Impossible Heist

Exam link (3000 WC needed)

Impossible Heist

Selina had always been a person who had loved a challenge. Even when the deck was stacked against her, she always had a wildcard up her sleeve to pull through. But this was different. It wasn't just to prove her worth to the guild and gain all the power and respect that came with it, but also to show that nothing was beyond her reach. It was why she had made some daring heists in ERA, and now she had to do it here in this place as well.

The city was home to the DIES IRAE, the renown 'fanatic guild' Temperance called it. It was usually in their penalty for dark mages was 'shoot on sight' or 'kill first, ask questions later'. More also, their nicer neighbors were the RUNE KNIGHTS, who also had an outpost in the same region. While they differed, one would consider them allies. But that wasn't important to her. Many called her crazy for daring to enter a town run by not just one, but two law-reinforcing guilds. Still, the task given to her was to steal something of value from the knights. If she couldn't do this, she didn't deserve the title of 'spellthief'.

Her arrival in the town was by the train, and it was a port town with a lot of ships and traders along the docks. It clearly was a place of great prosperity. Of course, it made it clear for Temperance why the guilds had stations in this part of the country. International crime could easily leak through, much like her. She had her own way back to Elysium afterward that didn't involve a ship, but still, she had to keep casual.

Naturally, she was dressed in her social, civilian disguise as she explored the town, searching for the outpost and scouting out the town.

As she searched, the rustling in her shoulder bag made her look. Out from the pouch stuck out the head of Hex the cat-- her black Exceed companion with her witch's hat sticking out. "One would call you crazy as a bag of cats for wanting to come to THIS town of all places, you know that Selina?" the cat meowed to her.

"Keep low and out of sight Hex," Selina said, urging a hand to gently push Hex's head low into the bag. "It's not like I had a choice. The book is here, so is the outpost. Besides, do you think I scare easily from some goody-two-shoe knights? "

"Let's just say if I hear right, DIES IRAE will treat you much like the witch trials did to people hundreds of years ago. " Hex meowed sarcastically.

A confident smirk came to Temperance as she saw the outpost on the corner of town-- along with the DIES IRAE guild smack in the center of the city. She watched from a tiered watchpoint up inland, observing the town from a considerable height and the surrounding harbor. "Let them both try. They want to string up a witch? Let's just see who gets burned in the end." she said with mischievous intent.

Hex gave a cat-like chuckle, or cackle one would think of the thought of Temperance making fools out of the knights. Or at least, fooling them long enough for her to succeed. But this was not a heist she could do like normal. Calling cards, grand theatrics, was not possible this time around. This would demand stealth and diversions. Any hint of trouble beforehand would jeopardize her job and probably get her killed.

With her eyes on the Rune Knight outpost, she began to plan her heist to get the spellbook.

WC: 612

Night soon approached and Temperance knew she had to enact her plan to get in, get the spellbook and get out. Observing from the high viewpoint from before, she saw the outpost and the general layout-- combined with the general layout she learned from her black market contacts regarding how the insides were constructed. The building had a variety of guards, stationed on the perimeter of the outer walls. Enchantments triggered any movement to cross the gates, even if the targets were invisible. The doors were clearly out. However, there would be no enchantments high above the gates to prevent people from flying in. They would have to be silent and quiet in their approach.

Once on the grounds, the trick was to enter the building without tripping the magic wards. Luckily, a certain feline had the magic meant to dispel such tricks.

The moment dusk fell upon the city, just before the lights went on-- the two struck. Temperance had requipt to her proper thief and witch attire, complete with her phantom thief mask, and now flew with Hex. The winged black exceed and the witch was as dark as night, making them unseen among the night sky. They easily flew overhead of the guards and gate, out of sight from the obvious entrances. As Hex carried Temperance, as she did many times, the cat soon released her Aera magic wings and the two dropped towards the roof of the outpost building. Soundlessly, Temperance landed onto the roof, and Hex on her shoulders. The use of the gravity card, The Hanged Man, kept her silent as her personal gravity made her as light as a feather. As she glanced below, seeing the soldiers and knights do their round, they remained undetected up till now.

"Okay, Hex. Time for the caper. You know the plan," she said to her.

The cat let out a soft and quiet meow of annoyance. "Yeah... yeah, cat-burgler time." Hex hopped off Temperance's shoulder and soon found her point in-- the air duct that ran from the rooftop and down into the building. With a quick use of her claws, she quietly plucked out parts of the mesh and pulled out enough space for her to sneak into it.

As she did so, Temperance drew out a few of her own cards, setting up her back up plans just in case.

It didn't take long as Hex was now crawling through the air duct silently. She heard many things as she passed vents that led to the halls and rooms. She had a grumpy look on her face as she squeezed through, the small ceiling pushing her hat down and her movement slow as she crawled on her belly and paws. "Talk about lousy jobs. Sure, let's send the tiny Exceed cat into the air duct... god forbid anyone else has to learn how to freaken crawl on their stomach through a tiny space. It's not rocket science..." Hex grumbled as she crawled.

