Black Cat

[Ridai]

(As a note, this game does not necessarily aim to have an "accurate" representation of Sigil. I am wont to play with the setting as I want to, if it helps the game.)

The multiverse has seen the rise and fall of many legends, across countless Prime Material planes and the Great Wheel. Some became Powers, worshipped even today or having crumbled into oblivion from no prayer supporting their existance. Some live on in legends while others are buried beneath the sands of time, forgotten. Some live even today, others' souls have long since been devoured or sent to their final resting place among the Outer Planes. Many of these are heard of in the metropolis impossibly at the center of the infinite multiverse, Sigil, whether from the ramblings of a Clueless mortal from a Prime Material who stumbled into the City of Doors one way or another, from planewalkers coming and going, or emissaries of the planes carrying the word with them as they visit the Cage, as the city's inhabitants sometimes refer to their home.

Of course, the average Cager has seen and heard it all and doesn't give a damn about these things for the most part unless there's jink to be made off of it. Living in the multiverse's greatest metropolis (as in size and trade, not necessarily quality), they are sure in their grip on things, as opposed to the wide-eyed berks elsewhere who believe their various Powers are the be-all-end-all everything revolves around or their Prime Material with its stories and heroes and villains is all there is to existance. Most of all that stuff is from somewhere else, and like everything Sigil is made of, is brought into the Cage by people visiting (or staying). Some humans and elves trying their hand at planeswalking here, some Celestials and Baatezu squabbling about souls there, Powers duking it out on an infinite chessboard with infinite pawns (partially excluding Sigil, as the Lady of Pain would flay their souls from their divine bodies if they ever stepped into Her city). Business as usual. Nothing in Sigil is "homegrown". No families are native to Sigil, always having come from somewhere else, imported like everything else.

Then stories about the Black Cat started. A master thief unlike any other in recent times, origins rumored to be in Sigil, the first heist done in Sigil and most of the following happening there, too. Never was she caught, few can claim to have glimpsed her (of which even fewer have actually seen her and the rest claiming everything from an animate shadow seeking to gain substance through its stolen goods to a mad, white-hatted proxy of Olidammara who hasn't quite grasped the concept of keeping what she stole). The Harmonium are seeking her (even having braved the Hive a few times), the Fraternity of Order is quite peeved at their pretty laws being so repeatedly broken by this vexing individual always leaving behind her trademark little figure and nothing else, and the Mercykillers have reserved a very special cell in the Prison for her, close to the Wyrm locked far below. The Sensates are endlessly inspired by her, resulting in manyfold stories, plays and arts for all the senses based around this mysterious figure. The Chaosmen delight in her peculiar customs and seemingly random heists. The Signers can't help but admire the alleged deftness of this individual, the Fated are at the same time impressed by her drive to just go in and take what she wants as well as being perplexed by her then giving what she took for herself back. The list goes on and on. Nowadays, it seems everyone in Sigil has an opinion about the Black Cat, as diverse as the many philosophies represented in the City of Doors.

Perhaps she is also on the mind of the young Sensate woman looking at a picture showing a figure in darkness. It seems simple and sparse at first, but it does not let go of one's attention so quickly, drawing them back after the first look, then deeper and deeper, discovering the hidden details as the viewer slowly delves into the secrets teased, but never revealed. The many facets reflect upon the feminine figure in the dark, so many ways to interpret her (cold, mischievous, shy, longing, mocking, seductive, amorous...), yet nothing seems to want to fit truly. The picture tantalizes the mind of the viewer, a different way each time they look upon it without ever truly shifting, as if all the answers are there, if one would only look closely enough. To everyone, it is different. To the genasi tempest standing in front of the picture, it is breathtaking. One of the rare genasi to manifest two elements at the same time, passionate fire clashing with serene water and somehow making a whole, the young Sensate delves deeply into the painting and finds her soul ignited with the passion she perceives in it, washing across her soul and making her breath go quicker.

In her contrasting yet striking beauty, hair like flame, yet seemingly burning blue and calm, skin like the smooth ocean illuminated by the setting sun, she has been drawn to the gallery of renowned artist Zarinda, her star ever rising and seemingly never eclipsing in the world of art, capturing the hearts and minds of many a Sensate and other lovers of fine art. Zarinda's pictures displayed in the Civic Festhall rarely lack company and it is not rare to see people finding their feet have brought them to the gallery of this striking human woman, charmed by her eternal smile, her eyes gazing into their souls and seeing their heart's desire. Even if they cannot afford a painting, they still are drawn there to at least gaze upon it for a time, bask in the emotions brought forth by the immaculate works and often share their experience in Sensates' Sensorium, drawing new visitors and potential buyers in turn. To join the Society of Sensation, one must simply submit five experiences to the Sensorium and in recent times, the effects of Zarinda's works have more frequently been represented among these.

Zarinda, unseen by the visitors, unless she wants to be seen, moves among them with feline grace, a moving work of art herself, but all natural. She sees that the young genasi has lost all sense of time and place, captured by the painting. She might not have the means to purchase it, perhaps she does, perhaps the manyfold mysteries that sometimes contradict themselves make it so as they speak to the contrasting nature of this particular genasi woman.

[MikelaC1]

Striking, is it not? Where did this woman come from, the young genasi must think, she wasn't there a moment ago, and she certainly didn't hear her coming. It was quite an experience doing it, it almost seemed to paint itself, full of its mysteries of its own.

[Ridai]

The young woman starts a little at being suddenly pulled out of her state. Looking to the side, she spots the human who appeared out of nowhere by her side, eyes wide from surprise, then even wider from recognition. "Oh, ah, Lady Zarinda," she begins as she is trying to regain her composure, still in the throes of the painting. The "Lady" is pretty common among young Sensates referring to Zarinda. The genasi glances back at the painting, its sight calming her almost immediately. "It is magnificent. Some deride paintings as nothing more than flat pretty pictures, but your works are something to be experienced, explored, felt. I am a great admirer of your work, every painting giving so much to the mind and soul, but this one especially..."

She struggles to find the words to express what she feels. "I feel it speaks to me more than any other. I... I can't explain it. It reminds me of something wonderful in my life... even if there was always a subtle distance I could never explain." Zarinda knows her words are heartfelt. She sees the young woman blush as she realizes she perhaps said more than she should have, biting her lip.

[MikelaC1]

While many of my paintings hang in public exhibits, I feel that for every painting, there is one true owner, one person for whom the painting is truly for. Almost like a soulmate in love.

[Ridai]

"That is a wonderful thought..." The fire-and-water-souled genasi smiles to herself, her expression serene as a calm ocean, her eyes sparkling with the fire of imagination and longing. There is a lot of beauty in this one. Tall, graceful, genuine, every part of her being truly alive. There are many kinds of Sensates, the most common kind being the masses of hedonists that are often the first thing people think about when they imagine the average Sensate, much to the chagrin of the rest and especially Factol Erin Montgomery, who is trying to strengthen the introspective and intellectual aspects of the Society and what it stands for since its creation. And then there are the ones who truly know what it means to experience and cherish it. This young woman is one of the latter (and that group also happens to have many of Zarinda's greatest admirers and best customers).

"Ah, my manners. I am Ailana. It's a great pleasure to meet you." She blushes lightly at her faux pas, offering an honest bow to Zarinda. "I imagine there are many who feel they need this painting in their lives."

[MikelaC1]

A pleasure to meet you Ailana. And while I think there are probably many who feel they need this painting in their life, Im not sure it is destined for any of them. In fact, I think it may have just met its proper owner.

[Ridai]

"Ah." At first, there is an instant of disappointment, until Ailana realizes who Zarinda means. Shocked, she clasps her hands before her mouth. "You mean- I- But your paintings must be worth a fortune, I don't know if I could pay for it..."

[MikelaC1]

My paintings are worth whatever I say they are worth. And I say this one is worth the price of knowing it is going where its proper home is. She takes the painting down from the wall, getting it ready to be packed and shipped.

[Ridai]

Ailana has to work hard not to have an outburst right then and there in public, even though there aren't many people present. She is shaking as she follows, the color of her body becoming fuller as her eyes sparkle. Somewhere a bit more out of sight, she can't hold back and embraces Zarinda tightly, the artist feeling the small shocks run through the genasi's body, thanking her over and over. Ailana quickly writes down her address, revealing that she lives in an apartment on Tea Street in Clerk's Ward, a busy middle class district that forms the connective tissue between the Clerk's Ward's Administrator's District (home of many scholastic institutes like the Hall of Information, the Hall of Records and the Rowan Academy of Learning) and Speaker's District (earning its name through the social, political and philosophical debates taking place in the Hall of Speakers by the bigshots, and the Tryanim by everyone else). Mainly a residential district, Tea Street also houses a good number of respectable service businesses as well as its share of places if one is looking for lodging.

"If I can ever do you something good in return, please, don't hesitate to ask. I don't have much yet, but I started working at a great spa in Tea Street, The Silver Waves, though I am still being trained. Ah, the apartment is owned by my girlfriend Talia, just so there's no confusion when it's delivered. She's been supporting me for a while now, I hope I can return the favor once I've settled into my new job." Ailana is talking quickly, but quietly, excited and genuinely thankful for the great gift, at times having to wipe a forming tear from the corner of her eye.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda well remembers how it was when she was starting out, as well as the periods of time in her life when she would have been classified as a "starving artist", so if she can help out at least one person every so often, she feels like she is paying back the karma of the world. She takes note of the woman's address and promises that the painting will be delivered as soon as her delivery man arrives, gives her another hug before she leaves and then quietly returns to the business of her studio.

[Ridai]

Ailana thanks Zarinda once more, then leaves with a spring in her step. At the entrance of the gallery, the artist sees a striking half-elven woman carrying herself with a professional air enter and search the foyer with her eyes, until they find the overjoyed genasi, her lips parting in an honest, lovely smile. Ailana greets her with a kiss and a tight hug, Zarinda quietly hearing a stream of words the half-elf first needs to gently stop, then start it again in a slowed down fashion. Once she hears what happened, the half-elf looks surprised, but happy for her girlfriend, both sharing another kiss and embrace. Putting an arm around Ailana, they leave the gallery together, Zarinda managing to pick up that they want to stop by a nearby cafe. Those few who were present and witnessed what happened look after them in a bit of envy. But it doesn't change into feeling that they deserve similar treatment. Artists are expected to be a bit eccentric, after all.

The day continues quietly, nothing about her visitors escaping Zarinda's watchful eye, no one seeming to notice her when she doesn't want to. Many of them are simply admirers, a few are newcomers who get brought by friends to get their first taste, one or two are potential customers, but they are taking their time with their decision, not wanting to rush things. Still, the business part of the gallery is quite healthy. Even if no potential customers would come walking in all week, Zarinda has no shortage of people who would pay premium for the chance to buy one of her paintings, her reputation reaching far and shining brightly.

Stopping by in her back room office, Zarinda notices something that no one else would. There is a neat collection of business cards, coming from Sigil, Mount Celestia, Elysium, Arborea, The Outlands, the Abyss (a succubus informed Malcanthet of a painting Zarinda would describe as poking light fun at hedonism; almost immediately, Zarinda received a sending that she is to reserve the painting, along with a very high offer. Whether Mal realized the joke or not is unknown), Pandemonium, Baator (Glasya once indirectly purchased a painting that was rather peaceful and serene, oddly enough), Arcadia, the City of Brass in the Elemental Plane of Fire (from a representative of the sultan, even), a servant of Count Strahd von Zarovich (situated in Castle Ravenloft, on the Demiplane of Dread), several Prime Elemental planes including the ones containing Abeir-Toril, Krynn, Greyhawk etc.

In this collection, there is one card that seems to almost disappear between the greats around it, looking a little worn and carrying the name Gloria Felicias, along with a little white dove design that looks a little tacky. The dove currently has its wings spread slightly (visible because it juts out a little, like some cards do, due to the lack of a norm; somewhere in a lockbox, Zarinda still has a slab of granite that is an illustrous titan's business "card"). This means a message is waiting from Sascha, the business card actually something like a dropbox for short messages accesssible by Zarinda via touch, also allowing her to send a short answer to a similar card (which carries the name Deborah C. Tarmino). All traces of receiver and sender are disguised and erased, the magic itself hidden as much as possible. A little something Maria came up with.

Touching the dove with her thumb, Zarinda's mind receives the contained message, which erases itself from the card.

"Got a few offers you might like, one in particular. Table at Onyx's at 7?" Onyx's being Dal Onyx's Great Table of Culinary Delights, a high class restaurant in Guildhall Ward (which is practically part of Market Ward and vice versa) curiously being run by a sort of half-earth elemental who also happens the be the main chef there. Great food (and healthy amounts of it, too), great service, very nice ambiance. And dining rooms for private or business dinners. Dal Onyx is very serious about the last part and is also very grateful to Sascha for something she did in the past. There is even a semi-hidden entrance for people not wanting to have to be seen by everyone around the foyer and main dining room.

The dove on the card still has its wings raised in anticipation, waiting to send the answer on the way with a flap of its wings, before returning to its resting position once that it done.


(Does Zarinda have an apartment behind/atop the gallery or does she live elsewhere?)

[MikelaC1]

(An apartment on top of the gallery)

Zarinda sorts the business cards, making a note to accept Malcanthat's offer, and filing the rest away. She even files the card of the Count, while she doesn't plan to make a painting for him any time soon, you cant afford to make any sort of enemy, especially not a thousand year old vampire who might take insult and seek revenge. Having not eaten much all day (not that she ever does), she taps the dove in acceptance of the offer and then changes quickly into a more casual, but no less inconspicuous dress. She heads for the semi-hidden entrance, taking a small amount of pleasure in being able to come up unaware on the maître d', him not aware of her approach.

[Ridai]

Zarinda easily sneaks up on the finely-dressed middle-aged human, who gives quite the start as Zarinda makes herself known out of the blue, though he regains his composure quickly. Finnegan, as he is called, gives a polite bow, his great moustache as well-kept as always. "Ah, mi'lady Zarinda, good evening. You look wonderful today, if I might be allowed to say so. This way, please." He guides Zarinda through a corridor, up a sweeping staircase, it's curved wall made of glass through which Zarinda can observe the main hall, including the great black stone table that has been part of the restaurant since the very beginning, covered with plates carrying exquisite buffet selections, snacks and desserts. knowing the other side reflects light like a mirror does. True to its name, the Onyx's makes great use of the color black and material like polished obsidian with the right amount of moderation, achieving a sleek, subtle style, the staff dressed just as sharply. Dine in style, indeed.

Zarinda arrives at the familiar private room, lavishly decorated (but always with that eye towards moderation) with all sorts of comforts for the dining guests and, as Zarinda knows, the room is heavily shielded from all sorts of divination and mundane spying, even the staff unable to recall much about the guests and anything that might be said or done (for the most part). The large windows give a good view at the Guildhall Ward and hints at the torus shape of Sigil. Of course, on the outside, there just seems to be a black wall. Sascha is already present, rising from her seat to greet her.

"So lovely to see you, Zarinda." The half-elf half-kisses both cheeks, an easy smile on her lips, that usual sharpness in her eyes. Her dirty-blonde hair falls smoothly to her shoulders, with two thin braids starting at her temples and disappearing behind her head. She is wearing a dress with a rich, deep emerald color, almost seeming as if made of the gemstone itself without sacrificing any of the fabric's qualities. In only a short time, Sascha displayed a meteoric rise, beginning as a newcomer hungry to prove herself, and now she is navigating her field of work like a seasoned professional, watching calmly, but acting decisively. In terms of negotiations and legal matters, she can more than hold her own. Apart from her professional self, Sascha the woman herself is of petite build, her modest curves accentuated further by that fact. A tasteful selection of jewelry rounds off the image. Sascha is used to being underestimated at first, but those who do quickly find out how wrong they were.

As they sit down, Finnegan takes their orders, Sascha having some Arborean wine, sweet and sour soup as well as a selection of Onyx's finest steak and filet pieces.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda walks slowly through the establishment, savouring all the nice touches that Dal Onyx has put into his dining hall, there may be some other places that have a higher reputation, but in her opinion, they were all undeserved, this was the place to eat in Sigil.
When Finnegan takes the orders, Zarinda orders the same as Sascha, minus the soup; given her slight frame, Zarinda doesn't eat nearly as much as many people and she seems to concentrate mostly on meat products, perhaps the feline nature of her other persona pushes in on her more than she knows.
As it is to see you. How have things been with you? Of course, Zarinda is interested in hearing what sort of project that Sascha has for her, but is also genuinely interested in what is happening in the half elf's life, as she does not want the professional connection between them to be the only one.

[Ridai]

"Busy as usual. Your last client was rather happy with the results. Reportedly, Baroness Hartington was rather angry at seeing her mindbending crown gone and her freed subjects were rather happy to relieve her of her station. While of course the leaders of the new republic don't know anything about hiring the Black Cat, they are thinking out loud about a feline crest for the land. Payment was quickly done after things settled down enough for business. There will be a few extra royalties down the line for my help with getting rid of some of the more grey area magic items. I chose to reward myself with a trip north on that particular world to see the famed northern lights and a day in bed with a book and hot chocolate to get the cold out of my bones afterwards. Very much worth it." The wine is brought and Sascha gently clinks her glass against Zarinda's. Arborean wine has a tendency to drive weak-willed people into a partying mood, which isn't much of an issue where it comes from, but has its issues in the more civilized/uptight parts of the multiverse. For those able to resist, however, a wonderful taste is revealed and can be savored properly.

"Otherwise the usual. Finding clients, maintaining contacts, keeping abreast with the news, a bit of stamping out potentially harmful rumors and feeding the good ones. Gold and a good reputation don't earn themselves, after all. How are things on your end?"

[MikelaC1]

Old clients wanting a second or third Zarinda for their collection, new clients seeking one to cement their status as a connoisseur, the usual. Although I did give away The Woman in Dark to a charming young genasi and her partner, I could just tell it was made for her.

[Ridai]

"Heh, the lucky girl. Few artists are as prolific as you and can just give away what others of the craft would consider their lives' masterpiece. Cheers to good fortune." Sascha raises her glass. Soon, their food is brought and it never ceases to amaze.

"Now, on to the feline business. After clearing away the usual chaff, we are left with a few choices. First up is a request from a Masked Lord, part of the ruling body of the city of Waterdeep, situated in the world of Abeir-Toril. The identity of Masked Lords is kept hidden on purpose to avoid personal matters from influencing the decisions of the council. Still, I determined said Lord to be Keldran Redvine, a caster of well enough repute. Hardly a shining force of good, but mostly concerned with order and achieving economical success for Waterdeep and advancing arcane matters. He wants to have an astral diamond called The Seventh Eye, currently in possession of the lich queen of the githyanki. As you know, gravity is entirely subjective in the Astral Plane, the palace is heavily guarded and the lich queen, obviously, is a very powerful caster. The diamond is to, out of all things, woo a dwarven princess. The marriage would result in very favorable trade routes for Waterdeep and though he didn't want to admit it and the public doesn't know, Redvine has a thing for short, curvaceous women, as well as a bit of a longing for having a strong woman in his life. My guess would be a mixture of phantasies and a not very great puberty."

"Option number two is a request by a pit fiend called Katraxas to break into the newly renovated Transplanar Bank here in Sigil. The Mercane have upped their security there, leading to a number of new and important deposits. The pit fiend wants an ancient glass swan to be stolen from the highest security vault, as it is said to contain the souls of a lost race. He also wants to know weaknesses in the bank security. The owner of said glass swan is a very paranoid collector who isn't exactly the most pure of heart himself."

"Now, I don't consider number two actually an option. Because number 3 is the request of the solar Andvinia Whitemane, who caught wind of Katraxas' schemes. She thinks the Mercane have schemes on their own in the long term, but an entirely law-abiding species running the foremost cross-planar bank system is much better than to leave that business to the Baatezu, who are hard at work to catch up and would use the swan to further their goals. Madame Whitemane proposes that you break in, steal the swan, then replace it with a copy filled with essences that would seem just like souls to the collector and potential thieves. You would provide the solar with information about weaknesses, which she will leak to the Mercane, while we deliver another swan copy, but turned into a bomb of holy energy. Katraxas signed a very strict, watertight contract that if you agree to do it, there is no guarantee that the item will have the function that he hopes for and if he tries to seek retribution, he would forfeit his soul. Andvinia Whitemane also signed a contract that she cannot tell anyone about our cooperation, which while preventing growth of the business is necessary in this case. Payment is quite good, with additional perks such as a favor from Madame Whitemane."

"Do any of the options intrigue you?"

[MikelaC1]

That first one sounds very political as well as fighting the githyanki queen on her home turf. I prefer to pick my mage fights on my own terms and locations. You know me too well for option #3, having a favour from a solar in my back pocket is always a good thing to have. Zarinda doesn't even mention the payment, Sascha knows that the money is usually a secondary concern to the Cat, but the promise of a favour from a solar brings a little glint to her eyes. Lets explore #3 a little further.

[Ridai]

Sascha shows a knowing smile. "I figured, but it is my professional duty to inform my most valuable client of all available choices that fit the criteria set by said client." She picks a choice piece and savors the taste.

"To review: break into the recently renovated and souped-up bank in Sigil, steal the glass swan containing the souls of a lost species and replace it with a fake one, pass all security notes to Madame Whitemane who will leak them to the Mercane so they can mend these flaws, then I deliver a second fake swan that essentially is a holy bomb. We collect the watertight contract with Katraxas, take him out of the picture immediately afterward, collect from Madame Whitemane, gain a favor from her, and the souls will be set free on Mount Celestia to be reborn through the celestial energies. Expect little follow-up because of this contract, but it is not impossible in a good way and the reward is quite the thing. What would you like me to elaborate on?"

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda considers thoughtfully while she chews.

The first step, of course, is a bit of reconnaissance. If memory serves me, the bank did request one of the paintings from Lady Zarinda to hang in the foyer as part of their renovations and renewal project. Two trips might serve to be in order, one ostensibly to check out the place to see which picture would be most suited to the rest of the décor, and then a second to deliver said piece. Both of which could cover some surreptitious visual scouting.

[Ridai]

Sascha nods. "Keep in mind that the building is very big and you might not see much of the very security heavy part of the building. From what I know, the Mercane have contracts with Inevitables from Mechanus to act as their security, though not all of it. Of course, they have kept their security means under wraps, but the ressources of the Mercane are extensive as very prolific cross-planar traders."

