The Master Thief Of Cintarra, Episode 4

Results from episode 3: 40% for “The downward-sloping tunnel with the foul stench”, 40% for “The level path with the dusty smell and the fluttering spiderwebs”, and 20% for “The upward sloping path with the pale green glow.” Since we had a tie, I tossed a coin to decide the winner, and “The download-sloping tunnel with the foul stench won”.

Catch up on previous episodes here.

You decide upon the downward-sloping tunnel with the foul stench, and stride forward, Sidorna following after you. Mold and slime cake the tunnel’s walls, and the smell gets worse with every step you take. In fact, the smell seems familiar, and suddenly you place it.

Rat droppings.

Even as the realization comes to you, the tunnel ends in a large vaulted chamber, no doubt once an ancient elven temple. Now dozens of crude nests, assembled out of garbage and driftwood, fill the long hall. You see the glint of dozens of red eyes watching you from within the darkness of the nests. Ratmen, probably. The Prince of Cintarra extends his protection to all peoples, but the ratmen are loathed, and lurk in the darkness below the city. For the most part they are scavengers, but have been known to snatch babies out of cradles…and to eat anyone they catch alone in the sewers.

Sidorna frowns and lifts her lantern. “Who built these things?”

In response, the biggest ratman you’ve ever seen shuffles out of the central nest. The ratman stands perhaps six feet tall, with stringy gray fur, beady red eyes, and long sharp nails and teeth. Coins and cheap jewelry, all polished to a mirror shine, adorn his fingers, ears, and fur.. Sidorna flinches and steps behind you. Evidently, she doesn’t like rats.

“Trespassers,” hisses the ratman, sniffing the air. “This is our nest, and you trespass!”

You explain that you are merely passing through, and will depart and trouble the ratmen no more.

“Not good enough!” says the ratman, and dozens more emerge from their nests, creeping towards you. “Two humans alone in the dark, yes? Running from the Guard, perhaps? And if they disappear…oh, so sad, so bad, no one will miss them?” He makes a sniffling laugh, his teeth clicking. “No dead fish and garbage for us! Tonight we have hot meat and hot blood!”

You draw your rapier and dagger. The ratmen hesitate, but they are getting ready to spring.

Sidorna grips your shoulder, and you see an ornate silver flute in her hand. “Let me play for them! Ratmen love music. I can charm them. I’ve done this before!”

The ratmen creep closer, and you see the hunger in their eyes.

The Master Thief of Cintarra, episode 3

(Results from episode 2: 80% for “Vault the bar and make for the trapdoor”, 10% for “Try to talk your way out of the situation. Surely this is all a misunderstanding”, and 10% for “Sprint for the front door. Hopefully the drunken orcs will confuse the guards long enough for you to escape.”

You leap forward and vault over the bar. The razor edge of Ankylon’s sword comes within an inch of taking your head, but you roll over the floor and into the trap door. Half-stumbling, half-falling down the ladder to the cellar, you slam the trap door shut over your head and drive the bolt home.

The Guards have axes. The trap door won’t slow them down for very long.

The woman who beckoned to you waits at the bottom of the stairs. Her clothing is outlandish, with boots, close-fitting trousers, a white shirt, a black leather vest, and a black hat topped with a ridiculous red plume. Sword and dagger rest in sheaths at her belt, and a lute in a leather case hangs over one shoulder. She watches you with an amused glint in her eye, one fist resting on her hip.

Overhead, the trap door shudders from an axe blow.

“I am Sidorna,” announces the woman, “master bard, musician to kings and princes alike. Miranda, the Lady Heir to the throne of Cintarra, has been abducted, and her abductors have decided to frame you for their crime. Fortunately, you have the benefit my assistance, master thief, and I…”

You inform Sidorna that while you are grateful for her assistance, the explanations can wait until you’ve escaped from Ankylon. She glances at the trap door, and for a moment her confident pose wavers.

“Yes, of course,” said Sidorna. “I had hoped to get you out before Ankylon arrived, but rumor holds that the Keening Wyvern’s cellar opens into an old smuggler’s tunnel leading down to the harbor…ah!” She hurries to a massive oak cask and opens it, revealing a stairwell descending into darkness. “Though it does cut through the sewers.”

That gives you pause. Cintarra is built over the ruins of an ancient elven city, and there are nastier things than vermin in her sewers. Ratmen, goblin tribes, undead spirits, giant spiders, and even an ancient Great Dragon bound in enchanted sleep, according to rumor and legend.

Then you hear an axe blade crash through the trap door, and you and Sidorna hasten down the stairs. Fortunately, Sidorna had the foresight to bring a lantern.

The stairwell ends in a damp stone chamber, the walls crusted with mold. Three tunnels branch off in different directions.

One slopes downward, and a foul, reeking stench comes from it. Like something, or someone, died down there.

One remains level, and has a dusty smell. The ragged remnants of spiderwebs flutter in the stone archway.

The last tunnel slopes upward, and in the distance you see a flickering green glow.

“Ah,” said Sidorna. “I feel obliged to mention that I’ve never actually been down here before. So I am not entirely certain which path to take.”

