing between each other on who had the chance to take a rotation inside. Small arguments had already broken out between members of the lower ranks of Conexus.
However, such disagreements ended quickly under the iron rule of Nisi Sine. The Conexus lieutenant was already on high alert, thoughts of a year ago filling his mind. He was lauded for the arrest of the Orator, praise and accolades showered upon him by the politicians of Terminus after the event. Though, they were never privy to the real details of that day. There was no noble arrest, the Orator had surrendered of his own volition.
The demvir waited closest to the Pactum Unum Quingenti in the center of Archivo Argentum. The usually grand hall was barren. The shelves of documents and other cases which contained a variety of treaties and bills were taken to safe storage. The room was eerily barren. The white marble floors contributed to the expansiveness of the room. Similar white marble pillars stood around the edges of the circular room, spending an ornately painted dome mural serving as the roof. The mural was a detailed map of Old Terminus at its founding.
A core of five other guards served his the personal guard and stood near the exits of the room. The hallways leading outwards were filled with patrols, and even more guards took turns patrolling the grounds. For the time being, the building looked like an impenetrable fortress.
---
About a quarter of a mile outside of the Archivo, Sarkis was waiting. The message that he had sent informed his gathered group to rendezvous in the middle of the open lot. The storage lot near the Archivo served as both a trash removal dump as well as a holding area for unused building materials. Due to its unsavory nature, the lot was essentially abandoned between trash gathering hours and late night janitorial work.
The spurii stood impatiently tapping his foot, a briefcase gripped tightly in his hand.
[369]
Read
This thread is a followup for Lambo, Dys, Vinny, and Moony. If you want to join as a PC or NPC just ask. Let's gogogogogo.
Aeria hefted the plain leather bag that carried her little distraction inside of it. It was a simple metallic sphere that contained a steam apparatus that was designed to overheat rapidly when she pressed the remote button. The superheated steam explosion would be dramatic enough but fairly small and contained. She had also made the machine make a high whistling noise and generally have the guards stare at it. It would roll and keep rolling due to the mechanism she’d created.
Her appearance was non-descript. She wore a drab brown cloak with dirty grey pants and a plain grey shirt. She looked like another poor spurii labourer carrying a heavy bag through the city. As she came to the storage lot, she saw Sarkis standing there, so she approached him and said, “Nice morning for a little fun!”
The androgynous girl flashed a quick, cold smile at her current employer. She didn’t care if he returned it or not. In fact, she wasn’t sure what she did care about lately. Aeria mused that she might not be standing here if she did.
Nera had felt increasingly anxious, and it only served to practically beat her heart out of her chest as she approached a pair of dark, shrouded figures occupying the empty lot ahead. More than specifically feeling any anticipatory dread about the highly questionable nature of what her group had been asked to do, Nysvernera had laid awake in her inn room, not learning the spell she had offered to learn. She had come unprepared, still dressed in the wide strips of thin fabric she had worn to the meeting, save for the addition of a thick burlap cloak that swathed her and kept her about as warm as she could have hoped, given the night.
She tried to have soft steps, but gravel under her feet shifted, grinding with each step. Lifting her hood, her yellow eyes and blue-freckled skin glowed effervescently in the moonlight.
"I almost couldn't decipher the note," she joked half-heartedly, eventually glancing at Aeria before fixing on Sarkis, "I couldn't learn the spell."
She had hoped to only have to admit her failure in front of Sarkis, but her heart dropped a little in her chest as she turned to her left and saw another of their party arrive.
Harper was the next to arrive. He wore a thick, grey jacket and dark pants with leather shoes. His scales had been cleverly disguised using makeup, giving him the appearance of an enlil rather than a spurii. The man approached quietly and smoothly, easy to miss if you weren't paying attention.
"If we make history, it's going to be really strange it all started here," he mused aloud. "Pretty humble beginnings." He glanced around at the people who had gathered so far. He slipped his hands into his pockets to keep them warm and fell silent, content to pretend he wasn't nervous.
“We’re stealing a piece of paper, making history is not the phrase I’d use,” the huntress called out. Per her normal procedures, Furi had been surveying the meetup from a higher position. She didn’t want something stupid happening, like Sarkis turning out to be be a double agent and calling the cops on them. Furi’s attire had changed, going for something more casual. The typical armor she wore had been switched out, electing for dark cargo pants and a big coat. Her wild hair was controlled, tied up in a large ponytail. It wasn’t radical as say the one she knew as Aeria down there, but she would have a use for it soon enough. “So...boss. What’s the gameplan now?” she asked.
"The piece of paper we're after has enough power to change the course of history, or at least the people who want it stolen think so," Harper countered. "Even if it isn't much more than that, if we take it right from under their noses, that will definitely get attention." He turned to Sarkis, a hint of interest sparking in his grey-violet eyes; it betrayed the carefully neutral expression tinged with irritation he wore.
If Aeria wasn’t nervous enough as it was, Furi’s statement only made her more worried that something would happen to screw things up. She tried not to snap too much because the last thing they needed was a fight in between the members of the crew but she said, “Our cold eyed buddy here has a point. This isn’t just any paper. People could lose their lives for it and that includes us.”