[MikelaC1]

Then I will just have to be that much more careful.
Zarinda finishes her meal with Sascha, and then if the half elf has nothing else to impart, she will head back to her apartment for the night. Not much point in showing up for preliminary scouting when the place is closed. The next day, she heads to her studio to pick up the letter requesting a new creation, and heads to the bank, ready to play the role of the innocent.

[Ridai]

"The Mercane are normally travelling merchants, building and renovation are handled by contractors. Someone might know something and the more people know something, chances are a few more know that aren't supposed to. I'll be watching my card's dove. Best of luck."

The next day, Zarinda heads to said bank in Clerk's Ward's Administrator's District, the heart of the ward and with a nearly suffocating Harmonium presence. Streets are swept every day, buildings scrubbed clean frequently, even sewers and gutters kept in check and free of razorvine. It is quiet (something that is not often encountered in the Cage), people moving about quickly. No one wants to be caught loitering, the Harmonium has a twitchy trigger finger when it comes to fines and arrests in this district.

As she moved towards the bank, she could see the roof of it in the distance, Sigil's torus form curving up to the left and right to form the distant ceiling, as well as gently bending around to eventually connect back to where Zarinda is right now, closing the gigantic ring in the middle of infinity. She sees huge ceiling windows, but also tiny dots that are no doubt patrolling inevitables. Once she reaches her destination, Zarinda stands before a huge, nigh monolithic structure, very utilarian in design, reminding her a little of a fortress, though with a huge front entrance. Kolyarut stand like statues to either side of the entrance and inside the gigantic foyer, their unmoving gaze still seeing everything. It is strange. Everything from Mechanus has a distinct purpose and being guards is not that of the Inevitables. They are sent to punish and correct. Briefly, Zarinda's mind tries to think about the labyrinthine contracts, rules and frameworks set up to make this possible, but it stops itself before it twists itself into a knot.

The foyer is an airy, bright affair, quiet, elegant, fascillitating business to utmost perfection, with several boothes awaiting customers, staffed with very charming and competent looking people of the common races, who are least likely to offend anyone. Zarinda spots a few of the giant-sized, gaunt, blue-skinned Mercane moving about, always busy making money. Zarinda has little doubt that any actually important matters are handled by anyone but them. Someone wanting to make simple deposits, retrieve something from a locker and the like can easily be handled by properly trained underlings.

(Make a Spot check)

[MikelaC1]

Spot (mastery) = 27

Zarinda is looking for someone in charge, a simple clerk is not going to be able to negotiate to buy one of her paintings, nor are they likely to have the authority to put an art choice up. While she watches for someone in charge, she both surreptitiously checks out security, as well as putting her artistic mind to the best choice of her unsold paintings for this foyer. She has her letter ready as well.

[roll0] Spot (security)
[roll1] Craft

[Ridai]

Zarinda feels a very slight shift as she enters the building and she recognizes it as the barrier of an extradimensional space. With a well hidden glance and some estimation, it is safe to say that the bank is bigger on the inside than the outside, with space very precisely warped around the entrance and windows to avoid them from appearing bigger than they are on the outside. Most people will never notice. There are Inevitables inside as well, but at a distance or further up. In discreet locations, there are security guards of more common species. Zarinda notices a few mechanical and magical upgrades on the Inevitables and most likely magical equipment for the mortal security guards, probably both from the same manufacturer (given the volume, certainly a team working under the same employer, given design guidelines to follow).

The foyer is a big place, with various decorations in the form of art and plants, with a few seats for waiting customers or people waiting for the person they are with to finish their business. Picking the right place is not an easy thing. In one spot, the painting would be obscured by its surroundings, making things feel cluttered. In another, it would look out of place so close to transaction booths. In yet another, it would seem like a random thing on the otherwise unoccupied wall. But she is able to find a good spot, even right across a few seats and a coffee table with magazines and gazettes. Due to the lighting, it would be well illuminated and the eye would be naturally drawn to it. Plus, it would be visible from a good part of the roomy foyer, pulling the room together.

As for finding someone in charge, Zarinda does not see a designated boss person. Chances are they are observing from somewhere else while going about their business. As in other businesses, she could just ask about who is in charge of interior design, in this case at the information desk to the side.

[MikelaC1]

Continuing to appear nonchalant while still checking things out
[roll0] Bluff
[roll1] Spot
Zarinda heads to the information booth

Hello, my name is Lady Zarinda, and several days ago, I received a request from the manager of this fine establishment that he was interested in adding one of my artistic creations to finish off this newly renovated bank Displays the letter. I wonder if I might speak with him?
[roll2] Diplomacy

[Ridai]

"Welcome, mi'lady. How can I help you?" Hearing what Zarinda has to say, the woman behind the desk does a quick scan of the letter, a pleasant smile ever on her face. "Ah yes, Master Van'tren has informed that you might come by. Let me call him to see if he is available right now. One moment, please." The receptionist presses a button amongst many on a console-like device next to her, a light appearing on an earbud she is wearing. She informs Van'tren that Lady Zarinda has arrived. After a moment, she presses a different button, the light disappearing.

"Thank you for your patience. Master Van'tren is awaiting you in his office. Take the elevator to the fourth floor," she gestures to her right, Zarinda's gaze being led past a guard into a side corridor where she sees golden elevator doors. "then make a left. His office is at the end of the corridor on the right, next to the window."

[MikelaC1]

Thank you for your help

Zarinda heads in the direction indicated, surreptitiously watching the guards (especially the guard she is walking past) for their reaction to her, and to see if she can see some sort of patrol pattern
[roll0] spot
She rides the elevator to the 4th floor, and follows the woman's directions, once again trying to see what else she can see
[roll1] spot

[Ridai]

Looking down the corridor on the first floor, Zarinda does spot a guard walking in the distance, but there isn't much of an indication about patterns. In the elevator and on the fourth floor, Zarinda does spot faint signs of divination indicating surveillance of some sort. She also spots well-hidden runes set up to trigger an alarm on the windows. The fourth floor is as utilarian with subtle style like the rest and Zarinda has no trouble finding the door, with a view of the district through the window to her left.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda knocks at the door and once she hears a response to enter, she comes in.

Good morning Master Van'tren, my name as your receptionist told you, is Lady Zarinda. Some time ago, at the start of your renovations, you indicated an interest in adding one of my paintings to your foyer. Since I can see that your renovations are finished, and let me just say they are quite impressive as well, I was wondering if that offer still stood?

[Ridai]

Zarinda finds an office with a big polished darkwood desk, large and very much filled shelves and a desk with various folders and papers, the side of the office a big window. The anthracite-colored carpet muffles her steps even further. Van'tren looks up from his desk and through his silver-rimmed spectacles at Zarinda. Even sitting he is above eye level for the human, black horns hung with golden trinkets twist up from his entire scalp (it is difficult to say whether they are real or some form of hat), sharp and heavily inclined eyes examining the new arrival.

"Yes, thank you for coming, please have a seat." He gestures with one hand at the leather arm chairs in front of his desk which are a bit larger than common for human-sized furniture, but comfortable in a sofa sort of way for her. "Can I offer you something to drink? High elven elder wine? Dwarven Thunderspire whiskey? Celestian springwater?" he says, Zarinda noticing the various bottles of all shapes and sizes (and many different liquid colors) as he takes off his glasses with his spiderleg fingers, each having one more joint than that of a human, before folding both hands.

"We are quite satisfied with the final result of our renovations, but are still quite interested in your work, as you were recommended highly and the pieces we sampled were quite satisfactory in terms of fitting the foyer's design. We sent you a number of possible choices, but would also be interested in consulting with you about what painting to pick and where to place it, as that is said to be your forte as well. And, of course, I would like to discuss the prices involved."

[MikelaC1]

Elven elder wine would fine, thank you. As for location, I took the liberty of looking at some spots in the foyer and I may have good place picked out. Its a good spot, even right across a few seats and a coffee table with magazines and gazettes. Due to the lighting, it would be well illuminated and the eye would be naturally drawn to it. Plus, it would be visible from a good part of the roomy foyer, pulling the room together. If you have a better idea, Im open to it as well. And I do have some good choices that would suit a bank, although again Im open to options.

[Ridai]

Van'tren pours the wine into a crystal-like glass. It's taste goes through various stages starting from the first taste, to spreading across the tongue and filling her mouth, to the aftertaste, revealing a rich flavor as if Zarinda could taste the kiss of a lover and an embrace in a cold winter night. The mercane nods in thought, stroking his chin with his spidery fingers.

"That does seem like a sound suggestion for where to display it. Well then, what would you suggest as a suitable choice in painting? Keep in mind that we would like something fitting into its surroundings and enhancing them, as our customers value the professionality that is inherent in our bank's services."

[MikelaC1]

I actually have two selections in mind. One of them is an abstract piece, some people have referred to it as the bowl of fruit, its a slightly larger piece as well. The other one is more of a representation of professional life, which is more in keeping with a bank, although the people in it are more straight and angular. Realism in the background, but linear people representation. Of course, if you are looking for more than one, to be placed in other areas of the bank, I can come up with a few others, which can be more tailored to personal preference instead of the professional demeanour.
Those two that I just mentioned are about 5 grand, while the other pieces would be a bit lower. If the person has something specific in mind, the prices get a little higher.

[Ridai]

Van'tren considers the options. "The bowl of fruit sounds like a better fit, especially placed across a waiting and resting place. 5,000 gold is a reasonable offer. I will add a 5% consultation payment and forward your offer of further pieces and commission work, as I am not solely in charge of interior design. When can you deliver the painting? Once it has been delivered, we can either pay you in cash or transfer payment to a bank account if you have one, whether with our institute or another."

[MikelaC1]

Surprising, I would have thought you would have gone with the more professional one. However, I'm glad you took Bowl of Fruit, as I think its a better painting.
As for delivery, I can have my man bring it over today, and since I have accounts with you (why not, its just easier to say she does) the payment can go there, here are my details.

[Ridai]

"While adhering to corporate design is important, there is leeway in regards to changing up the look and it is at times necessary to achieve a better result. We will hand the delivery man a receipt of the transaction and transfer the funds to your account upon receiving the painting." He reaches across his desk with his large hand for a shake. "Pleasure doing business with you, Lady Zarinda."

[MikelaC1]

I hope we can do business again.

Zarinda shakes his "hand"

Should I just show myself out?

[Ridai]

"Unless you need directions to the foyer." It isn't a condescending remark. People being to large, complex buildings like the bank for the first few times often have trouble finding their way back after an appointment or something similar. As such, it is a routine thing to mention (and ask in implication).

[MikelaC1]

No, I think I can handle it. Good day to you

On the inside, Zarinda is pleased that she wont be shadowed back to the foyer. She returns to the elevator, and then completely by accident, pushes the button for the third floor. When the door opens, she takes a quick peek to see what she can see, and if there isn't anything immediate, she takes a few quick steps out to see more
[roll0] spot
[roll1] hide
[roll2] spot
She repeats the process on the second floor
[roll3] spot
[roll4] hide
[roll5] spot
She also checks to see if there is a button to go below the first floor, where she figures the vaults are.

[Ridai]

Zarinda sees two floors much like the 4th, designed to accomodate a fair number of offices and meeting rooms. On the third floor, she spots double doors with glass panes at their core, currently locked. Still, her trained eye sees the faint signs of a subtle imbuement of magic near it. The corridors are long and don't provide a lot of cover, though there are at times restrooms and break rooms or open meeting rooms, and once in a while a recess along a corridor with shelves filled with books, folders, boxes, often accompanied by the occasional plant.

On the second floor, a woman in white blouse, black pencil skirt and heels passes by the opening elevator doors, clearly in a hurry and carrying a few files, the thief hearing the sound of her steps clearly even on the thin carpet. Her passing by lets Zarinda notice a very faint glow diagonally across the elevator, in the corner where the ceiling and the corner between the corridor ahead and to the left meet. As soon as the woman has passed and the doors are open, the faint light disappears as if nothing was there in the first place. Moving carefully, Zarinda avoids setting it off with her supernatural skill, confirming that it apparently registers motion. Most likely nothing to worry about during normal business hours, at least close to the public elevators. As she peeks out of the elevator, Zarinda sees the woman head towards one of the glass-paned double doors, which open with a very quiet brush across the carpet to make way for her. Lightning quick glances discover something like a small crystal card hanging from her hip and a reaction in the magic beside the doors.

Her examination of the elevator buttons reveals space for further buttons below the 1st floor button as if they were supposed to be there (at least from her extensive experience), but no visible buttons. Letting her fingers glide across the space, she discovers the faint feeling of glammer hiding the buttons, but another effect also holding them in place. The constellation of effects makes it easy to guess that these buttons are certainly visible and pressable to some, given the right circumstances.

[MikelaC1]

One of those crystals might reveal those buttons Zarinda muses to herself. Sleight of hand isn't her best suit, but it might be needed here. She pushes the button for the foyer level, and when she comes out, she takes a look around to see where a guard is, one that has his crystal dangling within reach.

[Ridai]

The nearest guard is the one standing where the corridor goes over into the foyer, currently facing the foyer.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda studies the guard carefully, trying to spot if he has a crystal and where it is.

[roll0]

[Ridai]

There is a badge attached to his belt carrying an employee number and the insignia of the bank. Towards the lower bit, there is a telltale little blue spot, but with a hint of green, most likely one of the access crystals.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda approaches the guard, her heel making a noise only at the last moment during her approach

Excuse me, I was wondering if you could tell me which desk I would go to in order to open a new account
[roll0]

Under the cover of this questioning, and when the guard turns to indicate which one it is, she attempts to lift the access crystal
[roll1]

[Ridai]

Zarinda manages to catch the guard... off-guard (*drum roll*) without appearing suspicious. The middle-aged man turns around to face her, his eyes very subtly and quickly darting to the most important points to check in regards to identification and security before looking her into the eye again. "Head on over to the information desk, the lady there will help you sort things out." He turns and indicates the information desk, allowing Zarinda's fingers (hidden from sight by her own body and that of the guard) to dart towards the badge. With a feather's touch, she finds the crystal set into the badge. But she also finds that someone with her skill could remove it. Perhaps swiftly enough to finish in this short window.

(Disable Device check, please. No bonuses from tools, as this needs to be done with her bare hand.)

[MikelaC1]

[roll0]ten characters

[Ridai]

Luck is not on Zarinda's side, her fingers still needing to figure out the subtle mechanisms and how to manipulate them. Time is running out, the window of opportunity closing.

(One more Disable Device check)

[MikelaC1]

[roll0]ten characters

EDIT: Obviously a quick learner

[Ridai]

The guard turns back around, quietly waiting for the possibility of the lady having more questions or her taking her leave. He doesn't notice that the tiny blue crystal is now resting in the palm of Zarinda's hand.

[MikelaC1]

Thank you for your help Zarinda begins to head towards the information desk, but as soon as the guard is no longer watching her, she changes direction and leaves the bank completely.
Upon her return to her studio, she gets the Fruit Bowl and crates it, contacting her delivery person to arrange for delivery to the bank

[Ridai]

Zarinda returns home, her delivery man delivers the painting and returns with a receipt documenting the transfer of 5,250gp to Zarinda's account.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda tosses the slip onto what amounts to any sort of filing system, for all of her thieving skills, organization in terms of money is not a forte of Zarinda's. As long as she pays her bills, shes happy with that. Shes pretty sure that Sascha sneaks in and organizes things, and probably invests money for her and so she just makes sure that any time money comes in or out, that Sascha can see the record of it.
She grabs a quick nap between when the delivery man gets back to about midnight, and then dons her cat suit, heading back to the bank to scout things out, and see what sort of outside guardians are around.

[roll0]

[Ridai]

(Sascha doesn't access the premises of Zarinda's office or apartment and doesn't exclusively work for Zarinda, as neither is something you wrote about her. She has extensive financial and law-related skills, so it might be something to bring up the next time you meet.)

Zarinda is standing on the nearest roof, well-shielded from sight. It is quiet tonight, though the district does not sleep entirely and the night shift of the Harmonium is no less present than during daytime (Sigil has 6 hours of bright light centered around noon, 6 hours of "night time" centered around midnight, and 2 x 6 hours of twilight between the two periods. The local calendar has 12 months of 30 days). The two kolyarut are still beside the main entrance and there are four zelekhut patrolling the roof and two zelekhut circling the immediate airspace around the bank. The Harmonium patrols the streets around the bank in small groups. Zarinda noticed before that the Inevitables have received awareness upgrades, so their sensory faculties are most certainly more formidable than that of normal Inevitables. The paths of the zelekhut are coordinated so that they cover each others' dead angles, untiring in construct precision, rigidly following the routes they were instructed to like clockwork. But of course, such routes were likely determined by someone able to make mistakes.

There is a back entrance, but it is also closely guarded by two kolyarut and more heavily fortified and locked, located in a small backyard that is surrounded by a high fence and hedge, the yard itself only having a few trees and a bit of lawn between smooth stone paths. There are several windows on the side and a few skylights on the roof, along with a roof maintenance access door.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda continues to watch the patrols of Harmonium and circling zelekhut. She loops her rope of climbing over her shoulder as she does so. Her plan is to find an opening in the patrol pattern that will allow her to climb a wall to access a window to get inside...or if the pattern doesn't allow enough time to work on a window, she will go to the roof and use the maintenance access door. Once she sees the required opening, she starts moving toward it, timing her approach to be at the wall just as the opening starts.

[roll0] spot
[roll1] hide
[roll2] move silently

[Ridai]

Zarinda quickly gets to the wall of the bank, quiet and unseen like a shadow in a sea of them. There is next to no cover on the windows on the walls, leaving Zarinda exposed. If she wants to go through one of them, she has to work very, very quickly to circumvent the runes securing the window, but it would place her quite low in the building, close to the vaults. Up on the roof, she spotted a gap in the patrols and given the nature of the constructs, she can count on a consistent time window. She has a few options, with one of the skylights having some cover and a larger time window than the windows on the wall, letting her enter a room most likely not close to surveillance. The maintenance door is, of course, the simplest and quickest way to enter, but most likely will place her the furthest away from the vaults and make her go through a bit more security.

(Basically you can set your risk/reward factor here)

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda decides the skylights on the roof offer the best chance for success and with the gap in patrols right now, she should be able to scale the side face. Her rope is deployed to make the challenge less and up she goes, pulling the rope up each time and redeploying it as needed.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2] giving several if needed

Once up, she gets herself into the open pattern of patrols that she spotted from the Inevitables, and moves to work on the skylight

[roll3] Hide
[roll4] Move Silently

And once at the skylight, she does a thorough check to see what runes are present and active, and then sets to work to disable them.

[roll5] Search
[roll6] Disable

[Ridai]

Zarinda loses some time climbing up the exterior of the bank which is mostly smooth, save for the decorations at even intervals that might as well be ladders for the master thief. However, she makes up for her slow progress by locating a very good spot to work on one of the skylights and using it to its fullest potential, wreathing her in shadow. She has little trouble finding all relevant runes on the frame and gets to work with her tools, circumventing the alarm and locking runes. The ink is only visible to the trained eye and seeing the signs Maria taught her, Zarinda knows she has been successful, leaving the window itself and thus the more traditional part of entering a building she is not supposed to.

The zelekhut continue their path as predicted, unalarmed. Judging from her spot and the pattern, Zarinda has 15 seconds to enter the skylight and close it behind her.

(Open Lock check to open the window.)

[MikelaC1]

Even under a time pressure, Zarinda remains calm and cool, other rogues might be panicked with only 15 seconds to work with, to her, its just the normal course of business. She coolly picks the lock, opens the window and slips inside, locking it behind her.

[roll0]

[Ridai]

Zarinda gets to work and with 12 seconds left to go, she silently opens the skylight, slips inside and closes the window again, with none the wiser. Using a shelf as impromptu ladder, Zarinda gets down onto the carpet and into the dark, letting the zelekhut pass by outside.

She is standing in a conference room on the 5th floor, bigger than the window suggested. There is a door into the corridor outside in the opposite left corner, the shade giving Zarinda a path to the left wall, leaving a short way to cross through the faint light back into the darkness surrounding the right side of the room.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda is little more than a black shadow as she moves through the concealing darkness to just before the faint light. Making sure there are no zelekhut passing by the window at just the right time to see her, she makes the final move to the door as soon as it is safe.

[roll0] hide
[roll1] move silently

Once at the door, she checks the door for traps, disables any she finds and then presses her ear to the door to hear any patrolling noises beyond

[roll2] search
[roll3] disable
[roll4] listen

[Ridai]

Zarinda awaits the timing of one of the gaps in the patrol and darts to the door, unseen. No traps are found and no footsteps are heard outside. The conference room not being a critical one amongst the collections of offices and archives of the bank, not to mention the vaults.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda eases the door open, and checks both ways for possible guards.
[roll0]
Once satisfied that there is nothing out there, she slips out, still quiet and unseen, moving to where the elevators would be, positioning them from where she remembers and where she entered this time.
[roll1] hide
[roll2] move silently

[Ridai]

Zarinda slips into the corridor. From what she can tell, she is on the outer side of the floor, so she has to follow the corridor towards the front to get to the elevator she used before. The hall is quiet and dark, the rooms mostly seem to be empty, though she thinks she can see a little bit of light seep through the small gap beneath a few distant doors. Late workers, most likely.

She creeps down the corridor, eventually coming to one of the double doors she noticed previously.

[MikelaC1]

Again, Zarinda goes through her checks, and disables, then listens for more activity beyond.

[roll0] search
[roll1] disable
[roll2] listen

[Ridai]

Zarinda has seen the runes beside the doors before and they react to the crystal Zarinda has with her, but the doors do not open. Looking at the lines of magical energy, she recognizes a part for identifying not just the presence of an access crystal, but also if it is marked as active. While the magical energies are busy, she also recognizes a line leading away from the panel, one for verifying the identity of the person the crystal belongs to and their permissions. This part is only used if the internal list of active crystals does not have a match. This also implies that, since the crystal she has is deactivated, that someone or something will notice that said crystal is being used. This gives Zarinda insight into how the system works and how she can manipulate it to her advantage. It also means that she needs to act fast before a request is sent elsewhere with the information of her crystal.

[MikelaC1]

(Obviously, Zarinda is a lot smarter than me, and could figure this out, so if Im totally misreading this thing, please let me know)

Zarinda reacts quickly to what is going on, her first move is to paint a rune over the line leading away from the panel to block any sort of requests and alerts that she is working on it, and then quickly putting up another rune to trick the panel into thinking her access crystal is active. As she works, she wonders how this crystal is going to be able to get her to use the elevator. Has the company already noted the theft and taken action?

