Swords and Sorcery Inc. runs through the last hallway of the Royal Dungeon. Alaroc runs ahead on top of Twenty-Four with Cruxis, Sparky, and Leo also on the horse. Alaroc leaps off and opening the large door at the end of the hall. Zilo smells fresh air finally and runs through the door, ecstatic, and immediately begins to fall.
The way out looks to be built right onto the lower side of the city's platform without a platform outside the door, leaving people free to fall into the deep darkness below the city. Zilo flicks out his scorpion whip and twists his body lashing out at the sturdiest thing he can reach, Twenty-Four.
Turns out Zilo is slightly off and he instead hits the unconscious Leo, snapping around his hanging leg. Leo jerks awake from the pain, the end of the whip slicing his leg after constricting around his ankle.
"YEEEEOOWWWW!!!" Leo grips onto the horse's rib cage in shock, and Zilo hangs over the edge as Alaroc panics, starting to try and grab the whip. Shortly after Maldrek and May arrive on the scene, and assume both Zilo and Leo will be fine as they begin looking out the door at the open space below the city.
"I don't see a way back up to the city, dammit it looks like we're stuck." says Maldrek, gritting his teeth. May looks back to him with worry and says, "Can't you just fly us back to the city Maldrek?"
"I don't have any more uses of Fly I'd need at least another half hour to write one up."
By this point in time Leo is up and nursing his leg, Sparky still seems to be drunk and tied to Twenty-Four. Cruxis seems to have woken up from Leo's screaming. Zilo makes his way back to the hallway thanks to Alaroc.
Cruxis steps off the horse, still wobbly from the titan centipede's poison. He joins Maldrek and May planning.
"Could we not climb up there then?" Asks Cruxis to Maldrek.
"Maybe some of us, but the injured would have a hard time, we have no idea how far the climb is, plus from the look of the surface, it would be near impossible to get a good grip."
May chimes in, "Well Maldrek get writing for right now, maybe those of us who can fight, can hold off the Centipede long enough for... ZILO!?"
While they had been speaking Zilo ran back down the hall and leaped out over the edge again. This time he got way more distance and leaped slightly off to the side. He then twirls to the side in the air and flicks out his whip, but it is unknown as to where he went.
Maldrek, May and Cruxis rush to the edge and see Zilo hanging from his whip, hooked onto something just out of view.
Cruxis yells, "Zilo, What's gotten into you!?"
"Not now please, I'm busy!" Says Zilo beginning to climb his whip. It looks like he also seems to have a rope tied to his waist which leads over to Alaroc holding the rope. Alaroc gives a wave to the three as their eyes lead to him following the rope.
May walks up to him and berates him, "What the heck Alaroc, what is going on?"
"Zilo said that when he jumped the first time he saw a sewer tunnel with a grate, he thought he could manage to reach it and climb up, I was acting as his safety line." Alaroc lifts the rope and pointing out around the doorway.
Maldrek puts away his book and shrugs with a bit of venom in his voice, "Fine, time is a factor, so nothing to be done. Good initiative Zilo!"
"Thanks buddy! I just about got this. Alaroc! The grate is metal, I can't break it, I need someone to come help me."
Leo stands up after finishing bandaging his calf with part of his sleeve, saying, "I have Acid Splash memorized by heart, comes in handy when I get stuck in jail and they take my spellbook." Leo approaches the rope and begins climbing his way up to Zilo.
Once he and Zilo stand at the edge of the tunnel Leo casts the spell a few times and melts most of the grate off, leaving enough space for a person to fit through. One by one, the Adventurers climb their way up to the sewer tunnel. The last is Sparky, who Alaroc tires to the other end of the rope before swinging out of the doorway with him in tow.
Once the group takes a small breather Leo stands and says, "I recognize this sewer, I use to travel them to get around the city without being seen, there should be a ladder up about a quarter mile down this way."
The group makes their way back up to the city streets and see the guards around the city seem to have doubled. Clearly the guards are in a tizzy since all of the royal family died. Leo shakes his head and says, "There is no way we make it out of this city without being caught., what are we gonna do?"
"Kill them?" Maldrek says with a shrug. Zilo laughs at him and responds, "HAHAHA, good one buddy, Never knew you had a sense of humor." Maldrek looks left and right then smiles, nodding.
Cruxis looks over to Alaroc and says, "What about that circus trope, Alaroc? They may be worried about their performers."
"That's true, that could be our ticket out, they did plan on leaving today."
Leo is suddenly accosted by the two warriors.
"Leo, would you be able to disguise all of us at once?"
Leo thinks it over for a moment then responds, "Yes and no, depends on how we use it."
Meanwhile on the other side of town, a small circus is waiting for their musicians to come back from their job at the castle. Performers said that they were hired to perform at the King's Ball, but with all the commotion and no guards informing the trope, they have been stuck at the gate waiting for almost a day now.
Finally the performers and their cart full of instruments walk around the corner. The ring master angrily walks over to the group and shouts, "Where have you all been!? We've been stuck here forever! What do you have to say for yourselves?"
The only one of them outside of the cart addresses the issue, "Sorry boss, apparently the ball got crashed and the guards have been questioning us for the last few days, but this guard named Clarence said we were good to go."
"God, I hate this city, too much red tape. I prefer that last place we went, they didn't arrest our performers."
"Preaching to the choir boss, hey mind if the boys and me sleep in one of the carts? They didn't let us catch any shut eye during the questioning."
"Yeah, sure, but hurry up and hop in, we're all set to travel now."
The performer smiles and motions his others to get in one of the bigger carts. "Thanks boss. We'll probably be asleep for a couple hours, so could you keep the chat down around that cart?"
"Yeah sure, sleep tight."
The band of performers pile into the chart and the one who spoke looks to shut his eyes and grit his teeth as the ring master walks away. Once all the performers are in the cart he ties his two horses to the back of the big cart and jumps in himself.
As the caravan begins to leave after it bounds past the city gates, inside the cart Swords and Sorcery Inc. looks to fade in, in place of the performers. Alaroc smiles and looks to Leo who is breathing heavy.
"That was incredible Leo, I thought you said you couldn't disguise us?"
"That wasn't a disguise, that was Major Image it really takes a lot out of me, to veil an entire area like that."
Zilo jerks up and slowly raises his finger to point at a figure at the opening of the cart. Looks like there is a Vanara standing holding some tea.
"...Um the boss said to give you some tea before you fell asleep, help you to rest...Who... are you?"
Alaroc raises his hands, his flask in one hand and says, "Look friend, we don't mean any harm, we can explain if you just hear us out."
The Vanara looks at Alaroc then uses his tail to point at the flask, "Can you share some of that there?"
Alaroc looks at the flask, then Leo cuts him off as he looks worried,"Yup, as much as you'd like."
The Vanara smiles and says, "Fine then I got some time to kill." The Vanara leaps up and flips into a sitting position in the cart, still holding the tray tea perfectly in place and not spilling a drop.
"My name is Jin Shi Wukong, pleasure to meet you."
No comments:
Post a Comment