Solo Trap Room

[Brandon Blackwing]

The 36th of Fall 514AV


If one were to ask what exactly Brandon was hoping to find, he would immediately answer ‘a hidden room’ or something of the sort. However, if what they meant was the loot he hoped to find, Brandon wouldn’t have a clue at all. In fact, clues were what he was looking for, evidence that the jeweler –whose house he currently was sneaking around in- was not quite as pure and innocent as he claimed to be. Cavanna, as the man was named, held ties with bandits in the Peaks, apparently, and sold forgeries instead of real gemmed jewelry, though both were just rumors.

Still, Solomon Kriegsfelt had for one or other reason deemed this to be important, seeing as the Cavanna was trying to secure a place as councilor, wanting to find anything at all that could prove the jeweler to be too much of a conman to be rewarded with an office in the Radiant Tower. Why Mr. Black cared was a mystery to the bat, though it was quite clear that the merchant had plans for the city himself, whether it was to protect it or bring change he didn’t know yet, but everything pointed in those two directions.

The man had said as much himself, his orders to go haunt Alses were a typical example of it, though many might not consider that protecting the city. Maybe not, but it was what the trader had told the bat which had led him to this conclusion. ‘Alses is not fit to rule, under her reign, the pillars that hold Lhavit will crumble one by one and the city will be destroyed.’ Well, something like that anyway. In any case, that line was enough to suspect that the vendor held some sort of sentiment to the crystal city. It wasn’t quite understandable, but well, it didn’t have anything to do with the thief anyway. For all Bran cared Alses could do just whatever the petch she wanted when he’d successfully shaken off Kriegsfelt’s grasp. Whether the city would crumble and fall or not, he couldn’t care less. Or did he?

Who could speak with certainty if the subject of the debate was Brandon’s fickle mind and incomprehensible actions and train of thought? No one could, not even the bat himself. He himself could not tell whether the starry city was something he’d want to protect or not, he couldn’t even guess if he’d care if it was to be wiped off of Mizahar. Sure, he liked the city, but … whether it actually meant something to him? Not a faint idea. Well, perhaps he’d find out, in time. Or maybe not, who knows? The future was unpredictable, what it would bring was usually not what mortals could believe upon hearing, until they actually experienced it. Most people did not believe in arts that revealed the future, as they refused to accept that the future was set in stone. Free will, they said, made it impossible.

Brandon was maybe a bit of an oddball in that regard, believing neither, or rather, a combination of the two. It seemed logical in his opinion, a system that worked just because of free will. A map that branched out into not one but multiple futures, all very personal and yet all of them intertwined and influencing each other. Life was about making the right choices, he’d heard a lot of people state that if they talked about regretting their actions. Constantly everyone was selecting one out of the multitude of options they could pick from in their chime-to-chime life. Do you buy the apple of the pears? Maybe that wouldn’t make that much of a difference, but it could change the next series of options presented by whatever entity organized it all. In the end, every choice made mattered, but whether they were good or bad depended on whether one was viewing the whole picture or just the fragment that was their life. It was not without reason Brandon had called life the biggest game of all, the Great Gamble. Mere mortals could not possibly fathom what consequences the simplest of their actions might have, it was possible that even the multitude of the gods could not.

In the end, all one could do was pretend like none of that mattered and continue to play their part unknowingly, believing they lived their life for their own sake, ruled by their own free will.

Of course, that was but a feeling the bat experienced if he got philosophical. There was no way he wasn’t in control of his own actions, right? That said, even if he wasn’t, he’d rather not know.

It was only when the thief found himself staring at the staircase that he snapped back into consciousness, frowning under his mask, wondering how long exactly he’d been standing here. Yet, that too was not of importance, just like his thoughts from a couple of ticks ago. What was important right now was finding the hidden room, corridor or nook –whatever it was this key could open. During his semi-conscious or pseudo-conscious sneaky stroll through the most of the ground floor, the bat could not recall having found such a place, which was to be expected, but he didn’t feel like he had missed something. Getting lost in thought was no problem really, his subconscious knew what he had been looking for and had been actively searching, making no simple mistakes like forgetting to check in every corner. It was when the switch back to conscious control happened that people tended to make mistakes, being confused for a moment, failing to perfectly multitask as they became aware of they were doing just that.