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Ridai]

Deftly, Black Cat prevents her crystal from being noticed, fooling the panel into believing an active crystal was used as the request is bounced back by the first rune and then changed by the second. The double doors glide open quietly as before... but without the background noise of main business hours, the sound can most likely be heard from further away. On the upside, the elevator is quite close now, along with the three-way crossing of corridors like she has seen on the other floors.

(Deciphered my descriptions and employed one of the ways to solve the problem, well done.)

[MikelaC1]

Mentally, Zarinda tries to hush the door, knowing it wont do any good. She steps up her efforts at stealth to compensate, trying to get to the elevator as soon as possible.

[roll0] hide
[roll1] hide
[roll2] move silently
[roll3] move silently

[roll4]

EDIT: With 90+ on the first H+MS, even if they heard the doors, they missed her. Moot if no one is around

[Ridai]

The doors whoosh close behind Zarinda, mean taunting things that they are. Halfway to the elevator, Zarinda spots a source of light shining into the corridor behind her, far beyond the double doors. Somewhere in the distance, a guard is in the process of walking into the corridor Zarinda is in, as seen through the glass-panes in the double doors. Zarinda is aware that her silhouette might stand out (if faintly) against the light from the window far ahead of her. There is a shallow recess next to her with a book-and-file-shelf, as well as an ordinary office plant feigning a friendly environment. There are closed doors around her, as well as the three-way crossing in front of the elevator ahead of the master thief. Whatever she does, she should do it quickly.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda doesn't have the time to deal with doors, especially if they have any of the complex locking systems on them, not to mention the fact that doors in this place seem determined to make noise. The plant might be big enough, but Zarinda doesn't want to chance it, and her shadow will show up in the light if she tries to make it to the 3 way. The recess gives her the best chance of avoiding detection and she ducks into it. Immediately, she holds herself completely still and noiseless, not doing the "hold your breath" of an amateur, but just being slow and careful with it.

[roll0] hide
[roll1] silent

EDIT: So glad natural 1 is not an auto fail on skill check.

[Ridai]

The closed doors do feel sorry and do Zarinda a favor by muffling any of the very little noises she does make (not that the common mortal would notice them, even if she did a tap dance beside them). Melding with the shadows, the master thief waits, seeing the light come closer. The telltale swoosh of the doors. Light moving across the hall, including the recess, searching. "Hmm..."

Another light appears from the front, standing at the intersection.
"Anyone come your way?"
"No one, everything quiet."

The lights leave very little room to hide in, the edges of the beams so very close to revealing Zarinda they might as well be the Lady of Pain's shadow inverted.

"Probably one of the night owls."
"Copper for every drow or tiefling too lazy to switch the lights on."
"Ssh."

The lights veer away, steps distancing themselves, the double doors swooshing close. For many so called master thieves, this would have been the end of the journey. Not for this one actually deserving the title. All is quiet once again as Zarinda emerges from the shadows, no lights or steps anywhere.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda gives an extra moment to make sure the path is clear, and then moves quietly and quickly to the elevator, still even keeping to the shadows, not sure about any sort of surveillance that might be present

[roll0] hide
[roll1] move silently

As soon as she is at the elevator, she duplicates the actions she took to make it work during the day, however when the doors open this time, she tries to bring the crystal close to see if the new buttons reveal themselves.

[Ridai]

Stalking to the elevator, she calls it, making sure not to make the motion detector watching it notice her. With a chime, the door slides open, which is detected by the motion sensor, but its red light disappears quickly afterwards, leaving no other sign of activity. Dimmed light seeps from the elevator into the hallway and is shut out again as the door slides close behind Zarinda. She tests the crystal and the button has a similar way to verify who it belongs to, reminding her of the double doors, but more complex. She sees the lines, but this time they are golden ones, hidden in the design of the panel of buttons people would ignore as decorations. Soon, a request will be sent to check the crystal she has, but the catch is that in order for the button to appear, the panel requires an answer from the system to a second request for the crystal's access permissions, even if it was on the panel's list of active crystals, which requires a different set of runes. Zarinda knows how the first request looks like and Maria taught her that she can string runes and formulae together to form a plan that is worked through to her specifications, but she needs to be quick and efficient about it.

Modern security and its headaches. But the world of simple tumbler-locks was long, long left behind by Zarinda.

[MikelaC1]

Ever quick and deft with her paints, Zarinda is already painting runes over golden lines, trying to trick the access panel into accepting her crystal as genuine, while hiding the response of the main centre.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[Ridai]

Working quickly, Zarinda tricks the system with finesse. The blue button appears on the panel, pressing it sending her down past the first floor, more than just another floor deeper. After a few moments, there is another chime, announcing the arrival. The doors slide open, giving her a view at a lobby with the other elevators on the other side. Nearly everything seems to be made of marble and furnished even more expensively. This is the part for the really important customers, it seems. To her right, she can see what looks like a checkpoint. A big milky thick glass door, with the golden bank emblem on it. Next to it is a glass booth for guards, currently staffed. The air is pretty fresh, so ventilation seems to be working well down here. Another guard seems to be standing in front of the glass booth, talking to the guard inside.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda takes the settings in with a glance. The lighting is subdued, but still too much for the thief's liking, but the control panel promises much in the way of changing that situation to her own advantage. She adjusts her night vision goggles, better that she not be stumbling around like the guards hopefully will be. Darting quickly from cover to cover, she makes her way to the panel

[roll0] hide
[roll1] move silently
[roll2] hide
[roll3] move silently
[roll4] hide
[roll5] move silently

(if that works out, then...)
Once at the panel, she quickly determines which switches will plunge the whole room into darkness and uses them.
Making her way to the nearest pillar, she uses her skill and her rope to climb to the catwalk (that's where she belongs after all) and heads to the maintenance hatch

[roll6]

[Ridai]

There's a certain thrill to be able to do what would have been unthinkable a decade ago, darting like a ghost through open space, from cover to tiny cover. It almost feels wrong that the guards don't notice her. The panel is quickly found and the main fuse is quickly found. Flipping the switch, everything goes dark, save for the dim light in the booth.

"What the hells?"
"Is someone there?"

A magical light is switched on by the outer guard, letting is sweep through the hall.

"Doubt it, would've seen it if someone was here. Nothing on the sensors, either. No security breach."
"Faulty enchantments?"
"Go get the fuse box, I'll make a memo for the technicians."

By the time the outer guard is maneuvering through the dark to the panel, Zarinda has already ascended, nimbly making her way to the maintenance hatch. In her black-and-white view, she sees a cover attached to the lid (just decor) and locks holding the hatch shut.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda makes a mental note that the next time, she should just short circuit the fuse to make it look like a mechanical failure instead of a deliberate act. Live and learn. The hatch could still be trapped, but Zarinda has the time to deal with it before the lights come on. She makes a quick search for traps, and then sets about deactivating them, before working the locks free and wiggling in.

[roll0] Search: Traps
[roll1] Disable: Traps
[roll2] Open Locks
[roll3] Open Locks (if theres more than 1)
[roll4] Open Locks (if theres more than 2)...if there are 4, theyre paranoid

[Ridai]

The locks are opened quickly, the hatch easily pulled open. When the lights are back in the hall, the hatch is long closed again. Zarinda can count herself lucky that she has a slight and highly flexible build, as she can at best crouch in the maintenance tunnel among thick cables glowing with magical power. One way leads away from the checkpoint, another across it.

[MikelaC1]

The guessing game, this is the part I don't like With no obvious option presenting itself, Zarinda attempts to orient herself with the layout of the room below her and if there is a passage that leads towards the elevator, she takes that one. She has no idea if the crawlway will give access to the elevator, or if that's even the direction she needs to head, but its the best choice right now.
If there isn't a tunnel that goes that way, she takes the one leading away. No matter which way she goes, she takes care not to touch any of the cables, not wanting to see what the results of contact would be.

Escape Artist (mastery): 37

[MikelaC1]

When you enter the bank, you can either go to the far left or far right of the bank to take an elevator down into this lobby. The tunnel leading away from the checkpoint is leading towards the area of the foyer (though underground), the one leading across the checkpoint leading further into the bank.

Zarinda follows the one leading further into the bank, following cares detailed above

[Ridai]

Creeping through the tunnel, Zarinda can vaguely see signs of the checkpoint below and judging from the many cables and control lights, it is packed with a lot of magic, some of it potentially fatal. She continues onwards, careful not to touch any cables, until she reaches the end of the tunnel. Through a slight opening, she can see a dark corridor, empty. Likely an access corridor to the vault. The maintenance hatch is in the corner at the beginning of the corridor.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda says a silent thank you to Maria for her night goggles, just another one of the useful magical tools she has been provided with over the years. She continues to pick her way carefully
Escape artist: 37
and turns her way down the access corridor.

[Ridai]

Emerging from the tunnel and closing the hatch, Zarinda creeps down the dark corridor. She notices very slight patterns on the walls, triggering her instinct, making her stop. Looking more closely, the goggles reveal beams criss-crossing the corridor, some stationary, some moving, in a seemingly haphazard chaos all the way down the corridor, where the closed door lies. There is little telling what might happen if one of the beams is disrupted. Chances are that it is nothing good.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda studies the lines to see if it is at all possible to make her way past the lines with the most intricate of twisting and turning (a la Catherine Zeta Jones, Entrapment). She tries to study if her paints could shut them down, although she has to figure out just how many beams there are, and how much paint she has left. And last, but not least, she tries to study if she could lay herself absolutely flat and wiggle her way down

[roll0]

[Ridai]

Flat on the ground is not an option and disabling beams would require to disable a lot of them, which would both consume a lot of time and a lot of ink. Twisting, turning and bending will be required to make it through the corridor in a somewhat timely fashion.

[MikelaC1]

Its fortunate that Zarinda has such a lithe and supple body, and these power lines will challenge her in a way that is likely unmatched in her checkered career. She draws a quick breath, makes sure all of her equipment is tightly packed on her body and begins her progress down the hall, twisting and turning under each beam.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[MikelaC1]

Its just a little bit farther, Zarinda has do some acrobatic tumbling to dodge the last few beams.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[Ridai]

An audience is counterproductive for a master thief, but Zarinda would deserve a grand one for what she is doing. With the grace of her namesake, she weaves around the beams, once coming very close to not making it, only to manage to rest with professional ease, coming to a halt beyond the beams, in front of the door and beside another panel that lets her control the beams, including switching them off for a small period of time.

[MikelaC1]

Before shutting the beams down, Zarinda will first inspect the panel, and the door for traps
[roll0] panel
[roll1] door
She also checks to see if the door is locked and if this is another panel that she had to bypass
[roll2]

[Ridai]

Zarinda spots nasty little security mechanisms on the door and panel, loaded with force energy. The door itself does not have an access panel, but a lock. Although this is a rather complex one.

[MikelaC1]

To be fair, their security is pretty good...although I have a few ideas for them

Zarinda studies the security mechanisms and the door lock and then sets to work with her paints and tools.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

(Not sure how many you need, so I tossed down a bunch)

[Ridai]

Working on the traps, Zarinda learns two things: first, your everyday rogue would have been screwed, as these are contingent spells, not normal magical traps. Second, most mages would have been screwed. As Zarinda proceeds to disconnect the trap from the rest of the arcane matrix, she discovers that there is also a very well hidden second spell in place that is very easy to dispel. And when that happens, a reserve restores and immediately triggers the trap, resulting in a face full of force energy. The dispelling of the trap would need to be very, very precise. And precision is often not a strength of mages. Zarinda, however, can work with surgical accuracy due to her skill and her tools provided by Maria, so disabling the trap is challenging, but hardly something that she has to fear to utterly fail. The lock on the door, like the ones she has encountered elsewhere in the complex, is actually a quite good one (clearly, they haven't skimped on these things). As she works, it actually is very well made and of an unusual design. It doesn't mean that Zarinda can't unlock it (the click noise would tend to agree), but they didn't screw around.

Zarinda can now open the door and control the lasers (the latter can be switched off entirely or for a duration of Zarinda's choosing).

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda didn't become a master thief by being rash, and any other common cutpurse would deride her for being overcautious, but she checks the door once more for a trap, since sometimes extra traps reveal themselves once the locks are disengaged.
[roll0]
[roll1]
Once she is finally satisfied, she arranges for the lasers to be shut down for an hour, if she finds that what she needs to do will take longer than that, she can always shut them down again when she comes back. And with that, she opens the door.

[Ridai]

Her caution pays off, disabling a small alarm placed very innocuously on the inside of the corner of the door. Opening it, Zarinda sees a room with barely any furniture, looking ominously bare. The main feature are the ceiling lights hanging from it, as well as a corner presumably leading into another corridor.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda makes a quick look into the room to see if there any active enemies.
[roll0]
Once the room is identified as being clear, she begins to cautiously enter it, keeping an eye out for traps, and continuing to stay silent and hugging the shadows.
[roll1] Search
[roll2] Move Silently
[roll3] Hide

[Ridai]

Curiously, the room is free of any surveillance measures and guards. However, as she peers around the corner into the long corridor, she sees that there is a step down, followed by a bare length down to the vault door. Her skin crawls and she nows that this means danger. With her trained eye, Zarinda sees that the corridor is stuffed full with some of the most deadly, insidious magics and traps, all of them very well hidden. Even the lamps hanging about two feet from the ceiling are deadly, able to shine with necromantic magic if it senses a trespasser. Multiple sensors cover each other. Even for Zarinda, crossing the corridor without having whatever would grant her access would be extremely dangerous. The entirely bare look of the corridor actually makes things even more creepy. As she is trying to see how to even cross it, she sees that there is a long adamantine-looking cable of sorts running along the ceiling from which the lamps are hanging. She sees runes indicating an antimagic field up there, she has only roughly 2 feet between the cable and the ceiling, would need to move around connecting cables to the ceiling at even intervals and couldn't afford to touch the lamps or have any part of her body a few inches below the adamantine cord. But it is a way across. There is hardly any room for error, and error means certain and excrutiatingly painful death.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda draws a deep breath and gets up on the cable. She slides along with her arms and legs wrapped around the cable, keeping her below the anti-magic runes, and above the sensors, and contorting herself around the death dealing lamps. She takes great care, and uses all of her talents and honed skills, not worrying about how long it takes, concentrating on doing it right

Climb (mastery) 30 (as many as needed)
Escape Artist (mastery) 37 (as many as needed) (seeing as she really isn't tumbling)
Balance (mastery) 44 (as many as needed) (again, not sure if it applies)

[Ridai]

Balancing on top of the inch-wide cable with so little space above her is tense, Zarinda needing her utmost concentration to keep her balance, winding around the lamps and the cables connecting the one she is on to the ceiling. It takes several minutes to cross the corridor, the thief feeling and seeing all sorts of death waiting along the way. She even thinks she sees several marut along the way directly looking at her, but recognizes the magical tricks, shutting them out of her mind. Eventually, she reaches the other end, now directly above the vault door. A careful check reveals that no sensors are directed at the door, but the floor before the vault door is still trapped. The entire building has been rigged with dimensional anchors, making any kind of teleportation or ethereal passage impossible, so the way Zarinda went was the only way. And she is not sure if anyone else could have made the trip.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda is so happy that her rope almost has a mind of its own. The rope can easily support her and position itself to allow her to work on the door, checking it once more for traps and then opening the door once it is safe.

1d20+47 Search
1d20+73 Disable

Once the door is open, she checks the room carefully, looking for even more traps in the vault itself.

1d20+47

[MikelaC1]

and since the site thinks Im cheating

[roll0] Search
[roll1] Disable

and the second search

[roll2]

[Ridai]

Zarinda gets to work and she has her work cut out for her. There are layers upon layers of traps, traps within traps, traps activated by deactivation of other traps. Often, the master thief needs to adjust her rope and her position to access what needs to be worked on, incidentally putting world-class acrobats and contortionists to shame. Finally, she has disabled the seven traps around the lock and the other 13 on the door, getting to work on the lock, which needs a lot of finesse and the touch of a feather, working the complex mechanism to slowly coax it open (what kind of key opens this contraption, anyway?). Once done, Zarinda does her second sweep, noticing the count of traps thus far, and does away with the sneaky last trap for the full 21. Black Jack. Open Sesame.

Pushing the door open with her feet (easier said than done, as it is huge and heavy), Zarinda can finally slip inside. And inside, she finds a gigantic room with seemingly endless rows of lockboxes and rooms (whose entrances range from simple doors to huge gates). She has heard of such things, space folded upon itself. If she were there legitimately, her will would take her to the place that belongs to her or that she is authorized to access. Like this, however, the vault would detect her as an intruder and lead her to her death. She glimpses the huge forms of marut, their senses blind so that they shall never witness any business except that of those breaking the rules. Who knows what they are ordered to do with anyone they capture. Something tells her death won't be the only thing.

However, the will of the vault, while designed to be infallible, was not made by a perfect being. While it detects the desire related to this bank as if the person spoke about it inside a zone of truth, Zarinda has her means.

(Bluff check to trick the vault into guiding her to where she wants to go.)

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda first commands her rope to snake back around her waist, and then concentrates very deeply on a vase shaped like an ancient glass swan, containing souls (a pity that Sascha couldn't give her a name) and then attempts to trick the bank vault into bringing her to the correct safety deposit box.

[roll0]

[Ridai]

Zarinda concentrates and begins to walk. Her professional intuition lets her notice bits and pieces that would elude others, hinting at secrets manifold, treasure behind various doors, and untold horrors waiting for those trespassing. The Black Cat's focus must be clear and constant, as while she is bending the guide to her will, the guide is also the only way to reach her destination and avoid her soul from being torn from her body. It is a strange sensation. Being guided to her destination is clearly designed to look, sound and feel as if just walking through normal facilities, but what Zarinda is doing lets her peek behind the scenes, feeling space bend around her and the guide interpret her desire. Eventually, she arrives at her destination, a discrete lockbox among several, marked with the name Antonidus Kruvilli. The area around her looks normal, like a corridor among many rows of these lockboxes, but in the back of her head, she feels space looming in ways that do not work in the conventional three dimensions.

(Your lockbox opening checks, please. Also, please make a Sense Motive check.)

[MikelaC1]

Not trusting anything to be straightforward in this bank, Zarinda checks first for traps and disables same.
[roll0]
[roll1]
And finally, she attempts to pick the lock on the box
[roll2]
In the back of her head, she wonders if something might be wrong
[roll3]

[Ridai]

There isn't a gigantic array of spells on the lockbox, but the trap that is there is devastating enough if set off. Still, Zarinda doesn't have that much difficulty with getting the lockbox open. Inside, she finds the glass swan, looking quite unassuming, but when she touches it, she senses the souls within. There is also a large case of ancient looking coins of various precious materials (she estimates the set at 25k value), a small statue representing what looks like a fertility or harvest goddess (very good craftsmanship, but worth 1k, tops), and a tome that seems to be written in a language she has never seen before. The tome looks very old, but at the same time entirely undamaged by the world or time. Sensing the magic inherent in it, Zarinda sets to gauge its value, but finds that this magic is not part of the extensive catalogue Maria familiarized her with. Still, she can approximate a value of around 30k. However, if this is truly something Maria hasn't taught her, that means Maria does not know about it. And as far as Zarinda knows, Maria knows pretty much everything under the suns of the multiverse when it comes to artifice. Thus, the value of this tome might be a lot higher than just the going market price for similar enchantments, not to mention what knowledge could be gleaned from it by Maria.

In the back of her head, Zarinda gets the feeling that she confused the guide with her mention of souls, seemingly not aware that souls are within the swan. She glimpses the guide considering a different lockbox that does have something to do with souls or a soul, as far as it knows, but Zarinda isn't quite able to glimpse it. The small goddess statue, however, does feel oddly connected. She has absolutely no hard evidence that it actually is, perhaps her mind is interpreting the considerations that accidentally slipped from the guide's mind and were caught by the master thief in entirely the wrong way and it might lead her to her death. But her intuition has a strong hunch, knowing that somewhere, a soul has been stored.

(Zarinda can take whatever items she wants. She can also attempt another Sense Motive check to glean more knowledge about what she glimpses from the guide.)

[MikelaC1]

If Kasia were here, she'd be desperately stuffing as much into her pockets as she could
Normally of course, the Black Cat would only take the swan and be done with it, but the arcane tome is just too unusual to pass up. She checks to make sure there are no further traps,
[roll0]
neutralizes them if there are
[roll1]
and then switches out the copy of the swan for the genuine article and also takes the tome, making sure not to open it, as magic tomes have a nasty habit of blowing up. She will then re-lock the safe and then convinces the guide to bring her back to the spot she entered from.
[roll2]

[Ridai]

Zarinda replaces the glass swan and takes the tome, closing the box again. She tries to understand what she saw from the guide about a soul caught here, not for once, Zarinda's intuition fails her, unable to figure it out. The guide takes her back to the entrance, where she sees the vault door still ajar.

[MikelaC1]

Thank you Although the "guide" probably cant understand her, its important to observe the polite formalities of the situation. Before leaving, of course, Zarinda removes a small black cat figurine from her pack, and places it where it will be clearly seen by the first person to enter the vault.
She steps to the door and commands her rope to rise up and fasten itself to the adamantite cable, and begins the return journey through the passage...too bad there isn't a shutoff mechanism like the lasers in the previous corridor.

Climb 30
Escape Artist 37
Balance 44

[Ridai]

Closing the door, Zarinda makes the harrowing way back. She reaches the light beam corridor, finding them still turned off.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda checks to make sure the lasers will re-engage...after she walks the length of the corridor, and if it looks like she wont have enough time, she resets it to give herself the few extra minutes she needs. Her innate abilities to find traps is always active, but all of them should be shut down as she makes her way back, always pulling the doors shut behind her.

[Ridai]

Zarinda makes use of another one of Maria's creations, the latest addition to the master thief's tools, simply dubbed "eraser". With it, Zarinda removes all traces of her inks (even at a distance) as while they are very hard to discover, it is not impossible. Though Maria's works just function as they should, she is still interested in feedback. Black Cat has no trouble getting through the corridor, this time just a stroll rather than acrobatics. She heads back into the maintenance tunnel, locking the hatch behind her. She makes her way back to the lobby with the checkpoint, but has to consider: through tiny gaps, she can see the room fully illuminated. The other guard seems to be gone, but the way to the elevator could be difficult (at least more challenging than getting to the maintenance hatch). She also hears (through the maintenance tunnel, implying that the other end leads towards are at least close to the elevator shaft) that an elevator is on the way down to the lobby.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda decides to head down the tunnel that might lead to an elevator shaft, hoping that she can find a way to hitch a ride on the elevator car and not been by anyone. If she does find an access point she will have to try and see through the top to determine if anyone is in the car when she makes her entrance.

