August 14, 427 DF (Wednesday)

Post date: Jan 29, 2015 12:01:18 PM

The Hounds were enough of a problem on their own, and I stupidly triggered their attack by running when they saw me. So much for being a master of sneaking, right? Well, so after a gloriously messy fight, some broken-masked, mute Ghostface Killer dropped-in on us and it didn't go so well. Will and I took to cleaning-up the street while the rest of the crew dealt with things inside. After an obnoxiously loud shouting match between Katya and Aria (I hoped they wouldn't start-in with the magic again) about whether or not the revealed Killer is going to die, it was decided we’d abandon them both to the fate of the City Guard. I am not close with Aria, and I could tell Will didn't want things to be as they were, but he and I both agreed she made it impossible for us to do anything else.

(I wonder, sometimes, what I’m even doing with these people. I mean, compared to the other groups, they've been pretty tame until a few days ago, but this weirdness today has me questioning if they might have been more off-kilter than I knew.)

We've got to get ourselves together. Together like we haven’t been before, because we've really only known “good times” so far. Now, so many people went away, and with so few of us, well, I know I would be able to make do on my own, but I am not afraid to admit I like having a pack to hang with.

Will got an update from F at the bar. I decided to stand guard overnight. I’m a little too unsettled by recent developments to sleep anytime soon anyway. And I also want time away from the group to think about the situation. Gotta try to work something out, you know? I’m not the best strategist in the group, but, dammit, I've got something to offer.

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It’s afternoon now. In the morning I went off to the guard stockade where Aria and the weird GF-Killer-wannabe were at. Yeah, I know Aria insisted she couldn't be what she seemed, but she had absolutely no reason to believe that. And Will’s -- uh,… whatever he did in her mind -- that didn't give us anything new to work with, so I’m putting her in the wannabe box until proven otherwise.

Yeah, so at the stockade, I watched for guard changes, noticing some rather uneventful comings and goings. It was a two-story place built only a little better than most of the neighborhood, so probably a little more fire-resistant (I’ll get back to that in a minute.) I wasn't sure how to get a good look; no windows on ground level, and pretty much nothing on the upper floor. I started daydreaming about what else I could be doing instead of figuring this all out and then a muse dropped a little idea in my head.

I changed-up disguises and approached the shack. Guardsman Bob looked at me a little oddly when I asked how I could join the City Guard, but apparently this happens every so often. He pointed me down the street, and I went to the group, with a map of the first floor in mind and some ideas about mischief that would help with the problem.

Okay, without going into too much detail, I pretty much rocked this freaking thing. (Makes up for my dumbassery with the Hounds, I hope.) I snuck to the roof, dropped some flame on a trio of very surprised guards playing cards, then ran to another part of the roof and did the same. Always gotta have backups, right?

Then I tried to get off the building without falling on my ass, and after two failed attempts, the yells of the guards inside getting louder as they poured out the front door in pursuit, I fell, rolled myself upright, and made myself up like some street urchin digging through the trash. Guards totally bought it! It was kickass.

I stole through the neighborhood with Aria and the wannabe in tow and we were super lucky to finally beat the guards enough to escape them.

And now, after that kind of day, I’m going to let somebody else stand guard while I sneak some sleep.