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The Heist

 
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dcos
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Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 1174

PostPosted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:13 pm    Post subject: The Heist Reply with quote

As I have mentioned to a few of you, while I'm out of the cavern at the moment I am working on a little project. I am fascinated by the stage that each new Age pressents, and I love using them to tell stories. The Delin story "The Trip" I posted here a while back came from this, and it gave me an idea. I've been slowly building up a selection of different stories for all the Ages released at pressent. I'm thinking I might set up a wee website and release new stories as Ages are released. But that is for the future, for now I've just finished one for Kadish Tolesa and I'm uncertain of it and would like some feedback.

Any comments are greatly appreciated!

Quote:
The sky was a pleasant shade of purple on that day, or so thought the small Sciuridae sitting quite happily on one of the strongest boughs of one of the tallest trees in the area. The small creature was unperturbed by the ridiculously long drop to the ground as it had no concept of “ground” having never witnessed the phenomenon personally. In the last thousand generations the only members of its species who had come into contact with that distant entity had done so at a rather terminal velocity. And so the small Sciuridae sat quietly unafraid, sniffing the air for bugs and avoiding the edge of the bough for, while it had no precise fear of falling, it rather fancied continuing to breed which is something those who strayed off the trees never seemed to do.

The fuzzy little tree-dweller had begun to bite into a small beetle that it had just captured when a distant cry sent its far from fuzzy little senses into overdrive. Its ears twitched, as did its tail and its eyes scanned the cloudy sky frantically. Then it spotted the source of the cry, a distant smudge moving in the direction of its tree and becoming less smudge like by the moment. It was a predator bird whose keen eyes were trained on the sciuridae’s fuzzy but ultimately tasty little hide. The small creature made a frantic and barely visible dash for the safety of the tangle of branches at the centre of the tree only just arriving before the bird swooped and missing its prey let out a shrill cry of disappointment. The sciuridae, its tiny heart racing in its tiny chest watched from the safety of the tightly tangled branches as its hunter flew back to smudge-dom, before its eyes were distracted by another source of motion. A leaf, knocked loose by the sudden movement, had begun to fall. The light brown leaf carrouselled and dove and spun into that void which would be to the sciuridae; forever unknowable.

As the leaf fell it didn’t think much, leaves tend not to. Its motion as it flitted between the boughs of the great trees was graceful and pedantic and in its own way beautiful. This would be the final dance of a thing which had felt the warmth of a thousand sunsets over a violet ocean wash upon it, feeding the tree to which it belonged. When it finally reached the ground its journey would not end it would lie on there until it degraded and then it would feed the tree from whence it came and the whole cycle would begin again. All these things the leaf knew without knowing. For how can a leaf be aware of its fate? It never reached the ground.

As the roll would have it on the final flittering swoop of the leaf a hand materialised in its path and it was on the back of this outstretched hand that it came to rest. The appendage itself was D’ni, the fingers long and slender although years of indelicate work had undone the softness of birth. The hand was still reaching out to touch the panel of a book in another dimension when the leaf landed and the owner of the hand, a D’ni named Gahren, being acutely more aware of the laws of probability than the leaf itself was amazing at the chance of its fall coinciding with his arrival.

He lifted the leaf, twirling it between his fingers examining it. He was relatively young for a D’ni at around 39 hahr and when he raised his face to the sky, or rather the hazy gap between the trees, his face could be seen as that of someone of low social standing worn and untreated by any potions or lotions. His social class was further confirmed by his less than noble robes into which he stashed the stray leaf for reasons not even he fully understood.

“If you are done with your examination of the local flora perhaps we could get on with the job at hand, eh?” the harsh whisper of Raen hissed close by.

~

“I have a job for you” said the voice of Raen far from harshly but still in a whisper 16 yahr-tee before they linked into Kadish Tolesa. They had been sitting in a small tavern of bad repute and Raen was doing his best to look inconspicuous which only made him seem more so, and what with all the talk about him of late that was a bad move. Gahren forgave him for it though Raen was new to dealing in this world, being used to high mercantile trading, but he would come to learn that organising criminal activity wasn’t so much different.

“Oh?” Gahren seemed neither interested not disinterested and instead indicated that his mug was empty, Raen signalled for the waitress to refill it.

“Yes, a very well paying job. In fact I promise that you could retire on your share of the takings.”

