Open Chronicles Rats and Crowns

[Kala]

Kala frowned for a brief moment, though not because of Kek's gesture. She didn't mind going first, but she'd also just used her only emergency out.

She knew that they had a plan, that the tunnels would work well, but that didn't mean she liked not having a backup. Her chest tightened a bit, but the knife in her hand flipped around and slowly she undid the lock of the double doors.

Pushing them open, a long hallway was revealed before them, her eyes rolling as she looked at the other door just down the hall. "It's like they just enjoy adding pointless shit."

Fucking rich people.

Without reckless abandon Kala walked forward through the hall, heading to the other set of doors and unlocking those as well, pushing them open and stepping into the royal bedchambers.

 

[Kekrizh]

He could sense the unease that was overcoming his comrade. While he despised the paths, he didn't particularly like having a shaken comrade. Kekrizh shrugged, there was little to do now. If need be he could simply carve a path out of the castle for them both.

He followed quietly, his nose twitching and stuck out - inhaling the various scents of the area. Thankfully, it seemed, for now at least, the guards were the main source of protection for the king.

"A few small whiffs of magic, reckon there's some more enchanted guards patrolling the royal quarters." He spoke quietly, hoping he would be able to give them some warning before a patrol even came close.

The royal chambers were grand and gaudy. Nothing tasteful, everything was designed with gold and intended to look as expensive as possible. The room itself was a mish-mash of styles that held no uniformity.

In the centre, a four-poster bed lay and the bloated shape of the king slept snoring away.

"That door, to the left of the room, leads to his wardrobe - should be a safe there where the crown is kept." He nodded and pointed towards two solid oaken doors to the side of the chamber.

 

[Kala]

Kala followed along with Kek.

She might have been feeling ill-at-ease, but her friend was someone she trusted explicitly. If he thought that this was the way to go forward, then she trusted him. As they moved through the building Kala was careful, her steps always tracing those of her friends.

Eventually they reached the King himself, her fingers flittering for a moment. "If someone had paid us."

She whispered quietly.

"We could have killed him." But no one had, and thus the slovenly Monarch would be able to live another day.

Her head shook at the missed opportunity, and with quick skulking steps Kala began to creep towards the wardrobe. A lock was flicked open, and she quickly pulled her companion into the massive oversized closet. "Watch the door for me."

She whispered quietly.

 

[Kekrizh]

He glanced back towards Kala, pausing for a moment as she flexed her muscle over the unaware and vulnerable king.

"I could spit in his drink, give him the shits as a little calling card." He chuckled to himself. He knew what the humans thought of the Rous, while he didn't necessarily agree or condone it. He did wonder if, indeed, the man so accustomed to fine dining and privilege might succumb to illness from a Rous.

He nodded but did not speak. Kekrizh wasn't great with intricate locks. His claws - for the most part - could do the job for most things, but he knew when it came to safes and high-end mechanisms, Kala far outstripped his own abilities.

And so, the Rous crouched in a dark corner - his eyes focused on the doorway. In the distance, the fat and bloated figure of the king rose and fell in time with his laboured breathing. Kekrizh, on the other hand, was almost invisible amongst the shadows.

There were better, more advantageous positions - he knew - but this provided him with the best cover. The few seconds of sight he would gain from moving out of cover would matter little.

Kala could do a lot in the handful of moments notice he could give her and, if need be, he could too.

Kekrizh waited, silently, he did not need to watch Kala steal the crown. He knew she was capable and he trusted her. In the Underreal trust was a commodity rarely seen, but both knew it to be more valuable than anything they could steal.

Of course, neither would admit it. They were thieves after all. They had honour.

 

[Kala]

The safe was a complicated one, but nothing Kala hadn't seen before.

Thievery was as much about luck as it was skill, and although they hadn't known what sort of safe the King had kept it had been an educated guess she would know it. As it turned out; they had been completely correct.

It only took her ten minutes, slowly turning dials and shifting the positions of metals like a puzzle box, but eventually there was a muted click and things popped open. A wide grin appeared on her face as the door swung open.

"What do you think?" Kala asked Kek with a quiet whisper as she motioned towards the safe. "Take it all?"

Inside of the safe was not just the crown, but dozens upon dozens of other jewels, pieces of gold, and small knick knacks that Kala had no idea about.