So… maybe he should be going upstairs, search there too? However, Brandon seriously doubted the effectiveness of a hidden room on the first floor for one or other reason. Still, it was worth a shot, though the stairs were an unavoidable hindrance. They were made of wood and upon closer inspection it seemed they were quite old too, probably made a lot of noise when one stepped on one of the treads. Hmmm, what to do? Go up or stay down to go over the covered ground floor again? Or both? Maybe that would be best, but in what order was he to do it then? Why not let chance decide? A gloved hand dug into his pocket and returned with a copper coin, one of the likes you could only rarely see in Lhavit; a copper Miza. With a wriggling of his fingers, the bat made the copper-rimmed coinshaped gemstone ‘walk’ over his digit, pondering for a moment. Heads for ground floor and tails for upstairs, the masked thief decided, throwing the coin up with one hand, snatching it out of the air with the other before placing it on his thumb.

The opposable digit snapped back rapidly, flinging the coin back into the air once more, watching it spin round and round while airborne. It drew an invisible parabola, coming down again somewhere close to the starting point, aiming for freedom. Brandon promptly reacted by adjusting his hand, catching the item in his palm. Tails. Huh. I’d rather not go upstairs though, I fear the noise will wake my victims… besides, this isn’t yet the final outcome of tossing a coin. With that, the palm slapped the coin onto the back of Brandon’s other hand, drawing away slowly as black orbs witnessed the result of his actions. Heads. Right, time to check the ground level again, maybe there indeed was something he’d failed to detect. It was possible. Nodding slightly, the bat turned away from the staircase, and headed deeper into the hallway.

Still though, letting chance decide… what bullshyke. I think I’ll just use this to figure out which option is more appealing to me.

Credit goes to Cylos Marn

[Brandon Blackwing]

The hallway downstairs was larger than that of an ordinary house, mainly due to the fact that this place was a little bigger than an ordinary residence, and a lot than Brandon’s tiny apartment. Actually, nearly all other houses one could find in Lhavit were bigger than Bran’s flat, which wasn’t too surprising, seeing as he lived in the outskirts of the city and that those regions were about as close to slums as one could get in the city of crystal and skyglass. Not that it bothered Brandon, he had grown fond of his lair and it wasn’t like he needed anything bigger. He had a roof to sleep under, and that was enough to satisfy the bat. That it was a place he could call his own was a positive point as well.

He’d walked this hallway trice now, the marble floor posed no threat to the bat –compared to Elysium Hall’s echoing floor and walls, this underground was easy to sneak on as any other surface. It was more pleasing to the eye as well, decorated with tapestries and frames enlisting pictures of mountainous landscape, glorious hills and proud Okomo. By now the bat knew that there were about four doors leading away from this hallway; one leading to the living chambers, one to the salon –though it could be accessed via the living room as well- another lead to the kitchen and the door at the end of the hallway was the one of the office. On the other side of the staircase, there was another corridor with the same amount of wooden portals – a mirror image to the one Brandon was sneaking through right now. With such a large amount of rooms, the thief wondered why there were no maids or other housekeepers around to clean things up, it should be a lot of work for one person to do it…

Perhaps it had something to do with the secret room hidden somewhere in the mansion, the Kelvic could understand that the jeweler didn’t want anyone to know about the exact location of it, and with that trap in the office… Well… Also, if Brandon would have been the owner of the house, he too wouldn’t have liked anyone to know about the hidden chamber, especially so if what was hidden in the secret room was not something you wanted to have maids chatter about… Maybe Kriegsfelt was right after all. Maybe.