She set her distraction device down on the ground and removed it from its leather bag. The sphere of copper-coloured metal glowed dully in the faint sun and she began to adjust the dials on the side in preparation for releasing it when the time came. In the short period she’d had, Aeria had to admit that it was pretty nicely done. No, it was hardly perfect, but it would serve its purpose. Sliding it back into its bag, she sighed and said to no one in particular, “I just wanna get this over with and get the dough.”
"Same," Nera said, echoing Aeria's sentiment, "the longer we linger, the less chance I can see this working and all of us getting out alive."
The Velen girl drew her hood and the button-secured face flap back up, concealing her face beneath the cloak's heavy wool material.
"You," she said turning directly to Aeria, "how does the device work? Do you need to operate it, or can you set it and assist us when you're finished?"
It was all that Aeria could do not to say that her name wasn’t “you” but she realized that her name was a liability to her now so she ignored the tone in the velen’s voice and said, “No. I don’t need to operate it but we need not to be close to it when it goes off unless we all want to potentially lose body parts. I can assist you when I’m finished but I’m not much good as a thief, " she added, “but if it means we can get this over with and get our loot, like I said, I’ll do it. I’m definitely not doing this for the good of my health. All of this sitting around is making me Vis-damned nervous I can tell you.” [483]
"If you're not as good at sneaking in you can help us with getting out," Harper told Aeria. "If you see one of us getting harassed by guards, distract them or something. You can do that from a distance without risking your health too much." His mouth twitched into a bit of a crooked smile at the poor attempt at humor, but it faded quickly. "Think you can do that?"
He looked around at everyone else. "I don't know too much about underground life, but I heard a couple of gangs were getting into it and they might be fighting here today. If they really do end up causing a commotion, we can try to use that to cover our exit as well." He didn't tell them about Eden or say that there definitely would be others causing a ruckus; it would raise too many questions. That, and he didn't really trust the magenta-skinned woman. How was he to know they'd really show up?
Aeria’s own smile was wry as she said, “I figure that’s what the big kaboom is going to do. They’ll be pretty distracted by that. Sure, though, I can try to do that if necessary. I sure do wish we could get going. If everyone is ready, I can’t see why we shouldn’t proceed? What do we all think? We are the ones contracted to do this job after all.”
She felt nervous energy coursing through her as she stood and waited. Her heart was thundering in her ears from all of the adrenaline that flowed in her blood. It was an excited terror that drove her nervousness. The slender spurii wanted to just get this over with but she also secretly relished the thrill of it. Aeria hadn’t remembered ever feeling this way before her captivity with the Conexus so perhaps something in her had changed after it. [632]
As the gathered mercenaries plotted and cajoled, a coy smile stretched across Sarkis' face. "Ladies, gentlemen, please. As you well know by now, time is equal parts precious and treacherous. Best we get our ducks in a row."
After a moment of silence, punctuated by the occasional tapping of impatient feet, the showmanship evaporated from the professional's face. His voice dipped to a dangerous baritone, and his words were deathly serious, "We will only have one attempt at this. A mistake cannot be rectified, only improvised around. Someone falls behind, fails to accomplish their objective, it can bring the whole of this down around us.
"You've planned and you've schemed, now it's time to show the world what it amounts to. Walk away as princes of thieves, or fail as wannabe hotshots." The spurii adjusted his cuffs, looking to each gathered member before cracking his briefcase ever-so-slightly, withdrawing a small sheaf of papers from within.
Handing it off, the floor plan of the Pactum Unum Quingenti was emblazoned across it in a reasonably detailed schematic.
"There are two stairwells, one leading up to the second showroom floor; the other down to the archival levels, where the treaty proper is being held," Sarkis explained, "There's no publically available floor plan for the archives, and while the treaty is being held, the second floor showroom is off-limits. You will, of course, need to pay a door fee to get into the building. I would consider all your options before you go inside. It's very likely you won't get a chance to change the plan, or communicate overtly, once you're in."
[ 268 / 268 ]
Map and Status
Stepping in at Hiren's request, will try to get this moving ASAP. The map's kinda empty, but there are obviously quite a few exhibits on display inside, including on the two rows of support columns. The desks are where employees take a door fee, and the first floor is separated between two showrooms. The northern showroom has stairwell access, and is likely guarded.
“Finally he speaks,” the huntress said, climbing down from her perch above. She had no interest in breaking the ice with her partners in crime, and just wanted to get the job started already. “One entrance, one exit, unless you plan on blowing a hole in the wall for an escape. But I doubt these guards will let you bring anything extra with you after you’ve paid the entry fee. I’ll set up here,” Furi stated, pointing at a building overlooking the entrance. “We will need some indication that the theft is successful, I’m not about to start shooting if I see they’ve went and captured you. Once you’re out there, you’ll be covered. If not by me, then whatever Miss Distraction over there has in her bag of tricks,” she ended, gesturing to Aeria.
