1223.4 Once More Unto the Breach

Gerg, why don't you run Falko...
Everyone else is covered up by other threads, and I don't think it will interfere too much otherwise.

((Roger that.))

Falko is moderately freaked out by the whole image-and-voice theft. "Bless my soul," he says as he stares at himself, hovering above a tree stump, saying his own words back to him while he can hear nothing from himself. Tranquillina leads him back and forth around the nearby trees for a few minutes, until he gets more used to it; she points more than once to his shadow, warning him against being too bold in well-lit empty stretches.

As night falls, Falko starts creeping across the stretch of land between the forest's edge and the charred palisades. He doesn't go that much faster than he would if he had not been magicked up - although his ability to see the terrain in the dusk is far better than he is used to. "I'm alone, but I don't care," he sings without being able to hear himself at all, "I strut right by with my sword in the air...."

Falko makes his way inside the palisade, he waits for a bit, and the door opens and a giant comes out. He is able to dart through the open door just in time. The stairwell is partially blocked by a giant piece of wood, but it has been hacked out well enough with a make shift stairway. Making his way upstairs ther are four rooms with closed doors...

Tranquillina is now eavesdropping on Falko's surroundings. If Isen wants to spont a spell so that there's two-way communication, he may, but let's not make any noise at Falko's location...! Of course they can both see his image and hear him, although much of the latter is bad singing in Flemish. Speaking of which:

"One, two, three, four, who knows what's behind the door...." Falko chants without hearing himself, rubbing his chin in thought. He is truly enjoying not having to censor his musical impulses behind enemy lines.
How is this hallway lit? The poorer, the better.... Falko takes note of a spot on this near end of the hallway where his shadow is least noticeable. Then, on the theory that the valuable stuff is behind the most defenses, he goes to the fourth door, swallows hard, then knocks firmly upon it. Immediately he tiptoes back to the shadowy spot, from which he can see and hear the door he knocked on; in particular he tries to listen to whether any locks were engaged. ((Awareness roll for the latter: ... you know what, never mind, he's Per -3 and Poor Hearing :laughing: He'll stick to seeing whether anyone opens the door.))

Well...no one's opening any doors...
It's either pick a door or wait...
If Falko picks a door, pick 1-4, or option number 5, for waiting...

No problem, that's good information. Falko remembers he's supposed to be communicating with the magi, and starts describing where he's come. "Nobody came when I knocked on the door; hopefully that means nobody will get upset when I open it. Just in case, though, I'll have a diversion ready." He takes a silver penny from a pocket and holds it in his throwing hand. (I guess his sword's sheathed right now.)

Falko picks door number 4; he turns the knob (or whatever) and pushes it open wide enough to go through. Unless he sees someone staring right at him, he'll quickly step through, but hold the door open with one hand as he looks around the new room with his back against the wall.
(If that door is locked, he'll try number 3, then 2, then 1 until the first one that opens.)

Door number four appears to be a sitting room. There are many stuffed animals of gargantuan size on display in the room... Nothing looks like what's been described. There is also a human sized writing desk in the room, which goes without notice for a while. On the fourth time he passes it he notices that the desk doesn't fit with the scale of other furniture in the room.

((When you say "nothing looks like what's been described", what do you mean? Did Falko get a description of something?))

Falko closes the door behind him. "The last door leads to ... a child's play room? A giant child, that is," Falko reports, poking a couple of the stuffed animals to see if there's anything strange about them. After a few minutes of searching, he notices the writing desk. "There is one odd thing - the desk, here, it's not the right size for a giant."

Falko goes through the desk drawers, the human-sized chair, and so on, seeing if there's anything interesting to be found.

If he runs out of things to do in the room, he'll go back into the hall and see what's behind the third door.

Sorry, I figured he was instructed to look for the long silver chain....

There's a supply of parchment, ink and quills, a couple of pieces of leather and some tools to make a rudimentary binding, although Falko might not recognize it, he can describe it well enough to Isen and Tranquillina that they know what he's seeing. The desk is not sized for a giant child, it is sized for an adult human. There's nothing else in this room of note.

((Oh I get it now ... I thought you were saying that the whole setting wasn't as described ... but it's just that there's no chain around yet.))

As he finishes his fruitless search, Falko sings a little Flemish quatrain about strange markings on paper that magi seem to get so excited about. He sits in the chair for a moment, resting his invisible arms on the desk, noting that the size is perfect for him. Then he returns things to their original places and leaves the room - adopting a general strategy of pulling/pushing doors open to get a glimpse of what's beyond, then moving quickly through the doorway and keeping his back to the near wall while he takes in the surroundings. "Here I go, opening the second-to-last door in the hallway," he says in Latin, doing so.

And behind door number three...