Soon he stood before the last door at the end of the corridor again, tapping the part of his mask that covered his forehead and wondered if he should check the office again. Though he was pretty sure he hadn’t overlooked a thing in there, it wouldn’t hurt to search it once more, just to be safe… Maybe it was for the best indeed. Opening the door was but a matter of turning the knob and once inside the bat started scanning for clues but found none. No other secrets were present in that room apart from the trap, the fake wall and floor.

Frowning under his mask, the bat pulled the wooden object to a close behind him, shutting off that chamber for the time being. For the time being? No, he’d close it entirely, lock the door so the surprise of the note found would become even more shocking. From his victim’s perspective, a locked door was secure, it prevented people from entering. If it was breached, the door would be opened, if it was closed however… That meant no one could have entered, correct? That in combination with the opened lockbox and the active trap would give his victim the impression of Incognito being something alike to a ghost, able to pass through objects if he so desired. The phantom thief of Lhavit, Incognito, was he what his name implied him to be? A phantom, a sprite?

Of course not, Brandon was alive and well, but the image and rumors floating through the crystalline city’s streets, carried by chatty women and storytellers alike, was something that made him grin widely. He liked the thought. Being feared was one way to become famous, and while Brandon only wanted to be acknowledged, desiring proof of his existence, he could not deny that he actually enjoyed hearing the worried whispers and gossip when people spoke of the masked villain that could not be caught. In a way, that was the confirmation that he indeed existed and was out there, not just a shade of whatever illusion given consciousness and self-awareness. It was good to know, it made him feel at ease, that and worried too, since the Shinya were doing everything they could to catch the troublemaker running amok in their beautiful skyglass city. Well, he believed they did anyway… he seriously doubted the guards would not care about an infamous figure such as he. Maybe he should provoke them a bit more? Pour some oil on the flames, see to it that the guards really, really wanted him behind jail bars, where they could keep an eye on him. Hmmm, yes, that would be quite interesting… Raising the stakes would only result in harsher punishment if he was caught though… If he was caught, that is. Ah, how exciting!

Those feelings were pushed aside in order to focus on a very different task however, as Brandon decided it was dangerous for a thief to start daydreaming during the Midnight Rest period. Technically, wouldn’t those be real dreams as it wasn’t actually daytime anymore? Or did the term daydream apply to any kind of digressing from reality when awake? Did that even matter right now? Did it ever matter? The answer was no, and thus the Kelvic concentrated for real this time, closing of that chapter of nonsensical thoughts while getting to work.

Truly this was a peculiar thing to do, for all Brandon knew the skill of picking locks –the art, even- was only used to open doors and overcome the hindrance they formed, a barricade to keep anyone without the right key out. However, Brandon was about to do the exact opposite; closing a lock. A lock he’d picked only a chime or fifteen ago at that. Still, Brandon believed that opening and closing a latch were similar and that only the direction of the torque had to be changed. His reasoning behind this was rather simple, though he couldn’t find any flaws in it.

One could only open a door with a key, and could also only close it with a key. The latter was to prevent being locked up in your own house or chamber, for whatever reason that should happen. Otherwise, alone needed to do to lock someone out of their own residence was taking their keys, throwing them through the open door, close said door and turn the lock with whatever tool they had on them that could fit in the keyhole. As simple as that. Thus, to prevent things like that to happen, a key was needed. Besides, one couldn’t pull the key out of the hole if it was not in the starting position, which meant that the pins would fall back down if they key was removed. He’d never paid any attention to that, but it couldn’t be that far from the truth, right?

As the bat inserted his tools, he indeed felt that the pins had fallen back down, keeping the door unlocked until someone with the means to do so found it necessary to lock it. Whether it was for security or pranks, the purpose didn’t matter. Applying a bit of torque in the counter clockwise direction, forcing the cylinder to turn a tiny bit until the pins stopped that movement, the bat started his assault. Then the pins became the target, one by one pushed into their housing being supported by the rim of the cylinder, which prevented them from falling down. Truth to be told though, Brandon preferred spending time opening doors than closing them, and thus he opted for the quick solution of his problem; raking. Actually his lock pick wasn’t quite suited for that task since its head wasn’t broad enough, but it would help a bit anyway. Maybe it wouldn’t be much, but it was something at least. Better that than having to spend too much time on it, right?