[Ridai]

Zarinda winds through the tunnel, having to maneuver through two 90 degree curves, hearing the sound come closer. Eventually, she comes to a hatch that can be slid aside, revealing a view into the elevator shaft, the thief seeing the elevator about 7 feet below her, at the height of the lobby door. There are no cables to move it up or down, instead she sees tracks of glowing patterns in the four corners of the shaft that hold the car in place or move it. She can see power sources on the top of the elevator, as well as a hatch leading inside. The door of the elevator currently seems to be open.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda has her rope work its way down the shaft, attaching itself to the side of the wall, and then climbs down using it. She's light enough that she could probably land without making a sound if she jumped, but why risk it?
[roll0]
Once on the top of the car, she attempts to see if she can check inside, using either cracks or easing the hatch just enough to see
[roll]1d20+17[roll]
If the coast is clear, she will ease the hatch open and attempt to slip inside, staying in the shadows and moving to the control panel and pushing the button for the floor she came in on.
[roll1]
[roll2]

[MikelaC1]

grumble, grumble
[roll0]

[Ridai]

Zarinda lands on the elevator, sees that the coast is clear and slips inside unheard. Right about then, the doors slide shut, but she still hears "Go on through" from the guard in the checkpoint, as well as another door slide open. Seems like she is on a timer with her escape before the theft is noticed. The elevator gets her back to the top floor, the corridors empty as before.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda weaves her way through the shadows and the recesses of the hallway, avoiding the guards and making her way back to the skylight, avoiding the traps that she knows about and erasing any traces of her passage with Maria's eraser

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[Ridai]

The double doors whoosh open and close like an inappropiate joke at a funeral as Zarinda passes them, heading back to the meeting room. There is a tense moment as one door suddenly opens, dim light seeping out as a female tiefling shuffles into the corridor, her trajectory on collision course with the coffee kitchen, looking tired, overworked and holding a white mug with a cheery smiling sun on it. Zarinda is a shadow amongst many. The office lady doesn't bother with switching the lights on.

Zarinda slips back into the meeting room, waiting for her escape time window. Once on the roof, the window properly locked again, getting off of the roof is significantly easier, the zelekhut's clockwork operating as before, as always.

--------

The vault door opens as if pulled by a legion of ghosts, the mercane entering the vault at this late hour. He freezes almost immediately. Everything is where it should be, but something is off. Not that something is missing. But that there is more there than it should. Suddenly, the little black cat has the gravity of a thousand suns, everything revolving around it, its silence taunting, its serene face delivering its message clearer than a slap to the face by a glove the size of the universe.

--------

A wise man once said "Enjoy the small things in life". The almost unnoticable shift in the patrols around the bank as the silent alarm is triggered might just be one of those, observed from far away by Zarinda as she disappears into the night.

[MikelaC1]

The Black Cat ghosts through the streets of Sigil, the cat mask coming off almost right away, and the black cloak no longer giving the feline look. Anyone who happens to see a figure walking (and there are few who would even get the chance), sees nothing more than that, a woman out for a stroll in the night air.
When Zarinda finally reaches her studio/apartment, she heads for her communication card, to leave a brief message for Sascha.
Mission accomplished, and I have some ideas about the security. Tomorrow, around supper time, you pick the location.
And once that is all done, Zarinda heads off for a well deserved sleep.

[Ridai]

The thrill of the successful heist brings wonderful sleep and pleasant dreams of stalking through the night like a cat, a queen hidden from sight and overcoming every obstacle.

When she wakes, Zarinda finds Sascha's answer. Though she works for several people, Zarinda always has top priority. "Congratulations. Havena's at 7. See you there." Havena's Thriceblessed Inn is a grand inn located on Crystal Dew Lane in Clerk's Ward, the same district in which the Civic Festhall resides in. Havena is unusual in that she is a stunningly gorgeous dwarf and Sensate who is said to have the favor of three goddesses of love, one dedicated to family and hearth, one dedicated to compassion and sheltering lovers in dire circumstances, and another dedicated to physical and spiritual delights. The identity of these goddesses is kept hidden and has spawned ongoing speculation why they are kept hidden and who the goddesses are. It is said that everything good happening at the inn contributes to the goddesses regardless. But Havena herself might be the most mysterious part of the inn, so very much unlike most dwarven women of the multiverse. The inn offers a lot of services next to rooms and dinner, including concerts, dances, date nights for singles, massages, baths and companions. Another consequence of the heavy focus on love is that privacy is also taken seriously when desired (though there are also plenty of opportunities for group activities). The food and drink are exquisite, as are all other services. Sascha likes to pick Havena's when celebrations are called for, as well as for nervous new clients and for improving relations with existing ones.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda spends the rest of the day in her studio assisting clients. Many people who come to her studio don't know exactly what they are looking for, but a few questions from Zarinda about what they like and where they plan to display the painting, and she can usually find the perfect piece; and if she doesn't have the perfect one, then she can promise a creation that will be, if they have the time to wait. When it comes to a Zarinda, most people can. When there isn't someone in the studio that needs assistance, Zarinda pens her notes for Sascha to give to her client and in turn to the bank.

By 6, the studio is finished for the day, and Zarinda has enough time to ready herself for her meeting with Sascha. Zarinda doesn't spend the time that most vain women spend in primping and prepping for any appointment, she has a naturally attractive look, not drop dead gorgeous like some women, but in her line of work, she wouldn't want the notoriety.

She times her leaving to get to Havena's at the precise time, punctuality is important to Zarinda as it is a hallmark of her work.

[Ridai]

Stepping from the carriage (Sigil is a big city, Zarinda would never arrive on foot on time), the master thief in disguise arrives at Havena's, already greeted by the warm atmosphere as well as Havena herself who happens to be present at the moment. Given the closeness to the Civic Festhall, being a Sensate and the thief having been there several times, the owner greets her like an old friend.

"Lady Zarinda, so good to see you. My inn is all the richer for hosting your lovely self this fine evening. Sascha is already at the usual spot." It needs to be said again, Havena is drop-dead gorgeous, wreathed in the finest red silks. Sigil has many an ugly side to it, but running into small wonders like this woman is also natural to the Cage. She also seems to be on good terms with Sascha, referring to her like a trusted friend.

Zarinda heads through the inn, the atmosphere making her feel right at home as she passes sounds of merriment, chatter, conversation and music. She reaches the small (and, given the nature of the inn, intimate) room with a view, Sascha already present, wearing white today in the form of a blouse, skirt and heels with faint golden patterns on them, as well as small azure gemmed earrings. Celestial fashion, making her look quite lovely and approachable (and even a bit casual), but ever maintaining her professionalism. She has a sleek case with her, made of mithril and adamantine. Very light, but also very tough, and no doubt enchanted with various protective spells.

"The woman of the day. Or night, I should say." Sascha goes to meet Zarinda, exchanging kisses on the cheeks. "Havena has been a sweetheart and got some cider from the Greengage for us." The Greengage being an establishment catering to halflings, the owner Marda Farambler selling cider from the orchards of the halfling goddess Sheela Peryroyl. As everything in there is sized for halflings, bigger folks often drink outside on the curb, but given the literally divine brew, they hardly mind.

[MikelaC1]

A toast then, to fine business and even finer friends Zarinda lifts her cup in toast. I know Ive seen her many times, but it never fails to amaze me, how lovely Havena looks given her race. Ive even seen bearded dwarven women, she is certainly none of that. Zarinda pauses to check the menu, she has all the time in the world, and orders a fish dish, with a small side order of pineapple. Fruits and vegetables don't make up a big part of Zarinda's diet, but pineapple holds a special place on her palate...and the sides coming with the fish complete the meal.

[Ridai]

"I'll drink to that." The cider very much does its divine nature justice. It is hard for mortals to expect the transcendent, so the cider exceeds Zarinda's expectations handily, making for a lovely drink going with her delicious meal. Though the cider most likely goes with everything. "Sigil teaches us to check our expectations at the door and I tend to embrace that. It has led me to getting to know lovely women like Havena, Maria Mystique, Alicia Alliston, Andvinia Whitemane and, most importantly, you, a human who easily became Sigil's uncrowned queen of thieves through nothing but her skill and guile, in a multiverse with mages who bend reality to their will and beings born with the power to crush entire kingdoms by themselves." Once again, Sascha toasts to Zarinda. Never has she done anything but outstanding work for the Black Cat and she shows no sign of ever wanting to have it otherwise. Her services are in high demand, many wanting this treasure at least partly to themselves, and it is doubtful that she has anything like gaps in her schedule in the time allotted for business anytime soon.

"Now then, to business. I will hand your notes to the bank after I delivered the swan to Madame Whitemane. Then, I will make the delivery to Katraxas, meet with our client, then report back to you," Sascha explains, quietly awaiting being handed over the goods. "Anything else you would like me to deliver or mention?"

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda goes over the paper, before she hands it to Sascha.
Inevitables make tireless guardians for sure, but their patrol patterns are far too predictable. The banks needs to get either more on patrol, a closer examination of their search grid pattern or incorporate some sort of randomness in their programming. In the same manner, those Harmonium patrols need to be a bit more random, and perhaps making some of them plainclothes so that a person doesn't always pick up when a guard is nearby.
The theft of an access crystal should have brought on an immediate lockdown, along with a full scale recall of all crystals for reprogramming. And having the leylines that lead to and from wherever the crystals are verified would lead to less of a chance to tamper.
Making the Inevitables in the vault room senseless helps with privacy, but does nothing for their guardianship. They could easily be programmed to forget everything they see, each night.
On the upside, their security in all other respects is formidable, I don't doubt that any other thief trying to get in there would be fried quickly as would a mage, because many of those traps require a delicate touch.

She hands over the swan in question.

I did manage to recover a tome of magic as well, but I will deliver that to Maria so she can figure it out. She also wanted to hear about how her eraser worked.

She briefly pauses, considering something.

Money, to me, wasn't always important...once you get beyond the basics in life, it was more of a way to keep score as opposed to anything else. So I really don't have much of an accounting or filing system, I have an idea of how much money I have in my various accounts, but nothing exact, and it could probably be earning a little more if properly taken care of. Or who owes me what, at least, I don't owe anyone as I always settle up front. I was wondering if you could take that sort of thing on me...the records are all there at the studio, I don't throw anything out, it just needs some organization, and likely proper investing. Nothing grand mind you, I don't want to become some sort of tycoon, just having it placed in something safe and secure.

[Ridai]

Sascha listens attentively, committing the words to her near eidetic memory. When she receives the notes, she goes over them again, connecting memory with paper. "I will see to it that your notes will be relayed as faithfully as possible and with their intentions intact. As always, rest assured that no information about you will be divulged. I am simply the messenger." Hearing about Maria, she half-smiles. "Say hello to Maria for me."

When Zarinda speaks about money, Sascha slowly sees where she is going and rests her head on her hand, raising an eyebrow and smiling. "So you are offering me a job? I have a fair number of clients that demand my attention, deals to be negotiated, meetings to be done, wrap-ups, all that. I am quite busy, to be honest." There is a brief silence after the rejection and Sascha savors it. "Proper organization, filing, managing your funds, developing a strategy for them and invest them, that takes time, time I don't have. No, here is a different idea: I will be your secretary." Sascha's eagle eyes jab right through Zarinda's facade to gauge her honest reaction.

"I have a good business going, but most of my clients are frankly not very interesting compared to you. I would refer them to trustworthy and able colleagues, make sure the transitions go smoothly and without hard feelings, though I might maintain a working relation with just one or two. I would take care of your paperwork, build a strategy to secure you financially and put the rest of the funds towards whatever you feel like to maximum effect, as well as ensuring that said investments are safe against meddling of competitors, enemies or the authorities. You are not a wealthy merchant, no, but you would be surprised what you could achieve. Plus, it would let me branch out into a more financial sector and I would, of course, continue finding contract work for you. You focus on your arts -- both of them -- and I keep the fiddly bits out of your hair and watch your back."

It seems Sascha has lost none of her drive ever since she brazenly approached Zarinda back then, claiming she could do what no other could do. "That is my offer. Either this or not at all. I do not like doing things half-assed. Does this intrigue you?"

[MikelaC1]

There are only 4 people in all the various multiverses who know Zarinda is the Black Cat. That's the level of trust I have in you. Having you that involved in my business is the best thing I could hope for. I most heartily accept your offer. Zarinda offers her hand to shake, and that's the only contract she will ever have. Zarinda's word is her bond and in all her dealings in life, she's never broken her word (although some might claim she has, if you examine the facts, she never actually gave her word to them). Honest to be told, she never thought she would get that level of commitment from Sascha, and even though in most cases she has a bluff check to fool a deity, Sascha probably has a sense motive on an equal level and can see how her offer affected Zarinda.

[Ridai]

Sascha shakes Zarinda's hand and smiles, putting her other hand upon Zarinda's. "I like being a successful cosmopolitan businesswoman. I love that I can now be that through working for my dear friend who made this life possible. Plus, your money is now in the hands of someone who actually has your best interests in mind." She glances away for a moment, then back into Zarinda's eye, with a sparkle. "Here's a dirty little secret, just between us: my rates for anyone but you are at least twice as high and you just hired me for, essentially, the cost of a desk in your office without the various clauses for extra payments our dealings never include. I also make a killer cup of tea or coffee. I will have to ask for a raise if you would like skimpier office clothes, though. My clients never said it, but you wouldn't believe half the things they were considering."

The half-elf glows with satisfaction, then secures the glass swan and the notes in her case. "I will contact you soon and deliver payment, as usual. Then, we could discuss our continued work together at your apartment over a glass of wine, if that's alright with you." Finishing her meal and cider, Sascha pays for the dinner, as usual (part of her services), then, considering for a moment, does a bow with a flourish. "Good evening, ma'am," she says with a wink and takes her leave.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda considers for a moment after Sascha leaves, she had never thought that Sascha would come back with an offer like that...and they hadn't even discussed her level of remuneration. She supposes that Sascha will work out her commissions, its not that important to her. She had noticed that her paperwork had been taking up too much of her time of late and distracting her from her painting, in fact one of her latest creations had been a woman overwhelmed by a paper mess and Sascha will free her from that.
Its a little late in the day, but she supposes that Maria will still be up, and when she is finished with her thoughts, she gathers up her purse, which no longer contains the swan but still has the tome, and takes a carriage to her place.

[Ridai]

The dark phase of Sigil's cycle has begun as Zarinda exits Havena's (the dwarven lady personally seeing her off at the door, which does give Zarinda that certain special snowflake feeling). She travels to a strangely quiet, unassuming corner of Market Ward. One would never assume that someone like Maria Mystique has her home here. Through a narrow alley (though a very clean one) to a humble door, up winding stairs, the metal of the stairs slowly transitions into what looks like leafwork that still carries Zarinda's weight without difficulty. It is like stepping into a different world, one welcoming her with warmth and open arms. Once she stands before the door of the loft, she sees the familiar oaken door that looks like it just grew into that shape, with the little window one can't see anything through but warm light making one look forward to sitting in front of a fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate. The surrounding architecture is stunning, yet humble and friendly in its attitude. Gentle knocks on the door soon lead to it being opened, revealing the radiant form of Maria Mystique.

"Delighted at this wonderful surprise, I kiss my gorgeous, most cherished muse and welcome her into my humble home," Maria narrates, as she always does, Zarinda feeling the sensation of a gentle, loving kiss between dear friends and the brief sensation of her voluptuous form against Zarinda's own before the aasimar steps aside to let her in, her golden hair framing her beautiful face like halo of the sun, occasionally moved by an unfelt wind, blue eyes holding untold depths of emotion and imagination. As always, she is dressed like a gypsy would be, with fabrics and jewelry around her chest, arms, waist and part of her thighs, not in the least bothered by the skin shown and walking on bare feet (though wonderfully crafted anklets adorn the end of her long legs). For the lack of better words, few are as at home in their own body as Maria is in her own, ever radiant, ever so lovely. She never makes true physical contact, never speaks directly to others, yet they feel like both are still done. It is how she is, mysterious and wondrous, but never giving the impression of wanting to keep others at a distance or even insult them.

Warmth caresses Zarinda's skin as she steps into the workshop and home of Maria, everything within having been narrated into existance with absolute loving care and meticulousness so that everything is where it should be, circle perfect. The Black Cat is guided into the living room and to an armchair beside the fireplace, feeling like the most comfortable place in the multiverse right now, straight out of a fairy tale.

"I get dearest Zarinda a mug of spiced hot chocolate to bid the cold night clinging to her goodbye, my joy and curiosity at her visit barely contained." Maria sits down opposite of Zarinda beside the fire, feet resting on soft carpet as she both admires her friend (new ideas already forming in her labyrinthine mind) and looks at her like a puzzle gently nudging her to solve. On the little table beside her armchair, Zarinda finds a steaming mug, the smell of its contents making her lick her lips.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda savours the smell of the hot chocolate, before blowing on it just a bit to cool the top off for a small beginning sip. As usual, its up to Maria's top standard. She pulls the tome out of her purse.

On one of my recent journeys, I came across this most interesting tome. Its not one you have taught me about, and having had my face blackened by opening more than one magical tome, I thought it would be better to have you take a look at it for me. Bad enough that it might blow up in my face, but I also have no interest in having my soul sucked inside it.

[Ridai]

Maria's eyes grow a bit bigger as she gently takes the book into her hands, handling it like something very precious and startled. She runs her long fingers along the spine and the cover, Zarinda seeing hints of discoveries and wonder in her eyes, once even putting it to her nose and breathing in, which apparently reveals something interesting as well. She opens the book and thumbs through the pages, stopping at times and letting her fingertips glide across the pages, giggling adorably once or twice and looking a little cross with the book another time. After a few minutes, she closes the book again.

"I give the book a kiss to let the sleepy and a little grumpy thing doze off again, so exhausted it is from sharing its secret after so many centuries. And to make it more comfortable, I share it with dearest Zarinda as well." Knowledge blooms in Zarinda's mind, brought by the pleasant sound of the aasimar's voice. The book is akin to the ability tomes Zarinda has made plentiful use of in the past, but it lets the reader tap into a pool of knowledge and skill that lie undiscovered within their souls, the art of doing so a very spiritual process that has been lost a long time ago when the cold method of modern arcane arts took over. Back then, it was roughly equivalent to the least powerful ability tomes. (In game terms, the book instantly lets the user gain 6 skill points and would have a market price of 30,000gp if it wasn't so damn rare)

[MikelaC1]

How much do I owe you for the identification? Although the thought of selling the book holds a tiny bit of appeal to Zarinda, the perfection of her thieving arts holds more importance to her, and she will likely use the book for herself.

[Ridai]

Maria grins at Zarinda as if she just told a very funny joke and hands the book back. To this day, Maria has never charged anything for identification, but this instance amuses her more than the ones in the past. The thought of giving someone a gift and then paying them for taking it pops into Zarinda's mind.

(Hello insomnia, you old bastard. Way to screw up my sleep schedule even further)

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda feels a bit foolish at Maria's reaction, she should have known better. She changes the topic slightly.

Ive asked Sascha to take over my financial and administrative affairs, and she's agreed to do so. Having someone to take over this is a big relief to me.

I assume the time she spends reading and benefitting from this book is off screen time?

[Ridai]

"I am delighted to hear Sascha's decision. A tree needs water to live, likewise Sascha thrives on challenges and overcoming them. Whereas most others were content to let her wither like a forgotten beautiful flower, the Black Cat tended to her effortlessly. I advise my dear friend to take good care of insightful Sascha, looking forward to see her continue to grow and blossom. Her beloved friend will be all the richer for it." A sense of deep care about Sascha radiates from Maria and displeasure at most of the other clients. Hate would be too strong, Maria is not fond of negativity and it does not come easy to her, even way back when Zarinda first met her and stole the one thing she owned (before bringing it back, of course). Zarinda imagines that, in a different world, Maria might live with Zarinda, Alicia and Sascha together in their shared home, having to worry about nothing in the aasimar's care but harmony, happiness and love.

The aasimar inclines her head questioningly, eager for something. "Curious, I ask if my recent creation has been nice to her feline owner." Meaning the eraser.

(Yes, it will happen in the downtime. Consider it done once Sascha returns.)

[MikelaC1]

The eraser does its job perfectly. There's absolutely no trace of the path the Black Cat took to get to her latest location, although the feline token is statement enough of who actually did the deed. And of course the paints were at their usual level of perfection. Their security was one of the toughest I have ever had to overcome, but a human touch would have made it better. Inevitables work in too much of a pattern, and once you figure it out, you can get past it.

[Ridai]

The room seems to get even more comfortable as Maria hears how well her creations helped Zarinda, as if she had received yet another present. She holds her hands towards the thief, Zarinda knowing that she wants to refill her inks. By now, she also knows that Maria will ask her if she wants another hot chocolate while she waits for a few minutes.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda knows that maybe she shouldn't have another hot chocolate...but there's no way she will deny herself. She hands Maria her inkpots, and will agree to a second cup.

[Ridai]

Maria heads to her workshop, Zarinda's mug refills and she surrenders to the hot chocolate for a few lovely minutes. Soon, the aasimar returns, handing her the refilled inks, once again free of charge.

[MikelaC1]

If I were you, I would steer clear of the Nine Hells or dealings with devils for the next few days. Zarinda has no idea if Maria has any of those types of dealings, but she knows that many wizards do...and wants to give her friend fair warning. I imagine there will be a certain pit fiend that will be quite upset within the next day or two. She supposes she should probably give the same warning to Alicia, who has even more dealings with the Hells.

[Ridai]

"I ease the worries of my most beloved muse and ask her if she would like to stay a little longer."

[MikelaC1]

Much as I would like to stay with you for a little longer, I really should see Alicia. Her connections to the underworld are too strong, and she should know about the impending upheaval. Its not going to be world shaking, mind you, but it will be unpleasant for his associates. If Maria has nothing else to add, Zarinda will take her leave and get a carriage to go and see Alicia. It might be late, but Alicia doesn't keep the same sort of hours as others, even though she keeps the appearance up.