This room is rather large and appears to rap around the other room on its side, going behind it. There is a bed, and in the bed are two sleeping giants, or a giant and a giantess. Well they were sleeping, the process of opening the door wasn't as quiet as Falko would have liked, and it creaked loudly. The giant is looking about, while the giantess has just rolled over and gone back to sleep. After a few moments of being frozen the giant goes back to sleep.

Additional activity in this room will require stealth rolls, because while Falko's voice doesn't make noise here, his footfalls and other noises do.

"Two giants in this room ... a couple, perhaps. Sleeping," Falko whispers. Then he squeezes his eyes shut for a moment. "Sleeeeeeeeeping!" he sings rebelliously.

He decides that the best chance of making it to the other side of the room, to see what else it holds besides what he can see from the door, is to tiptoe as quickly as possible. He keeps the coin in his hand, just in case.... ((Dex 1 + Stealth (quickly) 4 + stress die 8 = 13.))

He makes it to the other side of the room...
No silver chain is visible. There are a two dressers, two armoire, a desk, and a nightstand on each side of the bed. The giant sits up looking around, but not focusing on the direction Falko is going, and Falko does notice a glint of silver around the neck of the giant. Awareness roll...

((Per -3 (ow) + Awareness 3 + stress die 9 = 9, way to come through Falko!))

Falko is able to figure out that his movement, despite his being really quiet, is creating just enough noise to cause the giant to wake back up; he won't be surprised and prone if Tranquillina and Isen show up. Falko should probably stop moving around. Concentration +Stamina (yes!) for keeping still... First roll covers a 15 minute increment... Or call in the magus and maga and come what may...

"Lord, Lady, the male giant has something silver around his neck - maybe it's the chain!" Falko reports. "But - seems like my moving around is keeping the male giant from sleeping soundly. I can't imagine why - as far as I can tell I've been one hundred percent silent the whole time.... I'm going to try holding still for a while, see if he'll drop back off. But if that doesn't work ... um, please be ready to get here quickly?"

As he concentrates on keeping his weight evenly distributed on his feet and not shifting around, Falko starts softly singing a Flemish lullaby over and over, his eyes fixed upon the pair in the bed.
((Sta 2 + Concentration 3 + stress die 7 = 12.))

He's able to stay still and quiet without effort... The giant lies back down, but Falko's vantage point doesn't give him a good look at the giant's face to tell whether his eyes are open. No snoring sounds are heard. An Awareness EF 6 would be necessary to determine whether the giant is awake or asleep... Or wait for another stretch of time, with another Concentration + Stamina check to see if the giant starts snoring to confirm that it's asleep.

So...here's what the choices are:
Fail the Awareness check; the giant may or may not be asleep, the magi are called in.
Botch the awareness check, the giant is awake and feigning well, and there will not be any element of surprise.
Sneak into view, possibly spoiling the Giant's sleep, but confirming his being awake or asleep.
Wait another 15 minutes, call them in.
Wait another 15 minutes, and do an awareness check hoping the EF drops, or can sneak into view. IF the giant is asleep, the EF on sneaking will drop...

That's not the limit of choices, but the most obvious choices I can see...

If this isn't the most surreal situation he's ever been in - standing in a giant couple's bedroom, barely able to see the top of the bed at all, invisible, free to talk and sing all he wants - it's got to be in the top three. Falko decides he is perfectly happy practicing his lullabies for a little while longer. "I can't tell whether he's asleep or not ... let's give it some more time," he reports, before returning to his repertoire.
((Sta 2 + Concentration 3 + stress die 2 = 7.))

Back in the forest, Tranquillina lets laps her eavesdropping-on-the-surroundings spell (if she hadn't already), for complete lack of suitability to the present situation. She motions Isen to follow her a few steps away from the tree stump caterwauling in Flemish. "The question we must answer, of course, is how to get the chain once we arrive," she offers. "The physical spells I know will not affect someone so large; and the giant no doubt has magical resistance that would foil nearly any spontaneous spell I could cast directly upon him. I have learned a spell that would make him deathly afraid of the chain - or of anything we like - but it requires eye contact.... Do you have a way to take the chain by stealth? Or will it be, force?"

((If Falko needs an Awareness check, here we go: Per -3 + Awareness 3 + stress die 6 = 6. Factor in Poor Hearing's -3 if appropriate.))

Falko developed a muscle cramp and stepped on a creaky floorboard, and the giant shot up in bed. The giant looked around for a bit, and then decided to get up. He sits at the desk, with his back to Falko, and lights a lamp... He pulls out a scroll from a cubby hole and sharpens a rather large quill and sets to work doing something on the scroll...

The chain's clasp is clearly visible on his neck. Of course, his neck is 6 feet up in the air, when seated.

Perhaps heat the chain so he takes it off? Could it be brought to us then?