While his mindset might be a bit lacking in some regards, Brandon’s skills certainly weren’t, nor were his methods of reaching his goals and fulfilling his objective. Results were more important that the modus operandi followed to achieve said results, well, most of the time. There were things that even he found to be unacceptable, killing those that put themselves in his way for example. That was one of the things he preferred to avoid as much as possible. If there was no other way, then… well… Though as long as he could help it, and find another way, he’d leave anyone alive, no matter how much of an obstacle they became on his path, Kihala’s gift wasn’t to be wasted, not even if they were his enemies. Sometimes those people couldn’t always help it, the Shinya for example were just doing their job and fulfilling their duties. Brandon wasn’t one to take their life just because they threw themselves in his way. They might have families and friends who’d miss them, grieve for them. He didn’t want to bring that pain upon anyone, not by choice.

With a steady hand, the bat retracted the lock pick all the way out of the lock, past all the pins which were pushed up in passing. Some fell back out, he heard it immediately, though some of them stayed in their casing, kept there by the torque, the tension provide by the wrench. A silent counting of pegs followed, but it didn’t seem there were that many left. Three out of eight to be precise, which wasn’t too shabby. Those three were swiftly dealt with, and before long the click and thud of the deadbolt slamming into its position told Brandon he had succeeded. A failed attempt to open the door by turning the knob confirmed this.

And that is that, Brandon nodded internally, grinning his trademark mischievous grin. Back to the matter at hand, where is that damned secret room?

Credit goes to Cylos Marn

[Brandon Blackwing]

He didn’t have to look that long actually, it was when he was walking on a soft carpet pondering on the location that he was struck with an idea. A realization actually. On this surface, his steps made close to no sound, effectively muffled by the floor decoration. Making things easy for me, eh? Brandon had been thinking, I can walk without creating noise here, hell anyone could with this rug under their feet. And that was exactly what had struck him as a genius idea. If perhaps there was a hatch hidden under the carpet , no one would know, since the hollow sounds produced when walking over it were absorbed by the rug. No one would ever know about the hidden space if they hadn’t ever heard of its existence.

Needless to say, Brandon immediately proceeded by pulling the carpet away, pushing it aside and indeed, there it was. A hatch of wood embedded in the marble of the floor, locked securely with a latch, the same kind that could be found on a door. With a flourish, the bat produced the key he’d found earlier, inserted in it the keyhole and turned it expectantly, feeling the cylinder rotate as the latch opened and the bolt holding it in place withdrew, back into its shelter.

Before him now was a gaping hole of pure darkness, the kind in which even a cat wouldn’t be able to see and as such, neither could Brandon. If only he’d been able to echolocate in this human form of his, he could have kept to the shadows, shrouded in the blackness of the dark. Yet, humans were not bats, and echolocation was not part of their skillset, unfortunately. The thief had to be content with illuminating the place with the skyglass orb, which he was glad to have with him. It was a good thing he’d wedged it out of its sconce at Alses’s mansion, the bat had always thought it would come in handy from time to time. With him, the orb had its use, whereas at Elysium Hall it just served as a fancy piece of decoration, one of the many orbs that were used for illumination. Truly, someone hadn’t held back when the architects had asked for the exact amount of skyglass light sources the Councilor had wanted. The Hall was literally littered with them! Pun not quite intended.

Stone stairs provided a path that lead down, descending into the darkness, extending into the unknown. Every step down was taken with care, Brandon was cautious, maybe too cautious. Still, while his descend was slow, it was quiet and done safely; the bat would rather not slip and fall all the way down, nor activate a trap in his ignorance. Yshul knew what kind of traps were set up to stop burglars? And there would be booby-traps, oh that was a given, seeing as there had been one in the office already, as well as decoy secret alcoves and all. As such, caution was not a luxury, it was a necessity, for Brandon would rather not be pierced by darts or paralyzed by toxin and delivered to the Shinya to spend a couple of days in jail. No thank you.