There was an allure to the idea of just taking the crown. It would be a myth, all the thieves had taken was the crown of Obann. On the other hand though...

It was a lot of gold.

 

[Kekrizh]

He let his eyes close for a minute, focusing on his other senses. He could hear muffled talking in one of the rooms adjacent to them. Lesser members of the royal family - he suspected. Snippets of conversations regarding politics, marriages and other human activities that otherwise bored him.

Clueless. The family were unaware of the situation ongoing within the palace. He smiled to himself, trying to catch whiffs of any scents signalling danger. Unfortunately, it seemed the king was not only repugnant but enjoyed bathing in expensive scents and perfumes.

He sighed. It would be up to his eyes and ears to keep them safe. Hopefully, for now, that would be enough.

His eyes shot open once Kala spoke and he turned to face her dilemma. Kekrizh grinned at the sight of precious materials, jewellery and glittering objects.

"Take it all, it would be rude not to. You still got that calling card you mocked up? It would be bad manners to leave him with nothing after all." He snickered as he imagined the king's face when he opened his precious vault.

"We should hurry up in any case, not sure when the next guard change is outside." He hadn't heard anything as of yet, but he didn't want to be trapped in the royal wing when the elite guards were found to have 'deserted' their posts.

 

[Kala]

"Of course I do." Always had to have a calling card.

Without waiting Kala lifted her satchel up to the safe and quietly began to load every single trinket that she possibly could into the bag. Crown, necklaces, gold coins, loose gems, and pretty much everything else that wasn't tied down.

All of it would be deposited into her bag until all that was left was a small paperweight that appeared to be made of gold.

Kala reached out to nab that too, then frowned for a brief second and shook her head. She reached into her other satchel and pulled out a playing card. Upon it was the face of a rat, or the silhouette of one, looking left. On the opposite was what appeared to be a devil of some sort, matching the rat in it's gaze.

She placed the card against the paperweight, ensuring it would stay up as she closed the safe. "Let's get the fuck out of here."

Kala said.

 

[Kekrizh]

Kek grinned, he shouldn't have doubted Kala. He'd never known her to travel without a calling card. It was a particularly nice touch, in his opinion, that both of them were included in it - even if she did a lot of the actual thieving work.

He didn't speak at her suggestion, he simply scurried forth - his eyes fixed on the floating figure of the king. The man, bloated and ignorant, had yet to move and the only sound alerting someone to his living status was the incessant snoring.

Humans, just about as disgusting as you can get - he mused.

Kekrizh ducked through the intricate doorway and soon found himself at the neighbouring entrance. He checked the hallway - ensuring the patrol of enchanted guards hadn't been sent to relieve the ones they'd dealt with.

In the distance, the sound of brawling, fighting and general skirmishing had halted. He paused, turning towards Kala.

"Fighting's stopped. We'll need to be careful about getting to the kitchen." He nodded, speaking barely above a whisper.

Nobody had been informed about the escape route through the kitchen - if any human patsies had been captured, they would simply blab about some window and false wall in one of the wings of the palace. A nice touch.

 

[Kala]

Kala moved quickly alongside her Rous companion, stepping carefully and quietly as they turned corner after corner.

The castle had gone quiet, some of the fighting having died down. Her lips thinned,an odd sense rolling down her spine as she slowly peered around the empty hallways. Something felt...off. After years of thieving it was normal to catch a sense of things, especially on a job like this.

Kala reached out and gently grabbed Kek's shoulder. "Something isn't quite right."

She whispered.

"It's too quiet, even if the fighting had died down it wouldn't be this silent." An odd feeling ran into the pit of her stomach. "We should go the long way around. Head outside and loop back."

It would be a pain in the ass, but...she felt like it was also the best choice.

 

[Kekrizh]

Kekrizh nodded. The eerie quiet that had descended the castle was unsettling and Kek soon found his stomach knotting as he began to recognise the castle - now devoid of activity.

"You're right, there's a window down the hall here." He scurried forwards, taking extra care to stick close to the shadows. After a few moments, he led the pair to an ornate stain glass window and, with considerable care and precision, he worked his claw into the lock.

His efforts were quickly rewarded and the window swung ajar noiselessly.

"Hold on, I'll go first - find some footing and pull you to me." He took out the rope, handing one end for Kala to hold, then shot out the window like a blur.