Hex, you know I can hear you too, right? Temperance's voice came to her ears, via the telepathy Temperance had with her card magic. Hex had a 'sour puss' expression on her face as she clung on to one of her cards. Unwilling to answer, Hex continued on till she found her target.

After a few more meters down into the building, Hex found it. A solitary room with several magic circles surrounded by a single large lacryma. The source of the base's wards and magical protections. It looked confusing, even sturdy to mess around with. Still, it was well five times bigger than the little cat.

With a light push, the cat opened the vent and flew down. Using her wings, she was just above the giant crystal. "Oooh, shiny and it looks important," Hex meowed as she grinned at it. "Oh well... its too big for me to sneak away with anyway..."

Hex gave a soft meow as she gestured her paws forward, causing a soft array of magic dust, bats and pumpkin images laced into the spell. The 'magic' quickly dispersed over the lacrymia-- but soon it began to act oddly. It flickered, screeched, then the magic circle fritzed out like the entire crystal had lost power. Finally, a loud crack echoed in the room, making the light fade.

"Security down. Lucky you," Hex meowed with content for herself.

Good work. I set up my back up just in case. Can you find a place for me to drop in? Temperance asked via telepathy.

"Not here. And I bet the guards will come soon to check on the broken security lacryma. " Hex said.

It's fine. Look for a safe place out. If things get dicy, I'll use your lifeline. For now, I don't mind getting my hands dirty by finding my own way in.

WC: 808

The magic security system was indeed down and now she had a shot to really enter and gather the book now that the guards would look into the broken-down magic wards. As she saw some guards scurry away, she soon grabbed a hold of the rim of the roof and swung herself down. She gave an elegant, silent flip and landed on a nearby flag pole-- followed by another flip into a nearby window.

She landed with a soft and muffled roll across the floor, finding the empty room dark and quiet. As she did stick t he landing-- her form glowed, requiping into another one of her classic garments. She now dawned a blue robe with matching long gloves, skirt/loincloth design with magic runes, boots and top that made her look like a sexy thief in blue. While blue was not her color, she made anything look good. After a brief check around and listening to the outside door that no one was around, she smirked and drew up her hood over her head. The moment she did, her form shimmered-- and she vanished from view.

The blue outfit and cloak was an invisibility cloak, allowing her to become invisible to the naked eye. It was one of her favorite Arcana Vestments to wear and helped her thief work tremendously. It took very little magic energy to use and as long as she didn't touch anyone, she could sneak around without issue. Walking out of the room left little to no issue as she merely opened the door as big a crack as nessisary and walked through. She kept to the wall regardless, making sure her form was well obscured b y both the cloak and also to avoid open areas so people wouldn't bump into her. As one knight came running down the hall, she paused and kept tight to the wall. Quiet and calm, she observed as he ran right past her-- not seeing anything but if anything a mere shift of 'air'. She smirked at the ease of it and moved on.

So far, so good. You out yet, Hex?  Temperance thought.

By then, Hex re-emerged out of the airducts back to the rooftop, spotting the card Temperance had and pacing around the card like a prowling cat. Besides a mouth-full of dust bunnies, I'm good. I'm outside. Try not to keep me waiting too long. You owe me a saucer of milk to clear my mouth. Bleh!  the cat replied sourly.

Temperance rolled her eyes from under her cloak and pressed on. It wouldn't be far now as she approached the stairs and descended with soft and silent steps.

She reached the target room-- according to the blueprints she bartered and could see the sign on the door marked "Records Room". No doubt it be locked, but she had no issue as she saw no one was around. Still invisible, she took one of her cards and slipped it between the lock and the door. Like one using a sharp card to slip the lock, she used the same method to try and crack the door open. She could teleport inside, but she preferred to only use that as a last resort. In this kind of job, she couldn't afford to be flashy. Too much magic would alert other mages to her presence, no matter if she was invisible or not.

Click. The soft sound made her smile as she looked around to make sure no one was around. With the coast clear and the guards looking at the magic wards to see what happened thanks to Hex-- she opened the door and snuck in.

THe inside was a dark room, full of file cabinets, shelves, desks and books. No doubt this was the place she had to find, but of course, the book she needed was described clearly to her. Locked inside the room, most of it was secure, so she wouldn't need to comb through every locked cabinet to find her target. She dropped her camouflage as the room was empty, allowing herself to walk normally as she found a nearby desk with a series of books on it, marked by the sign "Enforcer Director", the desk clearly owned by the said rank on the knights. On the top of a shelve attached to the desk she found the book. Blue binding, Rune Knights Emblem on cover-- and locked seal on it. While she would take the book and go, she had to be sure it was the correct one.