Harper relaxed a bit, glad they could get started.
“If we act normal until the guards start rushing out to see the main, distraction, getting security to pay less attention to the stairwell will be easier.” It was obvious, but repeating the plan made the man feel a little less anxious.
“By the way, how do you plan on making a commotion?” he asked, eyeing Nera.
Aeria sighed in response to Furi and said, “I’ll say this again. The idea is that my distraction is what draws the guards out. It isn’t reusable you know. Once the charges blow in it, it’s done. Sarkis set my mandate as creating a distraction, so that’s what it’ll do. The only thing I can do is delay the charges for a while but once the timer runs out, there’s going to be a kaboom.”
She continued, “Everything’s done with clockwork and gearing. It will proceed in a straight line until a certain gearset activates itself. It’ll do it’s song and dance for a length of time that I can set and then it will blow the charges. Those are the parameters we have to work with so we need to decide how to use them.”
She finished, “I am considering setting this device up outside so that the guards all come running to investigate it and leave you to do what you need to do inside. Anyone have any comment on this?” It almost sounded like a challenge and part of Aeria felt that, in a sense, she was issuing her co-conspirators with exactly that. It was strange that she was so adversarial and she wasn’t sure she understood why that was so. [844]
"Why wouldn't they let you bring anything, short of maybe firearms, in with you? Did anyone bother to check?" Nera balked, still anxious about the shaky framework of their overall plan, "Even if they don't let me in with my spear, I'll remain just outside the doors to secure the exit."
A cold breeze fluttered her cloak, filling the thick material until it billowed, revealing a harrowed expression on her blue-gray face.
"I'm still hopeful about our 'distraction'," she said, forcing a small smile, "I'm sure it'll work as intended."
Turning to Furi, her expression molded into an icy stare, belying her fast-beating heart.
"We'd better start getting in position," she said, gesturing with a wave as she broke the circle and started walking to the unmistakable building nearby.
Harper was the next to leave the group after glancing at Aeria once more. “The distraction will cause a lot of running around, security might not notice you running in if you wait for it to go off,” he suggested as he passed Nera.
The spurii stopped, and turned back towards their group again. “We could head in five or so minutes apart,” Harper proposed, looking at Sarkis, “or is that being too cautious?”
Aeria nodded and made sure that her device was properly situated so that she could easily slide it out of the bag in which she carried it and roll it along the floor to get it started. She wasn’t sure for how long she ought to set the timer but she figured she could calculate that once she could actually see the layout of things and how long people were going to take to move in. Timing was everything as the cliché went. She was terrified of being the only thing that caused their project to fail but it was too late for that now.
The tall, slim spurii fell in behind Nera as they moved towards the building. She was trying to think of how far away she should stop and when she should roll her distraction out with the timer set and the fuses ready to blow. It was a tense and nerve-wracking experience and it was a jolt to realize that she did actually give a damn what happened to her and everyone else. Once again she wondered how she ever got herself into these things.
A light-hearted tut-tutting came from Sarkis, the spurii stepping forwards between the members of the group, "Then, as we understand it: The delightful spear-woman and her rookie companion will be our door-stoppers. That is to say, you two will be inevitably responsible for keeping an exit unsealed should the worst occur. No doubt, you two will be in the greatest danger should that happen, and I would expect you two not to," Here, Sarkis cleared his throat. "Go off prematurely, yes?"
Clapping his hands, and ignoring the overly loud sound they made, Sarkis turned to the remainder of the group. "Our little distraction-maker is best-off allowing things to take course inside. There are many things, not simply our objective, worth keeping intact. Enough panic will bring thoughts towards all exhibits.
"That said, it would be best not to rely on such brazen methods as a first approach. Consider allowing it to be a contingency. The Conexus are not infallibly professional; the right words can lend a distraction all their own." Straightening his clothing, and readjusting his grip on the briefcase still clutched in one hand, he pointed to Harper. "Which leaves the acquisition itself to you, my fine friend. Your caution is well-earned, and deserved. These guards may not be perfect, but they are some of the best the Conexus can offer."
Stepping back once more, his eyes trailed meaningfully from one member of the unconventional troupe to the next. Finally, they landed on Harper. "You are at the most risk. It is only fair that you decide whether such means are necessary. Regardless, it is best we begin soon. We have the luxury of a guard rotation coming up, and such an opportunity is best not left behind."
[ 289 / 557 ]
Note
Just a casual reminder that there are three entrances to the South, West, and East of the building. You are all currently nearest the East entrance.
There was a certain amount of relief in Sarkis’ words for Aeria. She was glad that he was advising a more cautious approach rather than what she feared would be a botched, all-out assault that would result in the detention of every member of their group. She was not going back into a Conexus cell. The alternative, while grim, was something that she was prepared to contemplate if it came right down to it.
“Right. Adjust according to what happens and have the distraction ready. I've got it!” She exclaimed this with far more confidence than she really possessed but she had to try and buoy her own morale to get things done.
She glanced at the others and said, “We’d best go. Sarkis is right and time’s a wasting.”