Eventually though, the bat reached the end of the staircase, and found himself walking through a small hallway that ended in a door. This time though, instead of being fashioned from wood, this door was metal, complete with a small, barred window. The steady blue-green glow of the orb shone through his fingers as he held it close to the keyhole and tried to fit the key in he’d used before on the hatch. Nothing, it did not seem to be the right one for the job… Hmmm… Well, did he have another choice than to pick it then? Apparently not. He sighed. Say whatever you want about larceny, but continuously picking locks wasn’t quite what the Kelvic had been looking for. Especially in this house there were a lot of locked doors, go figure how paranoid the jeweler must have been. He was definitely hiding something, though what was to be found out as of yet, as first the bat had to get past this steel obstacle of a door.

Actually forcing it open by the use of brute force wasn’t an option, obviously-not that Brandon possessed something that could be called that anyway. In any case, the ball of skyglass was stashed away and replaced with the familiar tool needed to perform the art of picking a lock. After placing both the tension wrench and the actual lock pick in the keyhole, the bat got to work in complete darkness, relying on his ears and sense of touch to help him out. Sight was worthless for this task anyway, as it would be rather hard to actually see the inside of the lock.

That did not mean that the bat did not see it though, he did, but it was only in his mind. Visualization was an important part of the key to success in this business, as one had to know what they were doing and where they were doing it. Without knowing the general map of the lock’s belly it was impossible to visualize and thus hard to pick the latch. After having picked over … how many again? Hundreds of locks? Probably, Bran hadn’t counted them, nor was he planning on doing so. The point being however that after having picked lots of locks the Kelvic thief was able to form a mental image of the mechanism in his mind’s eye, complete with the position of his pick, or where he believed his pick to be anyway. Not that he’d been wrong about the latter much lately. Another aspect was feeling, as the bat had mentioned a couple of times before; the feeling of his lock pick with and without a pin resting on it, the ability to recognize and distinguish different structures inside a lock were but a few examples.

And of course, he couldn’t forget the advantage of hearing, the sounds created by the lock, by falling pins and so on, were important to pay attention to. If one knew what they had to listen to, they would have a lot less trouble clearing the way with their skills.

Two pins had been pushed up already, and both of them stayed there too, safe and secure in their housing, out of the way so the rest could be dealt with. The third one was found easily, manipulated without trouble, though it required a bit of wriggling of the tension wrench and a bit shifting of the torque. The same applied to the two following pegs, who refused to let the bat pass before he played with them for a little bit. However, as soon as the thief had fulfilled that request, they obeyed his instructions as he repositioned them, forcing them up and not allowing them to come back down.

And last and very much also least came the pin closest to the bat, which cooperated without too much protest, not daring to resist and fearing the consequences of such insolent behavior. The lock pick was retracted and stored away, the orb of skyglass grabbed and the tension wrench turned once, doing its job as axis pretty well. A gloved hand pulled the door open entirely, and black orbs stared into the slightly lesser darkness that laid in front. Breathing rapidly, the bat gingerly lifted a foot into the air, preparing to take a step through the doorframe, into the newly unlocked chamber.

With a sudden burst of energy, the thief’s heart started beating more quickly, dancing excitedly as the bat hesitated briefly, pondering on the possible events that could unfold from now on. There was no mistake that this was the room he’d been searching for the whole time, but what would he find in there?

Credit goes to Cylos Marn

[Brandon Blackwing]

The secret room itself did not seem to be that special, not at first glance. It was narrow at first, before growing large and spacious. Windows could be found near the ceiling, the glass plate small in terms of height, but long when speaking about width. Yet, if anyone would have thought about using them as a means to escape fast, they’d have to rethink their strategy, for thick iron bars prevented entrance or exit through them. Well, it seemed going back the way he came was the only escape route available, which was quite depressing. A good thief preferred to have at least one escape plan he’d use, another to be the back-up plan and yet another one to serve as the plan B of the plan B, should the latter somehow be inadequate. One could never be too prepared.

