Meanwhile, across Paris:
"You know, it will work with an arcane connection," Lucas replies. "I'll grab a chip from a building in the alleyway across the street." He pauses and adds, "this is getting very close to the scrying prohibition in the Code. But as I recall, that'a limited to scrying on 'legal' affairs, not illegal ones. If they really are engaged in a crime over there, then going in invisibly should be okay.
"Just give me a diameter to rest from a spell, then five more diameters to check the place out. If I'm not back by then, start planning a rescue. "Okay, I'm going silent now ... I hope."
A diameter later (having recovered his breath), Lucas flies away from Vibria and Rilcheaux and over to the alleyway by the house. There he cuts a stone off the wall as an arcane connection, and flies up and over the wall and into the house's courtyard. There he begins to peer into the windows. The windows to the garret are all shuttered and he can't see anything in them. There are two rooms on the second floor, the back room has a bed and a table. An elderly gentleman working at the table on some papers. Lucas can't see exactly what the papers say from the angle he's at. The front room has two men in it - soldiers by the look of them - asleep on two of a number of sleeping pallets laid out on the floor. The regular furniture in the room is pushed to one side, leaving the impression that this is a temporary arrangement. Downstairs, there are likewise two rooms, the rear being a kitchen with another soldier in it, and the front room being a main hall having two soldiers in it.
Lucas returns to the room with the sleeping men in it and teleports inside, making no sound thanks to his spell. He looks around for a few moments, seeing nothing of particular interest. He heads down the gallery to the back room, but finds the door closed. Taking a moment, he heads up the stairs to the garret, flying to make sure he doesn't step on a creaky stair. At the small landing on top, he notes that the door has a lock attached to it, with no sign of a key at hand. Curiosity gets the better of him, and the magus casts another spell to open the lock. Quickly he slips in and closes the door behind him.
It takes a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, the only light being from the cracks in the shutters, but after a moment he can see that there is a woman tied up on the floor. Her clothes are dirty, but fine, indicating some kind of status. She looks up at the door but says nothing, Lucas can see now that it's because she's gagged. Looking back at the door, Lucas makes a decision. He takes a splinter from the floor and heads back outside, closing the door and locking it up again. Then he silently teleports back inside.
He allows his eyes to adjust again and moves over to the woman. Bending down, he whispers, "I'm here to help you. Don't make any noise. I'm going to take your gag off. Please keep your voice down. The men are still downstairs." Then he removes the gag.
"I don't know who you are," she whispers back, apparently unconcerned about talking to someone who's invisible. "But you have to get me out of here. Those men are only keeping me alive for what I know. Once they get it by other means, I have no doubt that they'll kill me."
"Let's start with who you are," Lucas replies, starting to untie her.
"My name is Flavia," the woman replies. "I uncovered some very important information that I was trying to get to some friends of mine when I was kidnapped and transported here. The men below took my notes, which I thankfully keep in code. But they have some kind of scholar trying to decipher my notes and recreate my work. My life can be measured in the time it takes for him to do that."
"If your friends included Santiago, then have no fear. He learned of your disappearance and sent us to find you."
"Oh, thank God," Flavia gasps. "You have no idea how happy I am to hear that." Then her eyes narrow. "Unless this is a trick," she says. "I wouldn't put it beyond them to try and fake an escape to get me to talk."
"We'll worry about talk later," Lucas says. "For now we focus on escape. You can keep your secrets until you speak to Santiago personally."
But before they can continue, there is a footfall upon the stairs. Slowly someone climbs to the garret and comes to the door. Lucas quickly arranges the ropes so they look like they're still binding Flavia and puts the gag back on. Then he moves over and hides behind a few boxes.
The lock turns and the door opens. One of the soldiers from downstairs looks in, scans the room, and looks at Flavia. Seeing her there and still apparently tied up, he closes the door and locks it behind him, marching down the stairs again.