Farther back, you can hear the crash as Ankylon and his men storm through the Keening Wyvern’s cellar. It won’t take them long to find the stairs.

The Master Thief Of Cintarra, Episode 2

(Results from episode 1: 78% for “Circle around to the alley and enter through the back door” and 22% for “Ignore the orcs and enter the tavern.”)

Deciding to avoid trouble with the orcs, you slip into the alley and go through the Keening Wyvern’s back door. Inside, you find yourself in the tavern’s kitchen, the air heavy with the stench of grease and rotting food. Three men wrapped in oilskin cloaks (the sort favored by sailors) stand near the fireplace, and look up in surprise as you enter. They give you hostile looks, but make no move as you cross the kitchen and enter the Keening Wyvern’s common room.

The common room looks like any other dockside dive; a collection of shifty-looking humans, orcs, and dwarves, along with at least a dozen more men wrapped in oilskin cloaks. A stuffed wyvern, no doubt the source of the tavern’s name, hangs from the ceiling beams.

You spot the elf in the green cloak you are to meet at once. He stands out among the patrons of the common room like a hawk among crows, and everyone gives him a very wide berth. Perhaps it has something to do with the nasty facial scar that twists his mouth into a permanent scowl.

His cold eyes settle upon you as you approach, and you glimpse green scale-mail armor beneath the cloak, the scales fashioned in the shape of leaves.

“You are here,” says the elf, “for the pouch?”

You nod.

The elf’s lip curls in contempt. “I did not think you would be stupid enough to collect the ransom in person.”

Wait, ransom? What ransom?

The elf snaps his fingers.

Suddenly every man in an oilskin cloak stands up, flinging aside their cloaks to reveal the tabards and armor of the Cintarra city guard. There are at least a dozen of them, maybe more, all of them with the look of veterans, and all of them armed to the teeth. The elf flings back his cloak and draws a sword in his right hand and a dagger in his left with liquid grace.

“I am Ankylon, High Captain of the Guard,” says the elf, “and in the name of the Prince of Cintarra, you are under arrest for kidnapping of the Lady Heir.”

The guards advance on you, swords drawn. At the same time, you notice that a trapdoor behind the bar, no doubt leading to the tavern’s cellar, is open. Just within the trapdoor you see a woman, and she is beckoning to you frantically, unseen by Ankylon or his men.

-Surrender immediately.

-Sprint for the front door. Hopefully the drunken orcs will confuse the guards long enough for you to escape.

-Sprint for the back door and escape into the alley.

-Try to talk your way out of the situation. Surely this is all a misunderstanding.

-Vault the bar and make for the trapdoor.

The Master Thief of Cintarra, episode 1

You are Jaeger, the boldest master thief of the Thieves’ Guild of Cintarra. You’ve stolen gold from locked vaults, snatched jewels from the fingers of sleeping noblewomen, pinched spell books from the libraries of wizards, taken relics from the lairs of ancient dragons, seized treasures from haunted tombs, and no one has ever come close to catching you. You’ve attempted some daring thefts, and come out on top every time.

Last night you received a note with an assignment from your Guildmaster. You are to go to the Keening Wyvern tavern, in Cintarra’s dockside district, and meet an elf in a green cloak. The elf will give you a pouch of gold, which you are to deliver to the Guildmaster at once.

The assignment is rather beneath your formidable abilities, but a quiet night sounds nice for once, so you accept.

Armed only with your rapier and dagger, at midnight you arrive in the street outside the Keening Wyvern tavern. Three orcs block the doorway,  taking swigs from a jug of ale and glaring at anyone who passes by. You have heard that orcs have been robbing people at night, much to the Guildmaster’s displeasure, and these three do not look at all friendly.

choose your own adventure

You are Jaeger, the boldest master thief of the Thieves’ Guild of Cintarra. You’ve stolen gold from locked vaults, snatched jewels from the fingers of sleeping noblewomen, pinched spell books from the libraries of wizards, taken relics from the lairs of ancient dragons, seized treasures from haunted tombs, and no one has ever come close to catching you. You’ve attempted some daring thefts, and come out on top every time.

Last night you received a note with an assignment from your Guildmaster. You are to go to the Keening Wyvern tavern, in Cintarra’s dockside district, and meet an elf in a green cloak. The elf will give you a pouch of gold, which you are to deliver to the Guildmaster at once.

The assignment is rather beneath your formidable abilities, but a quiet night sounds nice for once, so you accept.

Armed only with your rapier and dagger, at midnight you arrive in the street outside the Keening Wyvern tavern. Three orcs block the doorway,  taking swigs from a jug of ale and glaring at anyone who passes by. You have heard that orcs have been robbing people at night, much to the Guildmaster’s displeasure, and these three do not look at all friendly.

What do you do?

-Ignore the orcs and walk into the tavern.

-Go into the alley and enter the tavern through the back door.

-Attack the orcs.

-March up to the orcs, declare yourself to be Jaeger, the finest master thief in Cintarra, and overawe them.

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Leave your answer in the comments. Voting will be open until 8 AM Central Time on Wednesday.

-JM

tune into this blog tomorrow…

…because we’re gonna have fun and games. Yes we are!

-JM