Ironic, since what the bat usually neglected to do was preparing himself. Instead of investigating his marks a bit before trespassing, gathering crucial information for schemes and routes, he’d just head in without properly thinking things through. However, he used to plan ahead though, in better times, when there was no Kriegsfelt to please, no deadlines to meet. If Kriegsfelt ordered him to go retrieve a ring, for example, he expected to have it returned the next day, or the day after, tops. As such there wasn’t that much time for the bat to get ready, get accustomed with the target’s habits and quirks. Luckily, this was Lhavit, and whether the people he robbed respected the strange rhythm of the city or not, during midnight rest everyone was sound asleep in their respective beds. All but the thieving Kelvic bat of course, who was up and about, snatching away valuables and other items during that period of idle slumber.

Shaking his head slightly, fondly reliving those happy memories, the thief took a step forward, into the narrow passageway, and another one, and- What was that? Brandon was sure he’d heard a snapping sound just now, as well as having felt something pressing into his legs before the sound… While he froze on the spot immediately, he was not wasting time standing there as a bag of meat, no, instead he quickly stepped back, out of the narrow corridor when the other sound that had started echoing reached his ears. A mechanism had been set into motion, and the bat knew all to well what that meant.

IT IS A TRAP!!! his mind screamed in agony, realizing all too well that this obvious piece of information was utterly useless once the trap had been sprung. Fortunately, a thief’s body was trained to react swiftly on instinct alone when the need was there, which was also true for most animals. No time for thinking, just fleeing to safety. The fact that Brandon was both was perhaps an advantageous trait of his. Maybe. In any case, while his body withdrew, retreating to the beginning of the corridor with two quick paces backwards, a swinging ax-blade passed his face with just about one step’s worth of space in between. While he had expected something of the sort, letting an expression of surprise escape his lips was unavoidable. The sight made him jump back frightened, losing his balance upon contact with the floor and falling on his behind, scrambling away just a little bit more. To be safe. Guuuuuuh!!! That was too close for comfort!!!!! the bat breathed in his mind while his lungs felt as if they couldn’t provide enough air to recover from the loss of breath. His heart was beating like crazy, thumping loud inside his head, throbbing in his veins. One step closer and he would have been… dead…

A shiver involuntarily ran over his entire body, a wave of goose bumps defining his skin as he only then realized wide eyed what could have happened if he’d been only a little slower with his reaction. Dira, it seems that staring you in the eye still is unnerving enough to make me almost wet my pants. A gloved hand wiped the sweat from his brow, cold sweat. While I’d like to be able to claim that I wouldn’t mind being taken away by you, lead to another beginning, it seems I can’t help but tremble like a leaf at the thought of that actually happening when I am not ready –which is always. I am afraid that I believe I still have a lot of things to take care of in this life, so I’d rather enjoy Lady Kihala’s gift a little while longer. He sighed. Not all worshippers of the goddess of Death could enter a staring contest with death and not be fazed by its agonizing glare. Death may be deliverance, but Life was a joy as well. Brandon was not a hypocrite, a coward maybe, but not a hypocrite. Death was not to be dreaded, though survival instinct was quite persuasive. Maybe death was something good, not something to fear, but that was easier said than done when it was so damn scary!

He couldn’t hope to possibly understand those who truly were not frightened by the prospect of being killed. There was a reason for that, it being that Brandon never had had the feeling that he didn’t have anything to lose. That there was no reason for him to be alive anymore. Though, when he had lived his life to the fullest, and knew it was his time to depart, he would embrace Death and accept it willingly, not trying to escape and flee. Or so he believed. Only if the bat felt his time had come, otherwise he’d struggle and fight, resisting for the purpose of fulfilling what he was meant to do. Unless Dira herself would kindly inform him that his role had already been played, that he had done what was expected of him already. Or so he believed.