“If promises were beetles I’d be up to my navel in Ages.”

Raen smiled knowingly, that annoyed Gahren. Raenrah was younger than him but he had in his relatively short life made and lost a small fortune as a merchant, an achievement that had raised a great many eyebrows among the older more appropriately aged wealthy. To Gahren he came across as arrogant but with a desperate need to prove himself, this had only been made worse by his lost fortune and the rumours had added a spark of vengeance to his eye. Gahren had seen him as dangerous and had been seconds from walking away when Raen had surprised him.

“Have you ever heard of a former guildmaster named Kadish?”

The question was a stupid one, but asked for effect, everyone knew of Kadish. Of course everyone knew of Kadish and of course everyone knew of his fortunes.

Gahren raised an eyebrow “I’m listening.”

“There is an age, written by Kadish himself and there is a gallery on Ae’gura, an exclusive gallery which it is difficult to gain access to. I have a contact in the Guild of Maintainers and through him I have some privileged information. The gallery will be our key to riches beyond your petty imaginings my friend.”

~

“Hurry up!” Raen hissed.

“I know” Gahren responded through gritted teeth.

“We don’t have long until the guard comes back this way” Raen added.

“I. Know.” Gahren replied through an even tighter set jaw.
The two were stopped in a narrow pathway between the massive trees at a large circular door of solid looking wood. The door was set into a large stone wall that extended between the trees; two lamps protruding from the wall illuminated the pair as Gahren tried to pick the lock on the door and Raen stood watch carrying a large bag.

“What is taking so long?” Raen asked.

Gahren sat back exasperated “It’s just not working.”

“But this is one of your expertise, this is why you’re here, this is why I agreed to give you that ridiculous share!” the frustration of getting stopped so early on was obviously getting to Raen, this extremely annoyed Gahren.

“Trust me if this was a normal lock it would be open by now but it just refuses to…”

Both men paused, turned to see the light of a firemarble lamp reflecting off the wall in a bend of the path some way behind them, Raen became frozen to the spot muttering “By Yahvo” while Gahren attempted to scramble over the wall, a less than delicate solution but needs must. Mid-climb a protrusion Gahren was attempting to stand on gave way and he fell back to the ground.

Click.

The solid looking wooden door stood suddenly ajar; the pair were so shocked it took a moment to realise what had happened. The footsteps of the approaching guard did not leave them much time for puzzling however and the two were quickly though the door and closed it behind them with another satisfying click.

With a grin and muted laugh Gahren observed “A trick lock! We could have been there for hours and not got it open, devious one is old Kadish.”

~

“Why Kadish?”

Gahren’s question hung over the table between the two. Raen had just run through his plan and on the table laid two linking books, one to Kadish Tolesa, stolen from the Guild archives, and one fitted with a Maintainer’s incineration device for the getaway.

“What do you mean?”

“Of all the possible marks, why did you choose Kadish? Sure a hit on him has the biggest pay off but he is also one of the most powerful men in D’ni, its ridiculously risky even for the amount we would be getting for it. Why Kadish?”

“Because he is one of the most powerful men in D’ni.” Raen said glaring “Because he deserves to be brought down a district or two. Because he needs to be taught that the same people he gossips with in that private club of his out in Rolep will gossip about him when he is on the decline. Because people need to be reminded that he is still fallible. Because… because…”

“Because he publicly questioned the purity of your blood?”

“Yes!” Raen spat back, banging the table with his fist “Yes because him and all those like him see my enthusiasm, my drive, my very being as some form of racial abomination and without a single bit of proof. That is why… that is why I chose Kadish. When I am accepted on the streets of Ae’gura again and he is left in the gutter, then I will be happy.”

~

“To think we came all this way just to go back to the cavern” Gahren remarked looking ponderously at the book as he unpacked a number of things from the bag getting ready for linking through, he passed a large cutting tool to Raen before sealing the bag back up again. Raen for his part was being very silent. “You reckon it’s trapped?” Gahren was looking at the book from a number of different angles and regarding the odd circle-telescope-device curiously.

“The trapping of books is against the common law, you know that.”

“Of course, but we are in a secret Age roughly five people know about, designed by a man who uses trick locks for Yahvo’s sake!”

The two would-be thieves were standing in a small tower structure in the middle of a clearing both standing before a Book linking to a gallery in Ae’gura.