[Ridai]

Maria understands, seeing her off and asking her to greet Alicia from her. Stepping out of Maria's home makes Sigil feel less wondrous than it is in comparison. Catching a magical carriage, she heads back to Crystal Dew Lane, to a very high society apartment complex. Alicia owns the two-storey apartment on the top floor, a prestigious location with many vying for her attention, Alicia having positioned her persona as one of the stars of Sigil's nightlife. People recognize Zarinda on the street, as the hustle and bustle in that corner of the city never lets up, but no one dares to stop her, admiring her from afar and hoping to be noticed. None of them suspect anything out of the ordinary. She is one of the personalities in Sigil, so it makes sense (to them) that she likes to spend time with people in the same league.

Zarinda enters the building that screams "exclusivity" from top to bottom, as if saying "if you live here, you made it". Taking the lift to the top floor (all personel on the way bowing deeply to Zarinda), she emerges near the sole door on that floor. Ringing the bell, it takes a little while for the door to open.

"Oh my gods, Zarinda, so nice to see you!" Alicia's upbeat voice greets her, Zarinda immediately pulled into a hug and receiving kisses on both cheeks (and the lips, for good measure, lingering there). Alicia Alliston stands before her in the full glory of her mortal persona, a walking wet dream with light brown skin, full lips, seductive emerald eyes and lightly curled brunette hair reaching halfway down her torso (and falling suggestively on her generous curves, of course intentionally accidentally so). So many fall for her looks, the rest drawn in by her gregarious, upbeat (if seemingly airheaded) self. No one expects a brachina beneath the surface, even though the guise would seem on the nose. Hiding in plain sight and having made sure true sight does not reveal her. How she managed the latter is one of her best kept secrets. She is dressed in a wisp of a black nightie, barely covering the necessities and enticing all the more (of course, no one would accuse her of being manipulative, though many agree that she is a good time and a half). Her hair is a bit in (pleasant) disarray, her nightie looking as if it was just thrown on, and her scent confirming what considerations Zarinda had between the door being opened and this point.

"Come in, come in! Got some friends over, hope you don't mind." She gestures to the almost closed door of one of her bedrooms as they walk inside, the apartment thoroughly luxurious, but somehow taking the visitor's thoughts away from how expensive this probably is towards a feeling that they can just let go and enjoy. They walk into a lounge, Zarinda seeing the bar filled with all kinds of different drinks and the means to mix them. Alicia lies down a short couch with a fruity cocktail already in hand, Zarinda being presented both with a vast array of different places to seat herself around the glass coffee table as well as a pose and model that would make one hell of a painting.

"What brings you here? Did you miss little Alicia?" The society girl puts on her sweetest look that somehow still manages to gel with the rest of her appearance. Zarinda knows that she can speak freely about business in Alicia's presence, the pleasure devil masking all talks as completely everyday conversations.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda makes a drink for herself and seats herself close enough to Alicia that she can pitch her voice a little lower, some of the things she wishes to discuss are not for every ear to hear.

I have no idea of who your allies are in the Hells, and I probably couldn't keep track of it if I did, but I did want to warn you about something. A pit fiend, that I know as Katraxas, if that is indeed his real name, attempted to contract the Black Cat to steal a certain swan that contained the souls of a lost race. Unfortunately for him, a solar named Whitemane caught wind of his scheme and in order to help the security system where the swan was held and to keep the swan out of his hands, contracted the Cat to steal the same swan and replace it with a fake one. Seeing that the favour of a solar is more valuable than the greater amount of gold a fiend would give, I chose to give the contract to the solar. I have no idea of what she will do with the real swan, but she will be also giving a fake swan to that pit fiend, that is actually filled with holy energy. The resultant explosion when he tries to use it may end his existence and even if it doesn't, his mood is not likely to a cheery one.
So just so you know, and in case you have the chance to take advantage of the likely shift in the power structure that will occur, I wanted to let you know it is about to happen. Even if you cant, you might want to steer clear of whatever web Katraxas is spinning, because things will be getting hot...or at least hotter than Hell is usually.

[Ridai]

While they are seemingly talking about inconsequential things, Alicia's real words only reach Zarinda's ears. All the while, the thief is faintly aware of the persona's bubbly and slightly flirtatous tone, body language only fitting the cover, not the actual speech.

"Zarinda, Zarinda, you are too good to me. So many tasty morsels, just for me. I have heard rumors that the Black Cat broke into the newly renovated bank here in Sigil and I had a feeling of my own when news of the silent alarm reached me. The public is unaware and will remain so, but knowing what happened and that security has been professionally audited now does make the information a good deal more valuable to me. Some of my clients come to me wanting to know how trustworthy an organization truly is, after all. This solar does sound rather ressourceful, which I am delighted to see. As for Katraxas, yes, that is his real name. He is a bit of an upstart, if you can call a pit fiend that (but who are we kidding here, the hierarchies of the hells are a lot more complex than mere devil types). It seems he tried his hand at a little plot, but lacked the smarts to meet our mutual friend through a middleman. Oh, the doors that this little morsel opens for me..." Alicia smiles, a look that is at the same time enchanting and fearsome and calculating.

"Of course, your or Sascha's involvement in me learning about all this will never be known, rest assured. As for you..." Alicia turns herself, resting her crossed arms on the armrest of the couch and leaning upon them to face Zarinda more and grant her a more tantalizing sight. "if some sucker told me all this, I would leave it at this. But you don't deserve that treatment, oh no. Thank you for bringing those opportunities to my attention. And thank you again for being someone I can actually call a trusted friend. For the former, I'll grant you a freebie of your choosing. The latter scores you points with me, but a little extra that would be very much to your liking can also be arranged." Alicia gives Zarinda a near indecipherable look, tantalizing with the many options she could be considering and she has the means to fulfill, her smile unmistakably underlining that she will stay true to her words.

[MikelaC1]

Gold is more easily traded, but in the end, favours from extra planar beings are far more valuable, as long as the bills are met. And right now, all of Zarinda's bills are met and she's about to get at least a bit of gold from the solar, along with a marker...and now she has the favour of Alicia as well. Of course, when it comes to friends like Alicia, Zarinda certainly doesn't keep count, but she does know that she has made the brachina's night.

[Ridai]

Alicia chuckles at Zarinda's silence. "Cat got your tongue?" She grins, rising from the couch and promptly seating herself in the thief's lap, arms pulling the human against her as their lips meet and tongues dance, slowly and tenderly. "You're in luck. Everything's where it should be." With a mischievous smile, she draws out every word just a little, ending in a whisper. And doesn't make an effort to move just yet, inclining her head and looking into her friend's eyes, waiting for her to recover her ability to speak (or whatever kind of communication she might prefer).

[MikelaC1]

Theres a look that Zarinda has, her artistic friends call it her "painting look", a look that burns an image into her mind so clearly that she doesn't even need the model or scene to recreate in one of her paintings. While to be sure, sometimes she does do her work with the model there anyway, in many cases it isn't needed. And right now, Alicia is the subject of her painting look...and the brachina knows when Zarinda returns to her studio, she will be the subject of her next masterpiece.

That was altogether wonderful, and I have no doubt that I will be coming back, and soon. Perhaps with more tips, although I cant guarantee what information my work will bring me. Seeing as I don't actually look for the tasks myself. I cant say for sure that the bank will do what I suggest that they do, but they would be foolish not to.
But for now, Ive contracted Sasch to become my secretary, personal assistant, financial advisor or whatever it is she plans to call herself, and I really should be at the studio to get her settled. Unspoken is also the need to capture this moment in another painting

[Ridai]

Alicia recognizes the look and very much appreciates it. As opposed to the vast majority, she doesn't try to assume a different pose or put herself into a better light. She is exactly how she wants to be, like she always is.

"That's a pity for most of her clients, but I am happy to see this decision for both you and Sascha. You will complement each other well and it gives our business genius work where her heart's fully in it again. I might swing by and visit from time to time. I have been thinking about girly-girl Alicia hanging with the art crowd again since you entered the scene -- she's fashionably late to the party, in a way -- and I've got to see Sascha's secretary look." There is a mischievous twinkle in the brachina's eyes.

"In other news, I put my mark on you. It sounds worrying coming from a fiend, I know, but it is harmless, hear me out. It makes it easier for us to get in touch, nothing more. I know how much you appreciate your privacy, as do I. The mark is on your soul and is extremely hard to detect, even with powerful divinations. On you, it might as well not exist. You can get rid of it anytime you want simply by willing it. If you want to contact me, simply focus on your desire for me and I will know. I am a pleasure devil, after all." Alicia chuckles a little, doing much to put any remaining concerns at ease. "If you do it while going to sleep, if I have the time, I can visit you in your dreams, if you let me in, that is."

She takes a moment to admire Zarinda in turn. "Please let me know when you have finished the painting. I want to be the first to see it, though I'll let it slide if Sascha or Maria glimpses it before me. I can't have a painting of my true self floating around, but even if I could, I'd still want to be the one to buy it. Money is not a concern in this, I assure you." High praise from a powerful, ancient brachina who has like watched millenia of artists come and go.

Throwing on an incredibly comfortable looking robe (that, of course, still showcases her body), Alicia shifts back into her human, tan-skinned, bubbly persona, giving Zarinda all the time she needs to get ready before seeing her off.

"That was, like, sooo amazing," she says in the upbeat voice of her persona, making her sound less intelligent than both the brachina in disguise and actually her persona are, but it has an infectuous cheer and charme to it. Her biggest achievement might be that she somehow manages to make this way of speech not annoying. Truly, the epic levels are showing. She hugs Zarinda again at the door, adding another kiss, intentionally drawing it out again, perfectly playing the part of the infatuated society girl. "Don't be a stranger now," she adds with a (of course intentionally unintentionally) suggestive wink.

----------

Back at her gallery and office/apartment, Sascha has not returned just yet, but has left a message on the business card. "Will be there at 3. Some wrap up and need to pack a few things. Looking forward to it. Do you have a desk for me or should I bring my own?" Even through the message, Sascha seems in good spirits and excited by the changes in her life. Twilight has just made way for the period of bright light outside, making it roughly 9 in the morning. The gallery is quiet this morning, giving Zarinda plenty of time.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda deals with anything that requires her immediate attention, and leaves a reply for Sascha...You should probably bring your own, I don't have anything that would nearly be good enough for all the details you are going to be taking on. She even puts what passes for her old desk on the curb, with a sign FREE to a good home and then with all the details taken care of, she gets out her paints, her palette and an appropriate sized canvas and gets to work on her newest inspiration. There might have been other projects and ideas pending, and theres even one or two unfinished works in the work area of her studio, but getting the image of Alicia onto canvas before the memory blurs is uppermost in her mind right now.

[Ridai]

A passing by fan actually snatches up the desk immediately, regarding it as if it somehow was infused with Zarinda.

It is time for a new masterpiece, Zarinda feels it. There is no need for consideration, Zarinda can feel just what the painting needs, the image of Alicia still extremely vivid in her mind. The artist is almost in a trance, feeling like her hand is guided by her model, each stroke reminding her of a loving caress, the process letting her channel all her artistic ability and passion and joy, to the point where she needs to step back and take a breath, having to still her heart and desires just enough to continue. Time flies by and when she finally takes a breather, Zarinda realizes she has already made a lot of progress. Many would say this is a masterpiece already, for it truly looks awe-inspiring, but she knows it is not done yet. It is a scary, but also exciting phase, a point where she needs to decide between leaving the painting as is, as something that would be a "mere" masterpiece or whether she risks it all to push on forward. Even being the master that she is, she could risk ruining the picture and losing that one unique spark of the moment forever. Or she could succeed and truly finish one of her greatest works, so fine it might truly have a soul of its own and do justice both to her inspiration and Alicia's true beauty.

Looking outside, it is twilight. Looking at the time, it is seven in the evening.

A knock on the door frame. Turning around, Zarinda sees Sascha standing at the entrance of her atelier, smiling understandingly and holding two steaming mugs of tea (perfect timing, as usual, though Zarinda never has been in a circumstance where Sascha made tea or coffee for her). She is wearing tasteful and modest clothes, also of celestial craft like the ensemble she wore yesterday, evidently enjoying this kind of fashion. From where she stands, she cannot see the painting. "Good evening, ma'am," she greets her new boss. Zarinda knows Sascha. Saying "boss" is much too plain and garish for her way of speech. And the "ma'am" is used playfully, but there is respect in it as well. "You seemed so in the zone, I didn't want to interrupt you. I have finished moving in and organizing your paperwork, I'll begin working through it shortly. I considered wine for the occasion, but right now, tea seemed more appropiate to start things off."

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda moves away from the painting, she knows it is not done, and she intends to finish it...even if she risks ruining it. She has made many paintings that would be considered "masterpieces" by others. But to be truly considered one of the greatest of all time, one must take the greatest risks of all time. Its what drives her in her other line of work, as well. Those of Kasia's ilk would be content with taking as much gold as easily as one can, with no risk involved but also no real artistry. If she were a painter, she would be content to leave this where it was, a quick days work for as good a payoff as you can get. Zarinda is so much more, but in order to clear her head so that she can finish it properly, she needs to take the time to let things simmer and percolate. And Sascha is just as deserving of her attention as her work is. She accepts the tea gracefully, moving to sit in such a way that the gaze is not drawn to the work.

Im sorry I wasn't there to help you in, but I trust you were able to find the spot I cleared for you? As Maria would say, the muse had struck me, and I had to get what I was thinking onto the canvas. Its about half done.
I hope you can make heads and tails out of my paperwork, its all there, I do keep everything that comes in, its just not very organized, and like I said, most the money is just sitting there doing nothing.
Were you able to meet with Ms. Whitemane? I trust everything met with her satisfaction?

[Ridai]

As if sensing her needs, Sascha leads Zarinda away from the atelier to where the office business now happens. The small office looks delightfully tidy and somewhat rearranged, mostly because of the new desk. Perhaps Zarinda feels some disappointment because of having expected something grander, seeing these huge, polished desks everywhere in the offices of big shots. No, Sascha picked the desk suiting her needs. The desk of someone who actually gets work done and a lot of it. The desk is finely made and utilarian, but with subtle little flourishes that still please the eye. She briefly sits down at it in her chair, showing remarkable yet relaxed posture.

She smiles at the artist's first remarks. "It is reassuring that I do know how you tick. I wouldn't be a very good employee if I disrupted your workflow, after all. After my initial sighting of your documents," Sascha softly lays her hand on a very neat stack to her right. It looked a lot bigger and chaotic the last time she saw it. Wait, it isn't actually all that much smaller, maybe everything has just been straightened out? Zarinda also realizes that everything on the desk is perfectly placed and in comfortable reach, the seat is at the right height and everything looks second nature without the cold (dare say, bleak) optimization of the corporate environment. A few trinkets also found their place on her table, distributed around, out of the way, but always in sight. She doesn't know why, but Zarinda is becoming convinced that somehow, Sascha is a wizard. "everything seems to be present and complete and in roughly chronological order. You were pretty consistent in how you penned your own documents and layered exterior documents in between, so the final organizational pass should not take too long. If I wasn't familiar with you, it would take longer, but all in all, I feel you provided me with a fairly good base to start from. I started a list of potential opportunities as I went, to be revised, of course." She pats a notepad halfway covered in very clean, readable and compact handwriting (evident as Zarinda begins to read, despite seeing the notepad from an angle and upside down, towards the side of the desk). Several sheets already rest beneath it, filled with Sascha's writing.

"Madame Whitemane was very pleased with your work. I delivered the swan to her and she found the souls were dormant, but intact. She freed them from the vase and is now in the process of shaping them back into a physical form with psyches of their own with pure celestial energy on the plane of Elysium, with the help of her trusted companions. Thus, the first part of the contract was fulfilled. Next, I delivered the other swan to Katraxas, where he signed once again that the contract was fulfilled as written and thoroughly explained before. As I returned to Madame Whitemane, or rather, Andvinia, as she asked me to refer to her, she informed me that Katraxas' base of operations has been mostly wiped out. The pit fiend apparently has survived, but with a seared soul, as well as drawing attention because of a large explosion of holy energy in the midst of secured infernal territory. Thus, the second and final part of our contract with Andvinia was fulfilled." Sascha presents Zarinda with their copies of the contracts, signed properly and neatly filed, seeing the threatening blood signature of Katraxas and the beautiful golden handwriting of Andvinia Whitemane on separate sheets. She then puts them aside and retrieves two cases. The first black, the second silver and golden.

"This is payment from Katraxas for our services." She opens the red box, revealing a large array of varied gemstones. "I made sure their worth is exactly as specified in the contract. 60,000 gold pieces to the Black Cat, with a fee of 15,000 gold pieces for my services, paid in full." Zarinda's trained eye rapidly confirms the sums.
"This is payment from Andvinia Whitemane for our services." Sascha opens the silver and golden box, revealing the purest celestial diamonds and rubies. "Once again, I made sure their worth is exactly as specified in the contract, in accordance with her offer upon hearing Katraxas' offer to the Black Cat. 70,000 gold pieces to the Black Cat, with a fee of 5,000 gold pieces for my services, paid in full. In addition, both the Black Cat and I are now owed one favor by Andvinia Whitemane, without time limit as to when they have to be called in. In the event of a death, said favors can still be called in if our souls arrive on an upper plane. When the Black Cat desires to call in her favor, I will deliver her demands to Andvinia Whitemane as an intermediary." Once again, Zarinda confirms the sums, also noting the smaller amount Sascha took for herself. There are also two perfectly pure feathers, Zarinda noticing that they are protected by divine might from any kind of alteration or damage. The tokens of the favors.

"In addition, Andvinia, due to the, I quote, 'exemplary and swift nature of your work', has welcomed us into her home on Mount Celestia whenever we desire. As the Black Cat needs to stay anonymous, Andvinia stated that I can bring a friend of my choosing, no questions asked, as long as our mutual trust is maintained. With our professional business done, I'd like to add that Andvinia has been a joy to work and be with. She is very generous, open and passionate, her deva apprentices very much taking after her. Full disclosure: I hope you do not think less of me that I enjoyed their company a bit longer after our business was done." She smiles, a very light rosy tint rising in her cheeks. "If you feel like taking the day off, I do would like to suggest meeting her. She has heard of your art as well and does seem rather interested in it, saying she has glimpsed a great deal of kindness, ingenuity, playfulness and passion in your works."

With everything done, Sascha takes a sip of her tea, smiling and leaning back. She looks right at home there, as if she had always been part of Zarinda's home. She looks to Zarinda, who is seated in the comfortable armchair meant just for her that gives her perfect sight of most of the table and most importantly Sascha. "Is everything to your satisfaction, ma'am?"

[MikelaC1]

Its amazing that you could organize so quickly with what I left you. I tried to keep things organized, but every time I thought I had a chance to work on it, some other project would suggest itself and I'd leave it again. This is wonderful.
Zarinda doesn't comment on the desk at all, but someone (like Sascha) who knows her well realizes that she definitely approves of function over form, and that Sascha will be able to get everything done without trying to look like a big shot...and most of the time the more important the person tries to look, the less work they actually do.
Im glad to hear that the souls are surviving and the mishap that befell Katraxas. I did take the liberty of warning Alicia that there could be subtle shift in the politics of Hell and if she could take advantage of it, so we also bought a bit of favour there. She smiles a bit, the same rosy tint colouring her own cheeks. Full disclosure myself, after I delivered that news to Alicia, she was more than willing to reward me as well. So of course I would never think less of you. At least I can enjoy the pleasure of Andvinia's company, even if the legendary Black Cat cannot.
Zarinda does take a moment to look at the contracts and the gems, it would be a mistake to think that Zarinda doesn't care at all about money, there are some that try to claim they are above such "base" considerations and they are almost always phonies in the end; but its not the most important thing in her life. She takes the 60,000 from Katraxas but only takes 60,000 from the Andvinia payment, so that both herself and Sascha make the same from each dealing. She hopes that Sascha is not going to make an issue if she chooses to tip her or reward excellent service, its just the way she operates.
And yes ma'am with a little laugh everything is definitely to my satisfaction

[Ridai]

Hearing about Alicia, Sascha's cheeks redden more, still. "I can imagine. To her, that is pure gold. Seems like we have good friends in high and low places, more profoundly than the saying usually goes."

She smiles gladly from Zarinda's praise with the satisfaction of a job well done. "I'm glad to hear that. Thanks for the bonus, I'll put it to good use. I'll have your safely deposited in your account by tomorrow, with no trace to the contracts or the Black Cat." With another swallow, Sascha's tea is finished. She puts away the boxes for later. "About my job as your secretary, I was thinking about suggesting a percentage of your business' and investments' profits (of course, all money meant for your personal account are is not included in this). Not a big one, mind you, 5% at most, given the money you make in a month. I'd still take my fees for the contract work, as usual. Gives me another reason to perform well. What I'd like to know is what you'd like your money to do for you? With the extra funds I could generate with your money, I could achieve a few things. For example, maximize your income, the most straightforward of purposes, but no less viable. I can also put those extra funds towards other purposes, including charity, sponsoring, real estate, investing in businesses, politics or supporting a cause of your choice. I'd suggest you limit your choices to two or three at most to have a meaningful impact, but even a small amount can make a difference when put towards a small-scale purpose. Whatever it might be, I guarantee that you won't suddenly bleed money. Your income is secure, that is my top priority in this role. You don't have to decide immediately. Think it over, sleep on it, wait with it until your current work is out of your head and on the canvas. We have the time."

With that, Sascha takes a deep breath, the business finally dealt with for the most part. She reaches beneath the desk and pulls out a long, wide-bellied green bottle entwined with evergreen leaves and two crystal wine glasses. "Now, to get all that business talk out of your head, how about we go to the living room and drink to us, our success and our dear friends?"

[MikelaC1]

Ive already got a few ideas on where I would like to see that money go, but you've given me a few extra ideas to think about. But you're right about one thing, I would like to see my current project completed before I make a final decision, fortunately the pace that Im working at is making it so it will be completed quickly. I had an excellent model.
She does regard the wine with an experienced eye.
You've made a good choice there, and before we get too far into the toasts, I do accept your terms, they sound more than fair to me.

[Ridai]

Sascha seals the deal with a handshake, not wanting a written down contract for this due to security reasons, but trusting Zarinda more than enough to do so. They head to the living room and toast to each other, spending some time chatting and Sascha completely settling in. After no more than an hour, Zarinda feeling her batteries recharge, Sascha rises from the couch.

"I can feel you want to get back to your painting, so I won't keep you any longer. I'll go get some takeaway for us, then get back to the papers. Unless you want to continue tomorrow. You know your muse better than me."