In any case, this was definitely not his cue to go die.

Trembling with adrenaline, the bat got back on his feet weak-kneed, experiencing a sensation similar to that of his legs being made out of jelly instead of bone and muscle. His heart and lungs had calmed down though, relieved that Bran was being one whole instead of … well, the banana split version. If he’d been only a little slower with his dodge… He swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat. One step worth of distance between himself and the blade eh? Wasn’t that kind of impossible not to avoid? So, then anyone could have done it?

Possible. Perhaps the swinging axe blade was only meant as a warning, not activating immediately but waiting a tick so the one who triggered it could step aside. To frighten intruders maybe? That seemed quite likely, killing was a serious crime, no matter for what reason. The protection of one’s life, whether it was that of a thief or not, was more important that the protection of property. Not that Brandon believed anyone protecting anything by means like those he’d just witnessed would not back up the initial warning with truly lethal booby-traps. This wasn’t poker, bluffing was not something people did when it came to things more valuable than a bit of coin.

Credit goes to Cylos Marn

[Brandon Blackwing]

That said, Brandon wasn’t going to give up and return home after finally having found the hidden place, no, curiosity demanded he stayed. It wanted him to find out exactly what could possibly be worth so much to the jeweler that he was willing to set up lethal traps to protect it. Eyes drifted to the first part of the narrow corridor, looking for the axe blade that could have killed him, but it wasn’t there anymore. Instead, he noticed grooves in the walls fortified with iron strips where it appeared, the hiding place of the trap obviously. Strange that he hadn’t noticed it before…though he had been rather careless, it had to be admitted.

So, with one trap sprung, the corridor still was a dangerous place to traverse, possibly littered with other booby-traps which would activate immediately instead of stalling a bit. The trigger had been tripwire, so it was likely that the rest would also operate by using that, though there was no certainty in his assumption. It could be possible that other triggers had been used, to throw people off guard, or to make them feel even less safe. What to do, what to do. If he walked back in there, careful or not, it was very likely he’d activate another trap by snapping a wire again, and even if there were none, maybe he’d step on a pressure plate or something along those lines. Damn, what a troublesome pathway he had to take in order to reach the large part of the room. The tripwires were hard to see, even when a light source shone through the corridor, almost invisible to the eye. Without something to detect them it was not a good idea to go sneaking through the small hallway, whether there were other booby-traps or no.

However, Brandon realized that he might have a way to find the hidden wires, only it was not by making use of sight, but of sound and hearing. Indeed, with echolocation he should be able to calculate the position of the wires effortlessly. How exactly he knew how far an object was away from him and what direction it was moving was a mystery, but it was accurate and had never failed him. What he did know was that he usually used both the information from echolocation and sight to recreate the environment in his mind, a mental image is you will, which he then used to maneuver. He’d use that technique now too.

Stripping took not quite much time, clothes and equipment placed on the floor in neat piles, so he’d be able to quickly redress once he had the information he needed. As soon as he was totally nude, the thief shifted, his form dissolving in a bright cocoon of light, sparkles swirling round and round for just an instant and then they disappeared as quickly as they had come. It was just a bright flash and the man had become an animal, a bat. Brandon’s nocturnal eyes were much better suited for the darkness that once more had gotten a hold of the room –the skyglass orb had been stored in the pouch again- not needing as much light as his human ones required. Though, with sight alone he wasn’t going to spot those wires in the dark, so without as much as a thought the bat produced the ultrasound which he used to echolocate, sending it into the corridor, awaiting its return.

As it was sound and not a person he was waiting for, waiting was actually a wrong term. Brandon received the information almost immediately after having sent out the wave of sound, now too possessing the knowledge of the position of the tripwires, as well as the distance that needed to be travelled to reach the grand hall and the end of said hall. Indeed, there actually were tripwires running from the left wall to the right, and not just a few, but a whole bunch of them. It reminded him strangely of the ropes used in Kalinor to traverse the cave, the streets of the Syminestran city.