Gently taking the book, she ran a hand over the lock and focused her magic into it. "Alohomora... she whispered, and caused the lock to glow with a rune-- which soon faded afterward. The strap on the book lost its rigidity and she opened it. Inside she saw the names and information-- reports of dark mages and sitings, from this and other outposts shared. She smiled, pleased at what she found. She closed the book and held it under her arm.

Target aquired, she told Hex over Telepathy.

WC: 846
TWC: 2266

BRREEEEE! BREEEE!!! BREEEEEE!!

Suddenly the room filled with red lights and the siren went off. Temperance shot her head around. There was no one around, but the timing was not good. Taking a card, she placed in a place where the book was-- her Temperance calling card she left in every heist.

Hex, what's going on?! she asked in telepathy.

I don't know! The alarm suddenly went off. Either you got sloppy or the knights got wise to spring the alarm after the magic wards went down. Did you do anything? the cat replied.

Oh, don't insult me... Selina grumbled in her thoughts as she heard more movement coming from outside the door. As it was now, she couldn't move around as freely with the alarm on, and the guards now running around. Regardless, looks like I'm escaping from above. Coming your way. .

Securing the book under her arm and holding on to it tight, she could hear the increasing number of footsteps. She couldn't stay anymore. With the alarm on, she hoped she could get away from the chaos caused. Focusing, she pictured the card she left on the top of the roof, picturing the space around it, and felt her essence tied to the card she left there.  The Magician card, the picture with the magician conjuring all four elements.

In that moment of focus and seeing the space in her mind's eye, she felt as if her soul was tugged upward-- and she vanished. Just in that instance, she flashed away from the room just as a knight opened the door, inspecting the records room.

As the siren blared aloud and spotlights scoured the perimeter of the building, Hex kept low as a slinky black Exceed cat with a witch's hat. Only did her ears perk at the swell of magic beside her-- and Temperance appeared in a crouch. Her clothing had changed to, reverting back to her normal thieves' attire.

"So much for a graceful exit," the cat meowed softly as she kept low.

"Can we skip the sassy cat act till after we get out of here?" Temperance said as she glanced around the surrounding area for the best escape route, the book secures under her arm. The spotlights continued to circle the walls and building, luckily not high enough to reach the top of the roof. However, as she saw them slowly circle around in different patterns, she soon saw it-- the spot located at the west end, that reached the forest.

"Let's go!" Temperance said, urging Hex to follow.

As the cat hopped on to her back, Temperance elegantly flipped in the air into a dive-- which then Hex sprouted her black wings out and held on to her friend. The cat took flight and carried Temperance just in the midst of the passing spotlights, avoiding the direct stream of it for the moment, and flew towards the woods.

The flight was fine and the spotlight didn't catch them. They were just over the wall, till a sudden cry of magic perked in their ears.

"Look out!" Temperance shouted, alerting her Exceed flying. From the far corner behind them-- a crescent blade of magic came flying at them, threatening to slice them. Hex veered far to the right and avoided it, but it came close.

Hex ascended to try and avoid further hits, but another came after them, shot from a nearby corner of the fort wall. Grimacing in frustration, Temperance took out a card and held it out-- the Justice as she faced the incoming attack. With the flick of her hand, she tossed the card and in place, it produced a golden diamond-shaped shield in front of them. The shield took the incoming attack, causing it to disperse but shook the shield with its forceful strike.

The shield shuddered against the force, but soon began to crack bit by bit in that second. "An anti-piercer!" The shield soon cracked, scattering its fragments over Temperance and Hex.

With a shout, the two went spiraling out of control down to the forest, right outside of the knight's fortress. After a few snapped twigs and softened landing by leaves and branches-- Temperance entered a roll and spun across the grass of the forest. She had some scrapes along her body, but nothing critical.

As she caught her breath, she held the book she stole close to her side. "Hex? Hex you okay?" Temperance called, feeling her cat no longer on her back.

Up in a nearby tree, the cat pokes her head out from the leaves, her hat crooked. "Well, I didn't lose any lives if that is your question." she replied cattily.

Temperance sighed as she stood up, and looked to find her companion in the trees-- but soon stopped as she sensed another person nearby. Alert, she drew cards with a flick of her hand and held them between her fingers. She turned, a glare cast into the shadows of the trees as she caught a gleam of metal inside them.

"Oh, you sensed me? Apologize for sneaking up on you. Had I known our little rat was a woman, I would have been more courteous." a smooth voice of a man spoke from the dark.

Out of the shadows, he stepped forward. A man with brushed back wavy dark hair. He wore leather armor of some kind.The only armor he wore was on his left shoulder and shins. In each hand, he sported two blades-- one dark red, and one golden. A duel wielder. He had a confident  look on his face as they faced one another.

TBC.


WC: 939
TWC: 3205