[MikelaC1]

While the image is burned into her mind and will last for a long time, a long time is not forever and Zarinda does want to get it down now. Especially since she will not be able to recreate everything as perfectly as it was. Besides, its not likely that she would able to sleep anyway...and now she has Sascha that can look after things if it turns into a late night beyond her ability to recover tomorrow.

[Ridai]

Zarinda gets back into the zone, immediately after, only taking few breaks to eat and drink and go to the bathroom, painting like a woman possessed. It is slower going, as much of the painting is done, but the truly important details take great care. She isn't torn out of her concentration to think about her next step, she knows she has to feel it and just do. Alicia is smiling to her from the spacious canvas, an everpresent reminder of what this painting truly needs. Time is quickly forgotten, Zarinda briefly aware that Sascha leaves for the night at some point when it is dark outside. Alicia fills her mind and emotions entirely, each stroke of the brush more dangerous and thrilling, but also satisfying when done right, followed by the anticipation and at some point dread of the next step. The rollercoaster ride continues, getting wilder until it reaches almost heartstopping intensity. She has to pause once because her body is shaking all over, so close to finishing the painting, minutes feeling like hours and seconds at the same time. The desire to finish and the dread of continuing on become all-consuming, divine in scale, creation reduced to herself and the canvas before her.

Five in the morning. Twilight outside. Feeling one with the multiverse in utter serenity, Zarinda puts the brush down. It is done, she knows and feels it with a certainty no arcane might could ever hope to bend or circumvent. She feels so very tired, elated, ecstatic and serene, she wants to cry out in joy, laugh through the entire morning, sit down to just look at her painting and lie down to sleep what feels like a year, all at once. From the canvas, Alicia smiles with utter perfection, so vivid she might be entirely real without ever not seeming artistic. It is almost a shame the public will not see it, for it is a work deities would love to possess for themselves, the sight nearly too much for mortals to take or comprehend. All is right in the world in this moment. As Maria would say, circle perfect.

From somewhere, Zarinda recognizes the smell of breakfast. Fresh, warm bread, coffee, bacon, all she'd ever want in this moment, her stomach yearning for two after having been neglected for so long, her soul refreshed by having finished one of her greatest works of her life and her reward waiting.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda changes out of her stain spotted painting smock, and throws on a comfortable warm robe, heading out to the breakfast that has been prepared.

You read my mind perfectly. I think Im going to be able to get used to this.

She portions out some food for herself.

Normally, and probably with every other painting I create, you are going to be the first to see it before it either heads into the studio or to the one that commissioned it...but I promised the first look at this one to the model. Don't worry, I wont deny you for long, but she did ask. A pity that only you and Maria will be the only others to see it, my Mona Lisa or Sistine Chapel will never make the public eye

One advantage of Sigil, you can pull in real world references.

[Ridai]

(As long as it remains at most at renessaince level, I am okay with it. The moment you include contemporary references, you will need to be okay with the possibility of modern technology appearing throughout the plains and Sigil.)

"Don't get too used to it. You're an artist through and through, so someone needs to take care of you from time to time. I won't be your maid, though." Sascha takes the last of the food to the table, seating herself before her own plate and joining the early breakfast. She looks pristine and on point as ever. The art mentioned at first draws a blank with Sascha before something clicks. "Oh, that prime material. You have your opinions, but I feel that while those works are legendary on said plane, they can't hold a candle against your works. The Powers have isolated it as much as possible from the rest of the multiverse to observe and study it, as it is entirely devoid of magic, deities and non-human sentients. Word is the humans there are more on the violent side, but also investing heavily in technology. Sometimes, a outside being somehow got there and most of the time, the sighting gave rise to all sorts of myths and religion. A marilith gave rise to the belief in Kali before she got dragged back into the Abyss. Kali herself apparently was not very amused, but also spooked how closely the new faith matched her own. Strange, given they have no real clerics or actual contact to a deity." Evidently, the subject does interest Sascha a fair bit. But she also talks to keep Zarinda busy with eating and drinking.

Once she is done, Zarinda has the pleasure of receiving a head, shoulder, arms and hands massage. Sascha is no professional, but it still does wonders to make the artist realize the strain on her body and feeling the stress leaving it again. It is difficult to stay awake throughout, barely noticing when Sascha is done. "Up to you, but my recommendation as your friend would be to take a well-deserved nap. With what I've seen and heard, your model would probably want the artist to be well-rested. I'll take care of the dishes and business in the meantime."

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda cant help but to take at least one look around in her studio, greeting any people that happen to be there and making sure that everything is the way she wants it to be. However she knows Sascha is right and she is going to need rest, not only for her body, but also for her mind and soul, she put every ounce of herself into that picture and it wouldn't do for her to pass out during the reveal to Alicia and then to Sascha and Maria. With one last look at the studio, and then one last glance at the painting, Zarinda heads off to bed.

[Ridai]

Zarinda has no trouble falling asleep, her bed feeling like the greatest invention in history. She enjoys pleasant dreams and once again awakens to twilight, fully rested. Half past 3 in the afternoon. Elsewhere, she can hear the quiet, muffled sound of Sascha working, once also taking a sip from a beverage. Otherwise, it is quiet. The apartment is well isolated in terms of temperature and sound, but there is no doubt that Market Ward is as busy as ever outside.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda stretches and moves out of her bed, for now at least completely content with the world. She has accomplished one of the most daring and complicated heists of her life, and created what is, until now, her greatest artistic masterpiece. Of course, more challenges will come up in her life, but at this very moment, everything is perfect. Even her business, although not changing right away, is getting ready to start moving forward.
She heads out into the studio, with a nod and greeting to Sascha and sees what is going on out there. She spends some time thinking about what Sascha told her about her money, and the plans that she should make, and she has come to some decisions. She also readies herself for her grand reveal, when Alicia is ready, she has no doubt she will come, and hopefully she will bring Maria with her.

[Ridai]

It's the usual quiet going-ons in the gallery. That is until she hears familiar, lively chatter and a serene voice answering coming closer. The door of the gallery opens and in steps Alicia Alliston, ever upbeat life of the party, dressed in one of her many daring dresses, complete with a matching purse, the clicks of her heels as filled with energy as her bubbly self.

"...so excited! I've seen some of her pictures and they're so pretty! Ohhh, just look at them!" Alicia's persona is overflowing with adoration as she sees all the paintings, clasping her hands before her mouth, grinning widely and doing adorable little claps like the flaps of little bird wings. One or two of the current visitors try to hide that they are scoffing at this nuisance of an airhead who clearly doesn't know how to properly appreciate Lady Zarinda's groundbreaking art. They are also trying to hide getting a better look at her plentiful curves at the same time. Other visitors find the display rather endearing, one or two having a good-natured chuckle because of her enthusiasm.
"I adore Alicia's joy, cherishing the chance to see through the windows into the worlds of my most beloved muse's imagination with my dear friend." Serene as always, Maria is with Alicia, seemingly simply wearing layered white fabrics that coalesce into a dress, like her hair moving with an unfelt wind on occasion. Where she goes, she brings her own imagination with her as well.
"I know, right?! Gods, this is amazing! Oh! Hi!" Alicia draws the last word out as she waves to Zarinda, having spotted her. Both women head to the artist. Alicia kisses her on the cheeks and then the lips enthusiastically, together with a fitting embrace. Maria's words let Zarinda feel the aasimar's welcoming gestures no less clearly.
"Everything's so, so, so, like, fantastic here! Thank you sooo much for inviting me! I just had to bring Maria, she's so shy, but I knew she'd feel right at home here!" Sometimes, Zarinda asks herself whether this Alicia is just an act or an opportunity to live out this side of herself. Perhaps this question is also something Alicia would want those in the know to ask themselves.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda greets both of them with her usual grace, using the chance to teach just a small lesson to the annoyed patrons that there are all sorts of levels to appreciate her art (even if Alicia is only putting on an act).
Welcome to my studio, my honoured guests, take all the time you need. Everything on this side indicating with a wave is my own work, while the rest is all on consignment from a number of up and coming artists in Sigil. Unlike most studios, Zarinda only takes a very small commission from her consignment artists, remembering her own days as a struggling, starving artist...but she only takes on lesser known artists, giving them a start on their careers. Or if you have something you want done specifically, we can certainly discuss that in my office after hours. The second is said with a certain implication to it, subtly letting both know where the finished product is.

[Ridai]

The frowny people are properly indirectly enlightened. Alicia's demeanor is probably an act, but also with some truth strewn in, making it difficult to determine where one ends and the other begins. But she feels that her positivity, regardless of the way it is shown and expressed, is genuine. Alicia grins widely at the official welcome as if the two were strangers, pinching an imaginary larger skirt to lift it slightly for a playful formal bow. Then, there is a short moment of redness creeping into her cheeks. "Oh gosh, did I come too early?" She briefly clasps her hands before her face in embarassment. "I'm such a dummy sometimes, I was so excited I was all like 'alright, let's go, woohoo!' Should we come back later or..." Alicia gives her best puppy eyes and damn is she good at it, feeling something melt inside and just want to hug and kiss her. Maria simply gently chuckles at what is going on, enjoying herself.

Zarinda can tell that the pair is a walking mystery to the people around them. Why is this celebrity party girl in one of the most distinguished galleries of Sigil and who is this mysterious aasimar. Their attention is direly tested, drawn seemingly everywhere due to all the works of art, Zarinda's presence and that of the pair (and the sheer beauty of all of them).

[MikelaC1]

Theres no such thing as coming too early, you can look around for as long as you want, and we aren't too close to closing time anyway. Zarinda, as an artist, probably doesn't have any sort of regular hours, opening and closing when it takes her fancy. She doesn't want to drive these potential customers away, but she hopes that no new ones show up so she can close when they are done.

[Ridai]

Maria and Alicia choose to look at the paintings on display. Maria's unique perspective makes it feel like a story gazing upon and into other stories, Alicia's enthusiasm leading the aasimar to weave her narrative, giving life to the worlds within the paintings. Slowly, the remaining guests leave, allowing Zarinda to close shop for today.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda is never pushy but as the last customer leaves, she makes sure the door is locked, and then calls Sascha to come out from the back room.
The other day, an absolutely perfect picture presented itself to me. I had to get it onto canvas, it was so burned into my mind, and as I painted it, it may be my greatest creation to this point. In a way, its a pity that it will never be seen by the public, for the subject and she turns to Alicia has already said that she will be buying it and price is no object.
Although the public wont see it, you Sascha and you Maria, will be able to see it...and since it is already finished, one of my fastest paintings because the image was so vivid, come with me into the studio
Once she has them all in the studio, with the lighting just right, she turns the easel with the painting, displaying it for all to see.

[Ridai]

Alicia transitions into her natural form as she steps into the studio, everyone is filled with anticipation as if Christmas and their respective birthdays fell on the same day. The reactions are priceless and in a way couldn't be more different.

Alicia herself, truly being herself entirely, actually clasps her hands in front of her mouth, her eyes wide. She has seen so many one-of-a-kind works of art, whether crafted or natural, but this leaves her speechless, her expectations entirely exceeded. She can only stare at the picture for several seconds, once or twice glancing to Maria and Sascha to confirm that they are also seeing what she is seeing, her expression transitioning to absolute bliss. She walks over to Zarinda, her hips rolling like they belonged to a goddess of love and kisses Zarinda with unprecedented passion. "I can tell you, many have tried to capture me in a painting, but none of them ever truly succeeded. Until now. If you didn't have a patron so far, you have one now, Zarinda. With all the many... benefits that comes with." Her voice is positively intoxicating, fire burning in her eyes.

Maria smiles with absolute serenity, her cheeks having a rosy tint brought by sheer joy, glimpsing a beauty many cannot even hope to see or comprehend. She sees it all and she lets it course through her very being and soul. Zarinda sees the work reflected in her aasimar friend, who truly feels and experiences it. Somehow, Maria is... more after seeing the painting, her presence more fascinating and fantastical, her beauty even greater, her eyes filled with so many more stories. "Zarinda has given me so many gifts, each more wonderful than the one before. As I gaze upon the painting, I am thankful to be alive, to be able to glimpse upon the paradise of my most beloved muse's imagination in the form of dearest Alicia's truest beauty."

Sascha is stunned by what she sees, her eyes flitting from place to place, trying to take it all in, overwhelmed. Her face takes on a deeper and deeper hue of red, her voice stammering as it fails to express her astonishment. Zarinda can feel that she appreciates the painting, but she soon hastily says "P-please exc-cuse m-me," and hurries out of the studio, followed after a few seconds by the sound of a door opening and closing. Alicia grins, though not without a little worry about Sascha. "For better or worse, this is the final confirmation that you got me perfectly."

All in all, a great success.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda enjoys the reactions of her friends and takes pride in their praise, but in the back of her mind, she wonders about the reaction of Sascha. If she does not return in some time, she will excuse herself and seek her out to find out what happened...and if she does come back, she will find a private moment to talk with her.

[Ridai]

"Soothing the worries of my friends, I decide to go after Sascha." Zarinda and Alicia do feel reassured, the latter nodding in return.
"Thank you, Maria." The aasimar smiles, having lost none of her blissful serenity, and heads out of the room.
"This is another reason I requested to buy this. I had a hunch, but I couldn't anticipate how well you would capture me and our moment... and how strong the effect on a more... 'normal' person would be. I know Sascha can adapt, but she was probably caught off-guard, is all. Don't worry, though. Maria knows how to handle this." Alicia strokes Zarinda's hair, her smile and scent wiping away any doubts, though they do not force her care for Sascha away. That is not what a friend would do, after all.

"I feel a little guilty that the painting won't be public, but, well, I hope you can understand my reasoning, especially now. But here we are. You blew my mind, so name your price. Anything you want, and I am not talking only about mere gold pieces."

[MikelaC1]

Having you publicly acknowledge yourself as my patron would be a powerful boon. Lots of collectors value my works, but you would bring more of your 'crowd' as it were, and would expand my area of appeal. And Im not just talking about your mortal friends, Ive done work for certain Infernals in the past. Displaying some of my work in your home and at your parties would help as well. Some gold as well would be nice...after all, bills have to be paid. And perhaps a favour of some kind. Not being intimately familiar with the sort of power you wield, makes it sometimes hard to say.

[Ridai]

"Oh, you can be certain that girly Alicia will pick you as her new favorite person and keep it that way for a long, long time. I will not directly myself as your patron in my other selves, but you can be certain that the seed will be sown. I'd say that we set up a bit of a rotation: think of my home and parties as your extended gallery, where we pick the paintings we want to display together. I will have some say in the decision as I have to ensure the choices are 100% Alicia, so to speak. Your know the artistry that lies within a perfect performance, after all. We both benefit from this arrangement. I will have to request going out with girly Alicia from time to time, be seen with her, put in a good word for her (though do not lie in this regard). She is a sweetheart and for her best friends, she is much more, I assure you. As for my favors, my power reaches far and has many facets. You now hold two favors and that is something almost no one can claim. I can do many, many things for you. Riches, influence (not just in low places), power, help when you need it, extended youth, pleasure, servants, love, beauty, health, fame, et cetera, et cetera. Though I owe no allegiance to the hells anymore, I am baatezu, dealmaking is second nature to me and I can bring a lot to the table, with you being in a position for getting very, very favorable ones."

Zarinda is reminded that she is in fact speaking with a devil, even if she is a True Neutral one. She is an ancient, powerful being, the extend of her power entirely unknown to the artist. There is a feeling of danger at the realization, followed by calming down when she realizes that she is with her friend who cannot just undo what she happens to be.

"Well then, my suggestion is this: we add a partnership to our friendship, as described before. On top of that, I grant you another favor and will pay you 50,000 gold pieces in exchange for your as of yet unnamed portrait of myself. Do note that my services and prices as an information broker are unaffected by our partnership, beyond knowing that the both of us are trustworthy and dependable, to avoid devaluing my work and goods. I am giving you a lot already, Zarinda, I hope you understand that I am doing this because you are dear to me and not just as a cold transaction of services and goods. If you need proof of this, it is right there, on the canvas, smiling at you." Alicia smiles at Zarinda as well, touching her cheek affectionately, letting her know that she as well as her girly persona are there for her as close friends. It is an odd relationship, but many things in Zarinda's life are extraordinary.

"What do you say to my offer?"

[MikelaC1]

The offer sounds perfect to me and as for a name, how about Red Lady? It would seem most appropriate.
Zarinda does not even bother to write anything down, her word has always been her bond, and she still shows an aversion to having any sort of paper trail to any of her dealings...most of which shouldn't have one anyway.
I do hope that Sascha is okay

[Ridai]

"A simple name. But as the Lady of Pain shows us, such a name can also be grand. I like it." Zarinda's word is enough for Alicia, but she does want to commemorate the moment with another kiss, sharing one with the artist. She would like to go on, the portrait having put her into a fantastic mood, but she is patient, remembering that Zarinda promised to return to Alicia's home soon anyway. "It is a bit narcissistic to be so taken with a portrait of oneself, isn't it? Though I'd like to think that it is because of the moment we shared, captured within, and that it reveals so much to me about myself. So much I cannot put a finger on yet..."

Alicia carefully takes the large portrait, very carefully and magically covering it before easing it into a special extradimensional bag as if it was the most precious thing in the world. In return, with a snap of her fingers, a case appears in her hand, giving it to Zarinda. Inside, she finds a single, perfect, huge ruby worth 50,000 gold pieces.

Walking over into the living room, Alicia tries to calm her friend and partner. "I am sure she will be alright. Sascha might not be a powerful adventuress or mistress of magical arts or something like that, but she has a strong, flexible and resilient mind, remarkably so for a mortal. Your masterworks are powerful in what they convey, this one even far exceeded your previous ones -- even I didn't see it coming -- but they are not malevolent in nature. Still, you might need to be careful with your future masterpieces, depending on... or perhaps even regardless of what they were inspired by. I cannot say, you will need to see when your next one happens."

A short moment later, a distant door opens. Zarinda recognizes it as the one to her bedroom. Maria enters the living room, pleasant and serene as ever. "Returning to my dearest muse and friends, I bring news of Sascha being well, resting where Zarinda welcomes sleep and bids it farewell."

"That is good to hear. It has been a surprisingly eventful afternoon, so I think I'll take my leave and let you and Sascha rest. I think she has had enough of me for today. Maria, can I walk you home?" The aasimar accepts gratefully with the radiance of her soul, empowered by what she saw today. She turns to Zarinda, favoring her a heartfelt, narrated embrace, feeling their bond of friendship strengthen. "I shall cherish Zarinda's gifts properly and send Sascha peaceful thoughts." With that, they take their leave.

In her bedroom, Zarinda finds Sascha lying in her bed, her clothes having been stacked on a nearby chair and the woman herself dressed in a dreamlike robe (no doubt courtesy of Maria). She still looks a little flushed and a bit tired, but otherwise on the mend.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda herself gets ready for bed, still a bit concerned for Sascha. She has seen people moved to tears by her, and others paintings, but shes never totally overwhelmed someone like this. She hopes that she hasn't done some permanent damage to Sascha, or done something to upset their friendship (most important) or their partnership (not as nearly important)

[Ridai]

"Hey," Sascha whispers, then notices that she is whispering, clearing her throat and slowly sitting up. "Sorry about earlier. I should have been ready, but I wasn't." She sighs wearily. "On my first full work day, to boot."

[MikelaC1]

No need to worry. As long as there hasn't been any lasting damage...Ive never seen one of my works have such an effect on someone. I suppose I should take it as a compliment.
Within the next day or two, Zarinda will check out the bank, in her Lady Zarinda role, just to casually observe and see if there are any visible changes in security.

[Ridai]

"It is. I have been an admirer of your works for a long time now, this is the first masterwork since you reached your current level of skill. It is marvelous, Zarinda. You captured Alicia's sensuality and beauty masterfully. Some might say too well, given what, well, happened. I was able to... feel the moment, but I had no lead up to it. Everything rushed into me all of a sudden, I was at ease and... I was glad that Maria came to help me, as I felt I was starting to lose my mind. I would have recovered on my own, probably, but it was better this way." Sascha feels a rush of heat in her face as she works through everything that happened up to this point, analyzing, coming to terms, building resistance.

"I should keep my distance from Alicia or the painting for a few days, though. I'd hate to trigger something like a... relapse."

-----

Going to the bank, Zarinda spots subtly alternating patterns, as well as additional guards of the mortal kind on the roof and disguised around the bank.

[MikelaC1]

I don't think theres a danger in that regard...Alicia has taken the painting and given what it represents, it wont even be prominently displayed in her home. More likely in her private bedroom that only a precious few ever see. And it may be a few days before we even see her again, although the gossip will soon be flowing about how the known socialite/party girl Alicia has become a favoured patron of Lady Zarinda. But theres never any sort of formal announcement.

I wanted to also talk to you about what you were saying, how the investments could work. Heres my line of thinking, but you know the trends in the city better than I. Sigil, because of its nature can reach any plane in any universe at any time...if one has a key of course...but the city itself is exactly static in size. New replaces old, but the city boundaries don't expand. Therefore, I would imagine that real estate is good, solid investment, never going down in value and when new building comes along, just going up by that amount. That would seem to be the best place to make money, maybe not as lucrative as others...but never in danger of losing money in a failed venture.

[Ridai]

"There is also very little available for sale in Sigil, as the city is packed at all times, but it is hardly impossible. There are fluctuations, mind you. The Lady's dabuses make whatever changes the Lady desires and if that happens to affect an expensive apartment, well, no one can do anything about it, other than try to fix or adjust to whatever the dabus did and hope another doesn't come by again for whatever reason. Prices to change depending on the surrounding areas, faction activity and power, and what else is going on there. Much of Sigil is in flux all the time, it is hardly static, except for the dimensions of its torus shape. There are tendencies, however, and with an observant eye, there are profits to be made. From what you are describing, I am assuming you are bringing this up for the purposes of maximizing income, not to own more real estate to use for your own purposes, private or professional?" Sascha is recovering, easing herself back into her business mode (so to speak) and returning to the normalcy of her extraordinary work for her extraordinary boss.

[MikelaC1]

I have all the real estate I'll ever need for personal use, my own apartment and studio...and to not to brag or anything but its not likely that my gallery will ever not have room for all of my paintings, since I do sell at a good pace. Most of my works also take longer than Red Lady. So you can also afford to be choosy, not gobbling up everything that comes available, but watching for good, possibly underappreciated spots and keeping an eye on where stuff appears to be trending to. Im not into flashy, quick flipping deals...I don't have the contacts to keep renovation prices down, and Im certainly not going to be doing it myself, just solid long term growth.