As soon as the footfalls end, Lucas flies back and removes the gag again. "We need to get you out of here, and quickly. What spells do you know that would be of use?"
"I'm not sure there are any I could cast here. I've tried several while I've been tied up. But without incantations, they're too much. And if I try incatations, we're discovered."
"True. Best if we can get you out of here without alerting them. You're too heavy for me to carry in your present form. But if you'll let me shrink you, you ought to be light enough. Will you allow that?"
Flavia thinks for a moment, then nods.
Lucas quickly casts another spell to shrink Flavia and her woolen gown to the size of a small child. Her cotton chemise causes some trouble, as it remains full size. But that's quickly tucked in and kept out of the way.
"One more spell," Lucas adds, "just to try. I'm not sure it'll work." As it turns out, it doesn't work the first time, but does the second, rendering Flavia invisible.
"Let's go," Lucas says, opening the window and the shutters and feeling around until he grabs hold of the shortened maga. "Before someone comes back." The two fly out the window, stopping only long enough to close the window and the shutters, before they head off and away.
Meanwhile, back at the rendezvous the five diameters have passed without any sign of Lucas returning. Vibria and Rilcheaux are left to plan accordingly.
[hr][/hr]
Lucas will try and cast Cloak of Silence on himself. His CT is +16 (Base) -12 (Aura) +1 Exaggerated gestures = 5 vs target of 20.
Casting check for Cloak of Silence: 1D10+5 = [9]+5 = 14; success, Lucas loses 1 Fatigue level.
Lucas then rests for 2 minutes to regain the Fatigue level.
Lucas casts Wizard's Leap to get into the house. His CT is +19 (Base) -12 (Aura) +1 Exaggerated gestures = 8 vs target of 15.
Casting check for Wizards Leap: 1D10+8 = [8]+8 = 16; success
Lucas casts Key of Theodorus to open the lock. His CT is +19 (base) -12 (Aura) +1 Exaggerated gestures = 8 vs target of 10.
Casting check for Key of Theodorus: 1D10+8 = [4]+8 = 12; success
Lucas casts Wizard's Leap to get into the garret. His CT is +19 (Base) -12 (Aura) +1 Exaggerated gestures = 8 vs target of 15.
Casting check for Wizards Leap: 1D10+8 = [2]+8 = 10; success; loses 1 Fatigue level
Generic check for bad luck: 1D10 = [6] = 6 (high is bad); that's good enough for a standard check on the prisoner.
Lucas' Stealth check: Stealth (sneaking) + Dex check: 1D10+2 = [5]+2 = 7
Goon's Awareness check: Awareness + Per check: 1D10+3 = [3]+3 = 6; fail; whew!
Rest for the balance of two minutes to get back that level of Fatigue.
Lucas casts Preternatural Growth and Shrinking to shrink Flavia down to size -2. His CT is +25 (Base) -12 (Aura) +1 Exaggerated gestures = 14 vs target of 15.
Casting check for Preternatural Growth and Shrinking: 1D10+14 = [6]+14 = 20; success
Lucas will try and cast Cloak of Invisibility on Flavia. His CT is +16 (Base) -12 (Aura) +1 (Exaggerated gestures) = 5 vs target of 20.
Casting check for Cloak of Invisibility: 1D10+5 = [3]+5 = 8; fail, Lucas loses 1 Fatigue level.
Lucas will try and cast Cloak of Invisibility on Flavia again. His CT is +16 (Base) -12 (Aura) -1 (Fatigue) +1 (Exaggerated gestures) = 4 vs target of 20.
Casting check for Cloak of Invisibility: 1D10+4 = [9]+4 = 13; success; Lucas loses another Fatigue level.
Originally I'd thought this plan was doomed to failure because the remaining magus has Second Sight. But then I realized that his Second Sight is magical, and also suffers a -12 to the check for this Aura.
It's hard running a scene with your own character like this. But I tried to both do what he would have done and react how the bad guys would have reacted.