As he suspected, the window sat within a sheer wall - looking out into the courtyard below - and Kekrizh took a few moments to orientate himself and scout.

Kala was right. The men patrolling perimeter were little more than a skeleton crew. The Rous sighed, before spotting a small balcony within reach.

He climbed easily along the vertical wall. Thankfully Kala had been careful to select a night with a new moon and the Rous made his approach to the platform easily. The lack of moonlight rendered him almost invisible to any witnesses.

Once content, he gave the rope a quick tug to alert Kala he was ready, then prepared himself to pull her through to him.

 

[Kala]

The trick worked once again, and with the sound of her steps softly falling onto the patio the Tiefling found herself once again standing besides her friend.

Fingers tightened for a moment, grasping the rope as if it were a lifeline. That odd feeling in the pit of her stomach was still there, but being outside had made her more calm. A breath filled her lungs, and she glanced around the open space. "Let's circle around and get out of here."

Kala said with a frown.

"I've had enough of Oban." Their path was then quickly cut around the outside of the castle, the two of them circling around and only stopping when Kala gently grasped the back of Kek's shirt as a pair of Royal Guard walked by in the hallway they were moving towards.

"Can you believe it? Bitch poisoned us."

"The Cook? But she was always so nice."

"Yeah well, she disappeared after all that nonsense happened."​

Kala looked over towards Kek, shrugging her shoulders slightly. "Collateral damage."

It showed where her morals lay.

 

[Kekrizh]

He nodded, remaining silent as usual. Kala's suggestion made sense, it was what he would suggest if he had spoken first, there was no need to add anything further to the discussion.

Kekrizh held his breath, his katar falling neatly into his hand as the pair of guards strode past the two of them. It took great restraint on his behalf to avoid rending the humans as they passed. It was, he considered, one of the reasons that made him so dangerous. Unlike most thugs or enforcers, Kekrizh could wait, Kekrizh could bide his time, Kekrizh struck on his own terms.

"S'only a human too, not like it matters. Read somewhere that humans aren't even real, just hairless monkeys that can talk" He grinned. The irony of a life-sized rat talking was not lost on him, but that was different.

"Let me scout ahead." By that the Rous meant, he was scouting ahead. His katar disappeared yet again and the Rous scurried up the wall silently.

Hanging upside down from the ceiling, the figure stuck to the shadows and moved like a blur above the corridor.

Content with what lay around the corner, he released a small whistle. This manoeuvre for ever corridor - whilst taking a few more minutes to get to their destination - would save them a world of hurt, he decided.

 

[Kala]

Kala followed behind Kek every time there was a whistle, and to their luck nothing got in the way.

It was a stroke of absolute joy to once again find themselves standing in the same hallway as the Kitchens, a slight relief surging through Kala as she spotted what was just down the corridor. She smirked and motioned to her Rous companion.

"Do your thing." No need to get cocky now.

Of course, as soon as Kek sneaked forward he would find that the Kitchen was stuffed to the brim with Mercenaries, Royal Guardsmen, and a strange looking man dressed in deep purple robes who seemed to be doing something over the cookpot they had poisoned.

It seemed that their dealings had been discovered.

Though of course Kala was completely in the dark on this, simply waiting for Kek to return with news of what lay beyond.

 

[Kekrizh]

Kekrizh's eyes narrowed as he peered into the kitchen from above the doorway. He sighed, scurrying back towards Kala as she resided within a small shadowy nook.

"Brought in a mage to review the troll powder, lotsa guards." He paused, considering briefly what the next plan of action would be.

"Too many to fight, we need a distraction. A fire in the garden perhaps? You still got that Ogre moonshine, that'll do the trick?" Kekrizh did not understand the point in mourning failed plans or lost time.

The two would escape, he knew it. The cellar was still the only viable escape route and, judging by the fact they were all surrounding the cauldron, he knew their route was safe.

 

[Kala]

She nodded her head. "Still got two cards left too."

The soft reminder came as her tail twitched nervously. Kala had all the confidence in the world in Kek. If he had a plan then he would trust that plan would work out. This was what they had put together, and all they had to do was ensure it actually pieced together well.

Quickly she fished around her pack, eventually producing the moonshine that he referenced.

"Gonna be quite a fire." She said. "Hope the bastards don't like their flowers too much."

It was like adding insult to injury. "I'll keep watch here, you go."

Kek was faster than her.