[Ridai]

"Maximizing income is the sole goal, then. In that case, yes, real estate will be part of it, but hardly the only part in the strategy I am constructing. I am building it to be secure, as I stated from the beginning."

[Ridai]

Days pass peacefully as Zarinda adjusts to Sascha's presence in her day to day life. The artist greets visitors of her gallery, works on her paintings, finishes commissions and receives requests for new ones and so on. Her popularity has been rising more than usual, no doubt because of Alicia's favor opening the eyes of a crowd who had been mostly blind to the world of art. But after her most recent masterpiece, she has been feeling reinvigorated, ideas coming easily and even in her own critical eye, the quality of her paintings has been better than ever, even right down to her sketches and doodles. Recently, after closing the gallery, working on a painting for an hour or two, then deciding to have a nice bath, the realization struck about how much more time she has now that Sascha is handling the business side of things. Zarinda knows about everything that is going on, Sascha always keeping her in the loop and having made it easy to check what there still is to do even if she is not around, but the secretary handles all these tasks with ease, an eye for perfection and in little time.

In between, she is looking after Zarinda's needs and seemingly knows what she needs before Zarinda does at times. They are little things: a cup of tea, coffee, hot chocolate, iced tea or juice when she could use one, getting tables for dinner, a quick massage for tired arms and shoulders (or arranging one from a professional) or bringing up particularly remarkable pieces of correspondence, ranging from entertaining to sweet and heartfelt. Sascha stays true to her words that she is not Zarinda's maid (she definitely isn't cleaning the apartment and especially her studio for her, that's for sure), but she has a private and professional interest in Zarinda feeling well and being at the top of her game.

Yesterday, Alicia has sent a request for lending a few pictures for a party both Zarinda and Sascha are invited to. Several paintings that suit Alicia's persona's joyful nature are picked, but many of them having mysterious or sensual elements to them. By Alicia's standards, the party isn't a grand thing (apparently, the time is not quite right for one of that caliber, she said), but several luminairies of society will be present no doubt. There will be opportunities to dance and many ways to have a good time, ranging from among the crowd right in the thick of things or more towards the side in a more quiet manner.

When Zarinda and Sascha arrive, they find Alicia in her persona. The party would work even without her due to the location (her apartment) and the invited guests (there are very few artists, but that makes sense, as Zarinda is canonically the one who inspired Alicia to engage with the world of art), but her mere presence elevates the occasion, making it come alive. Zarinda is pleased to see her paintings being displayed prominently without making them what this event is about, Alicia having done well in integrating them into her style and very, very subtly theming parts of her grand apartment around the paintings. Zarinda's arrival is quickly noticed by the disguised brachina, who comes over and greets her in her usual manner (drawing attention, obviously, but underlining that they are, in fact, friends). Many want to be in both women's presence and be gifted with their attention, but both also find it easy to "direct" the crowds how they like (for example, if they would like some space, dance or head to the bar for a drink or two with friends). Sascha has no trouble blending in with the crowd and having a good time. While she prefers the less crowded parts of the party, she does take the opportunity for a few dances (one or two with Havena). Currently, she can be found having a discussion with said dwarven lady and a few other friends from various parts of Sigil, each part of their own successful businesses.

What does Zarinda do (and how does she "paint" her relationship with Alicia in the public eye)?

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda starts the party by greeting Alicia and chatting with her (and any others that are gathered around), mostly about art and paintings. She steers the conversation if possible so that Alicia can display her own knowledge about painting as well as her own...not making the other people feel diminished or anything, but feeling like they learned something today. She also talks about up and comers in Sigil, and what they offer in terms of new styles or contributions to old. She doesn't even obliquely refer to the Red Lady, only talking about "other" purchases that Alicia has made, and in fact if anyone tries to press, she will steer the conversation away from the subject.
Once this is done, she circulates through the crowd, chatting with others, or listening for tidbits of gossip. If Sascha wishes to stay with her, Zarinda welcomes her presence, she doesn't want Sascha to feel left out of this. In fact, she kind of hopes that Sascha does stay with her, although if she is off listening to rumors and gossip, that helps as well.

[Ridai]

Alicia surprises the crowd with surprisingly insightful notions and responses about art, even if she is lacking the "correct" terminology. Also, her genuine passion for the newly discovered world of art does end up making a few artists and art lovers feel guilty about having looked down on her in that regard before, some even genuinely captured by her words (helped by her beauty). As the night continues, a few people do take advantage of the special amenities offered by Alicia's apartment for some privacy (though those who aren't in the know don't really notice), Alicia herself also disappearing once or twice, to return in an even better mood.

Sascha is soon back by Zarinda's side, easily moving among the crowd. The things on the minds of the people seem to be (gathered with the help of Sascha):

- a coming concert in Sigil of three divas who allegedly are an instance of The Fates (three women representing Past, Present and Future)

- the Sultan of the City of Brass has put out a bounty for whoever captures or kills the ones who robbed one of his treasure vaults. Rumor has it the whole place was picked clean, leaving only bare structures inside

- the return of some big shot group of adventurers, or rather only one of them who looked for a cleric to cast True Resurrections for his colleagues. They had been bragging how they would go to the Prime Material world of Durama to be the ones who left-handedly conquer the (in)famous clock tower of the Bridge City of Fahl. The huge clock tower has been an unspoken challenge to adventurers everywhere for centuries, its reputation of being riddled with insurmountable traps having reached beyond planar bounds. Few can claim to even have an inkling about who built the structure and for what purpose (well, other than being a clock tower for a huge city), but there are said to be riches at the top, but no one has ever come that far. Teleportation is impossible anywhere near the tower, plane shifting into the area is impossible, access through etherealness isn't possible and the outside of the tower (above ground, that is) is guarded by a small army of very powerful gargoyles equiped with true sight, life energy draining and all sorts of other nasty things.

- an infamous assassin called Nightblade, who has evaded capture for two decades, was found in Hive Ward, dead and with a shredded soul. Someone claims to have seen a hooded figure in form-fitting armor nearby, which in turn feeds rumors of the deed having been done by "the Huntress". Not much is known about this one. Some think she is an enforcer of a law deity going after criminals hiding in the shadows. Others think "she" might be a new form of Inevitable. Another rumor is that she is a suit of armor possessed by a powerful vengeful spirit. Some claim the Huntress is a story invented to cover the actions of several and scare criminals out of the business. One drunk girl thinks the assassin had a succubus girlfriend and cheated on her with a marilith, both found out and teamed up. There is also a mention of something called "Santa Claus", but that is answered by blank stares and that person going back to their drink.

[MikelaC1]

This clock tower intrigues me, and I wish to know more. Seeing as some adventurers just stirred up interest, there will probably be some people here who know more. Spread out, and see if you can gather any other information.

Zarinda will space herself from Sascha for about an hour, circulating to see if she can pick up any sort of idle gossip about the adventurers and the clock tower itself, trusting her to do the same.
[roll0]
Once that is done, she will rendezvous with Sascha to see if she learned anything and then enjoy the rest of the party with her, even getting in a few dances.

Theres also going to have to be some research done, as well as figuring out how to obtain a key to Durama

[Ridai]

Meeting after an hour, Zarinda and Sascha compare notes, adding the following:
- The adventuring group was considered pretty competent dungeon delvers, their greatest success being the raid of an ancient dracolich's fortress on the negative energy plane, getting past all sorts of monstrosities and traps and puzzles. The money they brought back also helped with them becoming more popular. Their self-confidence went a bit through the roof afterwards. The group consists of Darion Flameshield, the leader of the group and human Warblade; Fendrick Karn, their trap and infiltration specialist (and jack of all trades), a human Factotum; Alvina Moondrop, an elven incantratrix; and Vela Greenleaf, elven druid. Fendrick is the one who made it back out, stammering about the very walls turning against them and allegedly waking up screaming about the sound of gears grinding his allies. After resurrecting his allies, the group all retired at once and left Sigil immediately.

- Getting a key and finding a portal to Durama is easy, as many adventurers are inquiring about the clock tower and want to go there.

- A bit of an industry has formed in the Bridge City of Fahl near the tower, catering to adventurers trying their luck with magical equipment, inns, healers, temple services (including resurrections, though some apparently hightail out of Durama to save face if they fail), brothels and information systems for the tower. There is even a train running from a popular planar gate to the city and almost directly to the tower. The lowest levels are fairly well explored, documented and picked clean, but it quickly gets fuzzier the higher one goes. Someone mentioned there even being guided tours for the lowest level. Apparently not everything in there is mechanical in nature.

- Fahl was actually built around the clock tower, as it provided a platform above the sea in the valley between the mountains it is built (hence the title Bridge City). There are a lot of conflicting things said about the reason why it was created and who created it, the most anyone agrees on being that it was some powerful artificer. Apparently, the tower runs by sucking the life out of the sea below, as there is nothing but water and the soil below in it.


It is something, but there are a lot of conflicting views and information not quite lining up. Suddenly, Zarinda and Sascha feel familiar arms rounding their shoulders, followed by the feeling of a familiar shape and scent. "You know," Alicia purrs. "if it is gossip and worthwhile information you are looking for, I think I know someone who knows a thing or two about that." Her lips curl into an amused smile, her actual words masked to those who might be listening in. "Unless you already know enough, that is."

[MikelaC1]

Well, Im always open to all the information I can get. I know one or two sages that might be able to tell me more about the clock tower of Fahl, but if you've got something for me, I would love to hear it.

[Ridai]

Alicia gives a giggle that sounds sweet to others and quite amused to Zarinda and Sascha. "Oh, sure, those sages might tell you a theory or two, maybe a detail about the floors. But for many years, whole lot of people have come to me if they wanted good information. Especially once they learned that the folks around the tower often give out false information so they can harvest magic items off of dead bodies later. I can get you further than anyone else. However, that means we will do business and that puts me into an interesting position. Normally, those I give information to guard it jealously and in most cases die in the clock tower regardless. But you might make it to the top, which means the tower loses most of its worth and thus eliminates a steady source of information and income for me. I have an interest in keeping you alive, but also to look after my own interests, thus the price will be steep. But it will be the most accurate and plentiful you will find anywhere, be it related to the history, construction or traps found inside."

[MikelaC1]

Im willing to make that deal. Normally, the only thing the Black Cat will take out of the tower would be some sort of documentation as to what the tower's real purpose was and who built...which of course would be deposited somewhere conspicuous with the prototypical figurine, but Im willing to make an exception for you. Of course, you probably don't have an idea of whats in there and then she favours Alicia with a sly look or maybe you do

[Ridai]

"Maaaybe." Alicia seats herself next to Sascha and Zarinda, favoring them with fascinated smile, marking them as something special to the room... and that they want their privacy for now. "Your offer is very thoughtful, but at the same time you have a reputation to build and maintain. If you placed your figure, but nothing else, it might lead to people being encouraged, knowing it is possible and that the loot remains mostly untouched, as far as they know, meaning you still get to pick the best pieces. However, if anything you do inside the tower causes it to become essentially harmless, then it loses much of its worth to me. I would like exclusive access to the information on the tower either way, even if the latter case would make it mostly valuable for scholars. And scholars have little of actual worth. As you can see, the price in total is very much dependent on the outcome."

Sascha understands, nodding. "Given that you are paid up front, that does make pricing difficult, which naturally leaves the higher price to cover potential losses. Quite understandable." Alicia smiles in confirmation, but without malice. Sascha returns the gesture. "However, I have it on good authority that Zarinda is a very valuable and trusted customer of yours, and you know that business with me has always been more than satisfactory. Now, I represent and advise Zarinda in business matters, as necessary and desired by my employer." She gives a deferential look and gesture to Zarinda. "Based on our more than good history together, I'd like to request, in this special case as outlined by you, payment to be determined after the Black Cat's heist, to be fulfilled immediately and fully at that point."

Alicia leans forward, a vague danger hinted at in her eyes, behind the facade of the beautiful party girl chatting (and flirting) with her two special friends. "An exception, you say? In all my years, no one has gotten an exception, not even the deities and the lords of the nine hells." Suddenly, the brachina behind girly Alicia seems much more intimidating, Zarinda getting another reminder of all the things she could do with them and no one ever noticing. Sascha, however, remains cool, the same professional, but actually pleasant smile on her lips as she weathers the unseen and unfelt storm. A long moment passes, the brachina's gaze piercing and the party girl's smoldering. Zarinda can only imagine what kind of clients Sascha so far has worked with (Katraxas being one of them) to be this calm about it. She is prepared and she is like ice the strength of adamantine.

"Zarinda, you made an excellent hire there." Alicia smiles, relieving the tension and reminding Zarinda that there is a party around them who noticed absolutely nothing. "Well then, I agree to your suggestion, under the conditions that none of the information imparted by me is divulged to others and all information gained about the tower and everything in it is shared with only me. If you agree as well," Alicia looks to Zarinda, her persona adding a wink. "then we shall seal this contract accordingly. Written form is quite inappropiate here, so our words shall be binding in this matter."

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda knew she had made a good choice in Sascha, her own personality and avoidance of violence probably would have done her in for this negotiation...and the way she handled the difficult parts with Alicia only confirmed it. The information and history of the clock tower would only have been hers to prove it had been done, but the cat figurine would do the job nicely. Either that, or paint one on the front door, although that might be a bit too cheeky. And the fact that she left a mark would probably only increase the number of requests for information that Alicia got, as people would get the idea that it would be beaten.

It is agreed then She holds out her hand to shake, and visibly indicates that it should be three way shake, with Sascha being the third.

[Ridai]

Alicia pouts. "Really now, I have an image to maintain." She leans over and kisses Zarinda passionately, then does the same for Sascha, who maintains her composure perfectly. Business mode, indeed.

"Let's go over the information somewhere more private and quiet. For now, let's enjoy the party. If you feel like sleeping over, I have the perfect bed ready for you two." She winks, takes them by the hand and with rolling hips never failing to draw attention guides them to the dance floor.

[MikelaC1]

With the deal sealed, for now, Zarinda heads out onto the dance floor with Sascha if she is willing, and dances with her. While Zarinda doesn't have any formal training in dancing, she is graceful in all her movements anyway (possessing a high dexterity) and she isn't trying to impress anyone with a theatrical show. She dances 2 or 3 with Sascha, one with Alicia, one with Havena, and then with 2 or 3 random lucky men at the party.
Once all of that is done, she will meet up with Sascha again...I don't know how you feel about this idea, but we might as well avail ourselves of Alicia's company, we'll just be coming back tomorrow anyway.

[Ridai]

Sascha is up for a dance and takes the lead, revealing herself as a capable dancer of several styles. "I have been at various courts from time to time, so it was part of learning the proper etiquette. Plus some personal interest," the half-elf whispers her answer to the unspoken question. It is a nice chance to unwind for Sascha and reinforces once again that Zarinda isn't just her boss, she is one of her best friends. Sascha covers Zarinda's lack of training and knowledge as they dance, Zarinda's natural grace and beauty in turn making it that much easier. Both gravitate back towards each other during the evening, needing no verbal coordination to just go ahead and try a new style. A good mood, smiles, laughter, all those aren't foreign to Sascha, but back when she was only bringing potential contract work to Zarinda, they met for business and Sascha's own standards demanded that she behaved accordingly, just as Zarinda would not half-ass disarming a trap just because it is easily done.

Dancing with girly Alicia is energetic, with a few suggestive additions perceptible as such mostly by Zarinda and Sascha (when the latter happens to look their way). The brachina's lovely persona seems quite taken with the artist, their dance often close, her hands appreciating the feeling of Zarinda's body. Her laugh and mood is infectuous, her eyes at times joyful, at times filled with an enchanted look as she meets Zarinda's gaze. Alicia knows her friends' decision without the latter having said anything, giving the artist a kiss on the neck from behind and a cheery laugh of her persona before moving away into the crowd, also dancing with Sascha once.

Dancing with Havena is (perhaps surprisingly) effortless and natural. She is a great dancer and elevates Zarinda's moves just as easily, making the minutes together on the dance floor a pure joy. When they part, Havena takes Zarinda's hand and kisses the back, adding a charming smile.

The most men who get to dance with the celebrity artist can barely comprehend how lucky they feel. One is putting on macho airs, one puffing himself up to act like a perfect gentleman, both not achieving much. The third, a thirtysomething human man, just takes it easy and goes with the flow, resulting in easily the most enjoyable dance of the three. As part of his last move, he does a little bow towards Zarinda, wordlessly thanking her for the dance.

When the party has wound down, most leaving and few remaining in one of the guest bedrooms, Sascha nods. "I'm good either way. The Red Lady was a surprise for all of us, in different ways. That was a shock, and a dangerously physical one. This here is a night spent with friends." She glances towards the master bedroom. "Shall we?"

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda links an arm with Sascha and walks into the room

[Ridai]

The next morning is a lazy one, taking it slow with a long bath and extended breakfast.

"So, what do you want me to start with?"

[MikelaC1]

Some of the information we gleaned seemed to be contradictory, on the one hand the grounds are supposedly guarded by uniquely powerful gargoyles, but on the other hand, they say that guided tours are possible of the lowest level. Those two conditions don't seem to be possible together.
Apart from that, anything else you can tell me would be appreciated, because up until last night, the clock tower just wasn't even a target that I had even considered. Its not a paying gig, at least not to some client, and its not like I will be able to advise its owner on security after the fact.

[Ridai]

Alicia smiles knowingly. "Oh, there is a lot of conflicting information, in addition to various myths and drunken tales. The fact is that anyone trying to climb or fly up the side of the tower will get attacked and probably torn apart by gargoyles. The grounds directly around the tower are also watched, but at that level can be crossed with invisibility or if you are good at moving undetected. There are one or two people who actually led a group of visitors into the lowest level, which gave rise to the whole tourist attraction story. There have been people who led visitors onto the grounds invisibly, only to reveal them in order for the gargoyles to kill them and the still invisible guide to take their valuables. Similar is happening with information dealers who provide false floor plans for the lower levels, leading to the death of the group and the dealer to later retrieve the goods. Still, there is a certain tourism industry, but most do not go into the tower anymore, rather visiting illusionists who create often completely made up tours through the levels."

"The tower resets its traps regularly, reconstructs or revives fallen monsters and has a few hazards that are neither, most notably the many gears that are among the most common cause of losing limbs or death. The higher you go, the smaller each level will be, but also more dangerous. It has been estimated that there are 13 levels, the highest proven expedition ever has reached level 7. Deities, demigods and the like do not seem to bother with the tower, but there has been one famous instance of a chosen of a valor deity heading into the tower with all sorts of bravado and never coming back out. Most traps are mechanical in nature and there are many hidden doors. Also expect rooms to shift and change in some patterns. There has been an indication that there might be antimagic fields at some points, but nothing blanket like, as far as is known. As a perk, you might also occasionally come across the remains of failed adventurers, which could net you a few additional ressources or magic items on the explored levels. Afterwards, you can only hope for treasures."

"Before I hand you all known and confirmed information about the levels up to 7, which will progressively become more sparse, a bit of history. Before the clock tower was built, the area was simply a large lake between the surrounding mountains. There have been indications of conflict and dark times. In the months before construction was started, there have been a lot of heavy thunderstorms in the area, records of clashes in the sky. People lived in fear of a warlock simply called Dark Lord as people were afraid to invoke his name or even anything remotely close to personal descriptors. Deafening booms were heard alongside flashes and shockwaves in the sky above the sea for hours, until a huge 'winged lightning bolt' struck the center of the lake with a sound like an echoing scream, the entire lake crackling with energy for hours. It is likely that this event eradicated all life within the lake and still lingers enough to prevent life from settling there again from the rivers. Shortly after, the warlock began construction of the clock tower, completing it in a month with powerful magics, seemingly running by itself and with large platforms leading to it, as if to taunt others to approach it only to be torn apart by the gargoyles or the traps inside. It is likely that treasures have been planted by the vain warlock to further encourage people walking right to their deaths. Not long after the completion of the tower, the warlock was never seen again. People, after several decades, started to settle on the platforms, outside of the kill zone around the tower, profitting from the magic in the platform, the sound and advanced construction, as well as now having a trade crossroads allowing to not having to go around the large mountain range anymore. The clock tower has been running very precisely and has become the city's most well-known icon, its origins mostly forgotten or covered up with some crowd pleasing tale."

Afterwards, Alicia hands Zarinda a thick document with (partial) maps of the first 7 levels, the thickest parts of it about the first 3 levels, each following becoming thinner until only a scant few pages are available about level 7, with some guesses about level 8 and above. "To get to the tower, I can recommend the main gate and taking the train afterwards if you don't mind being seen in some form or the other. Otherwise, there are a few gates close to the tower. I am sure Sascha will have no trouble finding information on and keys for those ones. I'd recommend the one to Shifty Lane, as it is barely known, out of the way and close to the tower grounds. Anything else you'd like to know?"

[MikelaC1]

Still studying the maps, Zarinda responds absent mindedly to Alicia...I think I would like to remain anonymous if possible. The artist Zarinda probably wouldn't have much reason to visit the clock tower and would attract attention if she did. It would be a stretch to connect the arrival of Zarinda with the sudden success of the Black Cat, but people do those sort of leaps all the time, and I'd rather not have to deal with it. Sascha, if you could find a key to Shifty Lane, it would be much appreciated.

[Ridai]

"No problem, I will have a key soon."

[MikelaC1]

While Sascha looks into acquiring a key for Zarinda (and its left unsaid that any of Zarinda's resources are at her disposal to get it), Zarinda herself studies each and every map to memorize the fastest route from one level to the next.

[Ridai]

Alicia lets Zarinda stay at her apartment while she tends to her own business. Around 4 in the evening, Sascha returns, handing her a rusty tuning fork. "Here is the key to the portal. The gate is an attic window of a four storey building in the Hive Ward's Marble District. A map and drawing of the location has also been provided." She hands said parchments out as well. "I acquired the key for 200 gold pieces. The gate has been around for a long time, so it is fairly reliable. Remember where you emerge in Durama. That is your way back."