Raen fixed Gahren with an odd stare, a sense of composure and determination had overtaken his normal arrogance “Are you finished?”

Taken aback by the odd tone Gahren nodded and without a word and with a sense of trepidation the two stepped up to the book and linked through.

~

The gallery itself took both their breath away. It was the height of current D’ni aesthetic and the sight of it touched them both more than they were willing to admit. The thought of the D’ni elite gathering here to admire and gossip, however, renewed Raen’s sense of purpose and he motioned to one side of the gallery indicating that Gahren should get to work on that side. They had agreed before hand that they would not speak and would endeavour to make as little noise as possible so as not to attract the attention of any rest time revellers outside the gallery.

Swiftly, efficiently and as they had run through to twenty-five, they began to break the priceless works of art free from their stone frames and wrapping them gently in a thick cloth lay them out one on top of the other.

~

“Just think Gahren. Some of the most coveted pieces of modern art, commissioned by Kadish himself and created by the Guild’s finest artisans and they will be ours”

Gahren took this as a good time to take another swig of his drink. Both men were rather inebriated and all but toasting their not yet achieved success. Raen continued:

“The amount people will pay to own a piece of art that had belonged to the great Kadish till it was stolen from his very own, purpose build, gallery on Ae’gura of all places. Oh how they will boast to each other! Like Scavenger Birds feasting on the meat of a fallen comrade.”

Gahren made some indeterminate noise of agreement.

“To our triumph and the fall of Kadish!” both men banged their mugs on the table top five times and took a swig of alcohol to the toast.

~

“Shorah.”

The voice rang clear as a note through the silent gallery and both Gahren and Raen turned in shock in the direction of the entrance. Standing on the balcony was a much older D’ni with a bald head and exquisite clothing. “I would normally order you not to move but since you very nearly dropped one of those irreplaceable works of art just now I would ask that you place them down, carefully, and then refrain from moving.”

Two rather threatening looking servants descended the staircases into the gallery, wearing drab clothes and mean expressions. Gahren and Raen complied with the request although Gahren eyed the escape book furtively, it was lying with the rest of there things to one side of the gallery. He could probably make it to the book before the oafish looking servants made it to him, but then Raen wouldn’t have much chance of following.

“I would not attempt to make a dash for your escape book. It was our insurance that you would not live to sell on these pieces of art. It does not link anywhere nice. Of course this is the preferred outcome wherein we catch you red handed with the art intact. Search them.”

~

“Well that could have gone worse” Gahren remarked looking around the small chamber in which they found themselves.

“How could it have possibly…”

“We’re still alive aren’t we?” as Gahren spoke he was moving closer to the tall metal doors which took up one whole side of the chamber in which they found themselves, the began to open automatically. Beyond the doors lay a tall passageway with symbols similar to the art in the gallery lining the wall, at the end of the passage a book on a pedestal. Everything about the chamber and the passageway seemed new. “Not too bad as prisons go, even comes with a way out”

“What if it is a trap?” Raen asked looking dejectedly down the corridor.

“Where would be the fun in locking us in a room with two trap books rather than one? I suggest we use the book of less than certain death rather than the book of confirmed unpleasant death.”

~

“Give them back their ‘escape book’”

Raen was handed the book by one of the servants, the well dressed man smirked from the safety of the balcony. “You now have a simple choice dear children, my most honourable Master Kadish has seen fit to offer you employment, of a sort. In a moment you will be linked to a chamber, from there you will be able to link to an Age written by my Master. It really is one of his greatest achievements. If you wish to accept this generous offer all you have to do is use that book and contribute to the glory of Lord Kadish. If you wish to decline use the one we have just returned to you.”

The other servant stepped forward opening up a Book, a small chamber with a door could be seen through the panel. “Oh and Mister Raen, I do not expect any of us will be seeing your friend in the Maintainer’s Guild again. Not even my Master has the influence to make a member of their Guild disappear, but they do not take too kindly to traitors so whatever awaits you through that book is probably nothing compared to the horrors that poor man will endure. Think on that in your new home. Shorah” And with that he turned and walked away.


Thanks for taking the time to read it if you did. The reason I throw these things at you guys (and gals) is that I trust your opinions Very Happy

Thanks again, Dan
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Mystlander
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Location: In Cavern

PostPosted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


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