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda accepts the map and key from Sascha with a kiss. She heads back to her studio and changes into her Cat attire, and waits until much later in the evening, about 11 or so, and then moves inconspicuously through the city to the mentioned attic location.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Ridai]

Zarinda knows that there is no such thing as a completely accurate map of a location in Hive Ward. Buildings fall apart or are built over, expanded or split. Ways suddenly end in three new winding paths, whereas others were swallowed up by the surrounding everchanging environment. But she has been living in Sigil all her life, she is used to having to find her way. The Black Cat is an unseen shadow passing over roofs, through alleys and transfering from one building to the next across treacherous wooden boards, weaving her way around festering growths of razorvine along the way. Eventually, she reaches what might be called the high class area of Hive Ward, Marble District, filled with many big buildings of tarnished marble. The district is surprisingly big despite the fact that only a miniscule part of the Ward's population lives here.

It takes a bit of searching to find the spot, but eventually, Zarinda is standing at the bottom of the wall she has been looking for, her destination towering above, crumbling window sills and chipped decorated marble walls between her and the window.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda quickly deploys her rope of climbing, a very useful item for her as climbing is not a forte of hers, due to her lower strength. But the rope makes any climb easier, and since the rope can reset itself with only a command, she can keep sending it higher and higher

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

You said 4 storey building, so I gave you 4 rolls

[Ridai]

Zarinda has no trouble with the climb (really, she might as well be stretching back on Alicia's couch compared to her last heist) and finds herself in front of the locked attic window. There are no indications of anything magical about it, she could probably just head through once open and stand in a very regular attic. If she didn't have a key, that is. That's the nature of Sigil, the City of Doors.

[MikelaC1]

Caution might as well be Zarinda's middle name, so she still takes the time to check for traps, disarm same if she finds them, and then picks the lock.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

Once all that is taken care of, she holds out the key Sascha got for her, and walks through the door.

[Ridai]

Ever careful, Zarinda does away with a trap set in the doomed hope of preventing another break-in without anything being stolen. With a click, the window opens, posh decay before her. But she has different places to go. Stepping through the window, she emerges from a smelly wardrobe. The light of a setting sun is shining above, Zarinda looking through the broken roof to glimpse the top of the clock tower looming above the high winding rows of buildings, impressive and imposing and unendingly in tune with the flow of time. Stepping gingerly through the abandoned little apartment, she reaches the edge and looks down three storeys into another narrow alley, the walls seemingly propped up by wooden beams whose other ends rest against the other side of the alley.

[MikelaC1]

Once again, Zarinda deploys her rope, and makes her way down the side of the building

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

She takes careful note of her surroundings, and then moves off, still unseen by all.

[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[Ridai]

Effortlessly, Zarinda navigates the wall and alleys. Finding her way to the clock tower grounds is not difficult because of the building itself as well as being able to use the street lined with services for tourists and adventurers as a guideline, easily visible and audible at a distance. There is a massive wall around the grounds, with a heavy gate and many, many warning signs. Getting onto the wall is easy. Now, she has a good view across the expanse of space looking like a fancy park, devoid of life and furnished with statues, monuments, street lights, tiered platforms and all sorts of decorations. Her experience tells her that there is danger ahead, her knowledge reminding her of the gargoyles. For most thieves, the approach would be challenging, even at night. Zarinda, however, already is drawing an ideal line across the grounds towards the entrance, helped by Alicia's information. The beginning of this heist should be child's play.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda eschews any of the supposed help that would be available from the city dwellers, not only does she not trust them, she doesn't want anyone to know that the legendary Black Cat is going after their tower. Having someone actually defeat the tower wont be good for business, and they would likely sabotage her...plus if she finds the tower too well defended, she doesn't want anyone to know the Cat tried. Besides, someone might be able to recognize her.
Once her line is drawn, with a few twists and turns to throw off any observers, Zarinda sets off towards her goal, her steps silent and her form almost ghost like.

[roll0] hide
[roll1] move silently
[roll2] hide
[roll3] move silently
[roll4] hide
[roll5] move silently
[roll6] hide
[roll7] move silently

[Ridai]

By the time Black Cat begins her heist, night has fallen, concealing her every move. She crosses the opulent ground, the tower coming closer and growing taller before her, a huge building of clockwork magnificence rivalling the sea of Mechanus' gears. But it is a sinister thing, now that she stands in its shadow. So much blood and death clinging to it, built by a madman. Once or twice, Zarinda spots the vague silhouette of one of the watchers, stone eyes peering across the grounds, leaving only blood and entrails that will soon be washed away by the rain if they would find what they are looking for. But they don't.

Zarinda blends with the shadow in front of the huge clockwork gate, with a smaller one set in its base. It is a complex mechanism, but one well documented and most likely not much of a match for the master thief.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda continues to blend with the shadows and studies the lock. She keeps in mind the documentation, but looks with her own eyes, as the supposed information sources can have their own agendas, Alicia's information is, of course, second hand. She checks for traps, both those documented, and those hidden behind the easy ones to spot.

[roll0]

If she finds anything that is a trap, she disarms it

[roll1]

Only once she is satisfied with the situation does she attempt to open the lock

[roll2]

[Ridai]

Swiftly, a trap that would otherwise crush Zarinda's hands between gears is disarmed, then door soon following. Silently and unseen, she slips inside. She is standing in a large hall, noting the high ceiling. Most of the interior is in golden and black tones and she can feel a very, very low background sound, that of clockwork working unseen. The sound is omni-present, seemingly innocuous. She has read enough accounts of groups who can still hear the sound in their nightmares.

Surveying the scene, Black Cat pinpoints gears obvious and hidden, pressure plates, traps, switches and other mechanisms, both through her own skill and her information. The first level is no trouble whatsoever for her. For many it is already a deadly challenge. For her, it is a walk in the park. The first level has long been picked clean of treasure and she even sees how the tower resets and cleans itself, though the latter does not seem to be perfect, as she finds some old blood in a corner or two from whoever fell victim to a trap. So far, so good. The way up to level 2 is easily found. This level and the next are still very thoroughly documented and so far the information has lined up with her own observations. After easily making it through a hallway where there are specific parts of the floor that set off spike traps, she reaches a three-way crossing. She knows the way up to the next level is ahead, with the way to the right leading to an area where adventurers are often sent by information brokers who want them to die. From the right, Zarinda hears merry whistling, as well as some mechanical sounds.

[MikelaC1]

Just to clarify, the path ahead leads to the stairs up, but also a place where adventurers are sent to die?

Zarinda hears the whistling and quickly finds a niche to hide in or at least some strong shadows, and makes herself silent, waiting to see what is coming and hopefully avoid it.

[roll0] hide
[roll1] silent

[MikelaC1]

(Assuming there really is no action after a few minutes)

[roll0]
After a couple of minutes of waiting, and hearing nothing, Zarinda begins to creep forward cautiously again, ignoring the right hand path which is documented as deadly, and scans the straight path for traps
[roll1]
and picks her way past them if she can
[roll2] hide
[roll3] move silently
or deactivates the ones it is impossible to bypass
[roll4]

[Ridai]

The whistling continues as Zarinda sneaks by. She makes her way up to level 3 and through that too, finally reaching the fourth level. It is hard to notice if one doesn't pay attention to it, but each successive floor is less spaceous in total area as well as the dimensions of individual rooms, with each floor the clockwork noise becomes a little bit less faint. The fourth level is not as richly detailed in the material Zarinda has, but it nonetheless helps her avoid several traps and dangers untils he arrives on a balcony of sorts, overlooking a pit. There are narrow metallic platforms leading in a precarious looking network across the pit. Below, Zarinda can hear tinking noises, metal points tapping onto metal, moving about. Hazarding a look, she makes out shapes somewhere between hound and spider, but also two mangled adventurer corpses, their possessions around the sites of their demise.

[MikelaC1]

From where she stands, Zarinda attempts to see if she can figure out a pattern of safe platforms to navigate across the pit, making sure to exclude any platform from the pattern if it is hanging over a mangled corpse

[roll0]

She also looks up, to see if there is anything she could get her rope to hook to, in order to swing across the pit and avoid the platforms entirely.

[Ridai]

It is a large pit and Zarinda does see a spot where she can hook the rope, but she will have to move onto the web of platforms a bit to reach it. Carefully stepping onto the quite polished metal, she remains undetected by the things below. Suddenly, she feels the metal shift, the whole web moving in a pattern akin to a shifting mandala. Suddenly, Black Cat knows exactly what has thrown off those failed adventurers, as it is hard to see where to step next, while keeping ones balance and avoid being pushed off by another metallic beam shifting around. If she ever went ice skating, the act of moving across these platforms might remind her a bit of that, having to keep her balance through shifting her weight back and forth, never stopping. Soon, she could be in throwing distance of the unmoving gears sticking out of the ceiling where she could secure her rope.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda works hard to keep her balance despite the desperate attempts of the platforms to toss her off...
[roll0]
Even as she keeps her balance, her eyes are always looking forward for a platform to move closer to her goal
[roll1]
And the moment she spots one, she makes the leap to make the next step
[roll2]

(-15)

[MikelaC1]

1 isn't a autofailure on a skill check, thank god, but I should probably put out at least one more to see if she can regain her balance if that did throw her off
[roll0]

(-14)

[MikelaC1]

Is the forum roller out to kill the Black Cat?

[roll0]

(-13)

[Ridai]

(To keep balance... Riiiight...)

Even with her embarassing lapse of balance, Zarinda stays on top of the shifting web, shame staying right with her. She spots where she needs to go next, takes a brave step and lets her rope whip through the air as she leaps. The rope catches its target and with tucked legs, Zarinda soars just above the metallic web, landing on the other side. Her rope quickly returns to her. A good thing to add to the current information, as Black Cat is recognizing a pattern in the motions and a reliable path across. For someone of her skill level, this wasn't very challenging, but it was a little surprise. Things are starting to ramp up, it seems. Leaving the pit behind, she continues through level 4, making several mental notes to fill in the gaps of the current information and having no trouble with the rest of the floor.

Zarinda ascends to level 5. She finds a few traps that are not quite in the information provided (or are described wrongly). However, by now, Zarinda has picked up on the signs of designs of the various triggers and is able to fill in a lot of gaps. Fortunately, the floor is not as big as the vast ground floor, keeping the task from being too time-consuming. The way to level 6 is not quite clear and eventually, Zarinda enters a chamber not documented in Alicia's information and the door behind her shuts tightly, not even leaving enough of a gap to fit a sheet of paper through. Either no one has encountered this chamber, or whoever came here didn't make it out again.

The chamber is simple in its design. There is a highly sofisticated scale on a table, with 10 sets of 10 gold pieces lying on the table beside it. In front of each set is one button with no further description. There is a single button on the scale as well and Black Cat's trained eye recognizes that it will recede into the casing once pushed and a cover will snap into place, effectively making it a one-time use. There is no further information. A puzzle. By itself a not too hard one, but Zarinda has a feeling that the utter lack of information and objective has been what led to the demise of whoever else came here. With each level, the traps and obstacles became more and more mean-spirited (without becoming entirely unfair, though; apparently, the creator did want the possibility of success to exist and be realistically possible with enough skill), so this fits into that pattern.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda takes a moment to scribble into her notes the missing pieces and then sets about dealing with this puzzle. She needs information obviously, and since nothing is immediately forthcoming, she sets about in a methodical search pattern to find it.

[roll0]

(-11)

[Ridai]

Hoping to find a record of what the builder of this puzzle wants the subject to do, Zarinda comes up with nothing. Instead, she has to scrounge together what she can from her environment. She has a very accurate, single-use scale. There are 10 sets of 10 gold pieces, apparently standard weight and size (as Zarinda is intimately familiar with both), as well as one button each beneath set. It is likely that only one button is the right one, pressing it marking the right solution to the puzzle. Thus one of the sets must be different. As nothing is apparent, that leaves outside indications, which leaves the scale. Thus, one of the sets must have a very slightly different weight to them. And most likely, pressing the wrong button will trigger some sort of death trap in this sealed room.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda goes to the piles of coins, and from the first pile she takes one coin. From pile 2, she takes two, from pile 3, she takes 3, from 4 she takes 4 and so on, up to pile 10 where she takes 10 coins. She piles all 55 coins on to the scale, and waits for a moment to see if it displays something. Figuring it probably wont, she then presses the button to get a reading.
Her logic is that if there is one set of coins heavier than the others, she will get a reading of 55.X, and that X will tell her which pile is bad. Of course, if one pile is lighter than the others, it will come up 54.X and then she does has to do a bit of math to find the bad pile...54.6 means the 4 pile (.4+.6=1) is bad. She will then press the button in front of the bad pile.

(-6)

[Ridai]

Tense moments pass as Zarinda waits for the readout. When it appears, her fingers move to number 6... wait. No, that last digit is actually a 5 with the lower part going almost full circle. Sneaky bastard. Pressing 5, Zarinda is greeted by a series of chunky clicks, wirrs and other mechanical noises. The door behind her opens again, as does the one in front. As she steps out, she notices something in the corner of the door frame. Crushed skeletal hands wreathed in old, but intact fingerless gloves. Magic. Gloves of Strength, of the +6 variety. Still working.

Managing to get by the more standard traps on level 5, Zarinda ascends once more. Level 6 is curiously filled with less traps (which wasn't picked up on by the scarce accounts of it), but Zarinda soon notices why. A wide variety of mechanical beasts and things are stalking the halls. Zarinda manages to evade the smaller ones routinely, the many gears, machines and corners giving her plenty to work with. However, when she comes to a grid before what could be the exit, the hallways are larger than the ones before. The walls are treacherous, consisting of much gearwork. She can climb it, but she has to be quick and concentrated to not have fingers, toes or hair crushed and pulled into the gears. She has seen enough stained machinery in here to know how many lives these kind of things have taken. The ceiling is layered and it wouldn't be difficult to imagine finding some space to crawl through up there. The ground looks rigid, but Black Cat can tell that there is a wee little bit of give beneath every step.

To visualize, it seems like the grid is shaped like a 2x2 block grid, with Zarinda having entered on the lower left corner and moving up on the left side, towards the three-way intersection of paths. The path she is on leads back to the lower left (southwest) corner, the path straight ahead leads to the northwest corner and the path around the corner she is approaching leading right, into the center of the grid.

As she reaches a corner of whirring and clicking gears, she feels something beneath her feet. A moment later, she hears it, too. Very heavy steps, each one making the floor ripple like a pond when one throws a stone into it. Peeking around the corner, Zarinda manages to see the head of a behemoth of a mechanical monstrosity, walking on all fours, it seems. Its eyes shine with green light, moving steadily along the path ahead in a patrol pattern. It comes out of the path leading north from the south intersection, stands in the center, and then begins to turn towards the west intersection, the one Zarinda is at. Its steps are big and frequent. It is not running, but it is hardly slow, the floor rippling harder the more it approaches. One can imagine that running away from it becomes harder and harder the closer it gets. So far, the beast doesn't seem alerted, its body filling almost the whole hallway.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda pockets the gloves. While they wont do her any good, she can get a good price on them, and even if she couldn't, shes not about to leave them around for the vultures who send good people to their death in order to make a profit.
When she gets to the intersection with the mechanical "dog", she quickly formulates a plan. Deploying her rope, she climbs up one of the walls to get to the ceiling.

[roll0] Climb
[roll1] Dex check...Don't know if its appropriate or not, but I put it in to give her a chance to avoid having fingers or such crushed

Once at the ceiling, after pulling in her rope, she attempts to inch her way along as slowly as possible, using the layering to stay hidden from the "dog" and being as quiet as possible

[roll2] Hide
[roll3] Move Silently
and if another climb check is needed, I will use Mastery here: Climb: 31 since falling on the puppy would be bad

Figuring that the dog is patrolling, her path along the ceiling takes her towards the hall that the dog came out of, as that will be the last place he should head to, having just checked it.

(-3)

[Ridai]

Zarinda squeezes into the little space in the ceiling, precariously close to moving machinery, having to bend her body in entirely uncomfortable ways to fit. The behemoth reaches the intersection and turns southwards, the ground shifting as it moves... as does the ceiling, forcing Zarinda to really bring her contortionist skills to bear to avoid contact with gears and pipes. (Make a Reflex check)

Once the behemoth passes, Black Cat is able to slowly move towards the center, but the way is soon blocked. Both by the end of the tunnel, and the rotten, mangled remains of what might once have been an adventurer who had the same idea as Zarinda, but not her skill. With the grid being symmetrical, Zarinda can figure that the beginning of all paths leading towards the center have similar ways to hide, but the center itself apparently needs to be crossed on foot. Right now, Zarinda is at the middle of the path leading from west to center. Her strong sense of hearing tells her that by now, the behemoth is about at the south intersection or a little beyond (hard to tell), moving eastward.

[MikelaC1]

[roll0]
Zarinda hangs on, despite the shaking of the ground and the rather gruesome company she has to keep.
While hanging there, Zarinda concentrates as best she can on hearing the movements of the dog, as well as the shaking of the walls and ceiling, to tell when he has hopefully moved out of range.
[roll1]

(-2)

[MikelaC1]

With the dog having moved out of the way, Zarinda will hook her rope around one of the pipes and slither down it to just above the floor. She tries to see if there is a trap on the floor, and all the way to the hall that the dog originally came out of.
[roll0]
If there don't appear to be any traps, she will let herself the rest of the way down and attempt to move into the corridor, without alerting the dog
[roll1] hide
[roll2] move silently
If she does spot a trap, or some sort of device to alert guards that the panels have been stepped on (since she already felt a "give" in them), she will attempt to use her rope to swing back and forth to build up enough momentum to swing into her target corridor.
[roll3] its not exactly Jump, but its the closest.

[Ridai]

Zarinda doesn't see any traps. Still curious, she examines the floor for a moment and finds that it is made out of a huge amount of tiny pieces that are flexibly connected to each other and apparently can even stretch to some extend. This would explain why the ground around the behemoth can actually ripple akin to water and how she felt that certain "give" in the floor. The more force is exerted on the floor, the more it ripples (which was the earliest indicator for the beast's presence to Zarinda).

Zarinda reaches the center and currently can't hear the behemoth. She looks into all directions and can't see anything but golden-and-black-colored walls at the end, past the respective intersections. With that, she begins to move into the corridor leading south. When she reaches the south intersection, she still can't hear or see the creature. Looking towards the west, she sees the entrance in the corner. Towards the east, simply a corner.

[MikelaC1]

With the behemoth moving east, Zarinda will head west, even though they have gone past intersections...besides, there is an entrance there.
Zarinda heads to eastern corrider, cautiously peaking around the corner to see what she can see.
She is still careful about traps
[roll0]
and when she gets to the door, she checks for traps and bends an ear to the door
[roll1] search
[roll2] listen

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda cautiously moves down the corrider, peeking around the corner to make sure the behemoth is not looking back towards the intersection.

[roll0] hide
[roll1] move silently
[roll2] spot

If the behemoth is not looking, she will dart quickly across the opening to get onto the other side of the grid to search'

[roll3] hide
[roll4] move silently

[Ridai]

By the time Zarinda reaches the corner, she sees the behemoth up in the northeastern corner. And in said corner, she sees the exit, with the beast disappearing around the corner. Darting to the exit, Zarinda finds it locked in five places, with the behemoth currently moving south towards the western intersection.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda darts to the door, and goes to work as quickly as possible. She does a quick check for traps right off the bat, and disables it if she finds it.
search
[roll]1d2)+73 disable

She then starts to pick the locks, one by one, trying to keep an eye to see if the behemoth is coming back, and if she feels it coming in any way, she will dart back into shadows and wait until he goes by

[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[MikelaC1]

[roll0] disable (bad syntax)

[Ridai]

Disconnecting a trap protecting the locks, Zarinda furiously begins to work the locks, popping them open one by one as she starts to feel the vibrations in the floor again. Hastily, the last is opened and the door gives way. As the behemoth rounds the corner, Black Cat disappears through the door and closes it behind her. Taking a breath, she is now standing in front of the door to level 7, the highest floor ever explored and escaped alive.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda takes a breath, that behemoth had come too close for comfort, and given her reluctance to engage in battle in the course of her jobs, that would have brought a sudden and uncomfortable end to this one. She settles herself and then gives her attention to the door in front of her. As always, she gives it the once over with her trapfinding skills, and then bends an ear to see if she can hear any activity beyond it.

[roll0] search
[roll1] listen

[Ridai]

Zarinda only hears the sound of gears and power lines, the door itself untrapped and unlocked. Level 7. The last with any kind of solid information on it. This floor is much smaller than the ground floor, the background noise of the clock tower more omnipresent. The walls are coming closer with each floor. The traps are becoming better hidden and lethal. Zarinda knows how to stay sharp even on long heists, the long series of increasingly sophisticated traps keeping her on her toes. Now, she doesn't have much of a benefit from Alicia's notes, but she is beginning to understand how this tower was built, how the mind of its master ticks. The tower is like an increasingly tight chokehold, the sound of the gears the stand-in for the malice of the creator. He is toying with those who want to defeat his tower, but the higher they go, the more he wants to ensure that they do not reach the top. So far, things have been harsh, but fair. The question is whether fairness will run out before reaching the top.

Zarinda recognizes patterns and tendencies, able to anticipate some traps. She doesn't need long to traverse this level due to its size. The beginning part of the floor eventually leads to only a single path forward. A huge room filled with a dizzying maze of huge gears, the exit at the top far end of the room. Zarinda feels the presence of an anti-magic field in the room. There is a certain pulse of light, emitted from the ceiling in regular intervals. The light seems to stop at a certain distance, mostly covering the open airspace of the room and only a few gears. The direct path is out, as is flight. Those want to get to the exit will need to traverse over, under and sometimes between the gears. This is the last room the information covers, this is where that group failed, its last survivors fleeing.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda thinks back to what she has passed by on this level. While she is confident in her ability to weave her way through the gears, she would like to find some big pieces of metal or wood that she can shove into the gears, fouling them and causing them to stop, at least for a few moments. She is sure the power of the gears will eventually smash anything she puts into them, but if she can buy herself a few precious seconds or minutes, even for just a few of them, it would be well worth it...especially since she hasn't encountered any active defenses on this level.

[roll0]

[Ridai]

Taking a look around, Zarinda happens upon an adamantine piston that looks like she could easily remove it from the wall it is installed in. After a bit of work, she returns to the challenge room with the piston in hand and rams it between the gears that she will have to brave during her initial ascent. There is a nasty crunching sound as the piece is caught, huge gears grinding to a halt, shuddering and groaning as the machinery is working yet not continuing. The screech of metal is the sound of very slow progress in this regard. Looking over the maze of gears, Zarinda will need to traverse them in order to move up and along the wall, towards the exit.