Fortunately, that network of tripwires was meant to stop humanoid creatures, and thus a bat would be able to pass through without much trouble flying, given how nimble they were in the air. Also, since humans often dismissed the ceiling as a way of crossing a space, there were no wires higher than the chest area. The corridor seemed small enough to Bran to be able to move upwards with hands and feet pressed to opposite walls, allowing for climbing high enough to avoid springing any of the traps. Or he could just crawl up the walls by using his claws and cross like that, which would be a lot easier, yet he’d have to leave his tools behind, as well as his clothes.

The choice the thief was about to make was quite obvious , since it would be pretty useless to find the vault or whatever and not have his tools with him. Thus Brandon shifted back to human form and put his clothes back on, while thinking of a way to actually climb up high. First the bat studied the place on the wall where the axe blade had come from, attempting to find out whether it would still activate a second time or not. He hadn’t spotted any wires, but maybe those were only the initial triggers. It certainly didn’t seem like it would come out again, but one could never be too sure about something like this. He’d poke with a stick if he actually had one with him, though seeing as he didn’t and quickly stepping in and out of the blade’s trajectory did not activate anything, Brandon could only shrug.

How to get up though, was the real problem. The wall was too smooth to find grip. However, maybe he could use the groove of the trap? It started at shoulder height, and it was wide enough for him to place a foot in… Yeah, that would work. A couple of steps were taken back, enough to provide a bit of momentum for what he was about to try. After aiming, the bat took off, dashing to the wall, jumping up against it, placing one foot to on its surface to climb a little higher while he lifted his other leg. Though he was already being pushed away by the horizontal component of the force exerted, so he had to be quick. Hands shot out, backs facing each other’s, wedging in the groove and planting the palms on the inside of it on opposing sides for stability. In the same moment, his foot found the edge he’d been aiming for, the bottom of the groove. A sigh escaped him, glad it had worked, he now was one step closer to passing the corridor, but he wasn’t quite there yet.

The next part would be a little harder though, mentally at least. Cautiously the bat managed to shift his position so his back was facing the wall, hands behind his back, still stabilizing him so he wouldn’t fall. Then, he pressed his other foot against the wall’s surface, and took a deep breath in. Slowly, he pushed himself away with his hands, tilting forwards, rapidly falling face first to the floor. Arms positioned his hands in front of him, stretched out and bracing for what was to come as his leg undid the bending of his knee, pushing him even further away. According to his observations, he should be able to form a bridge from one wall to the other if his body was almost completely stretched, thus allowing him to exert pressure on the walls and holding himself in place. That was just the theory though, he didn’t know if he’d be able to handle the sudden stop. Hopefully he would, his gloved fingertips were already stroking the surface lightly, soon his whole palms would and he’d find out whether his plan worked or not.

He hoped for the former, and braced for the latter.

Credit goes to Cylos Marn

[Brandon Blackwing]

The bat's semi-falling descent came to a halt abruptly, as the leather of his gloved hands scraped over the stones of the wall before the pressure exerted by his body forced them to stop. Even though his hands moved no more, his chest and torso were still briefly pulled downwards, straining the thief's limbs slightly. It wasn't too bad though, a little sudden, but otherwise he was fine. Adrenaline was still running through his veins, moths and other winged insects fluttered around in his stomach while his heart seemed to have moved to his throat. Say what you want, but nothing could beat the sensation of falling to your doom -or just falling from a height in general- when it came to thrill.

The feeling of being victorious found it's way to the Kelvic's head too, tempting him to yell out and announce the success of his plan, though alas, it was still a little too early to do such thing. In fact, it wouldn't be wise to do it at all, especially given his position as most wanted thief in Lhavit, which was quite the title to hold. Or maybe not. The celestial city of skyglass wasn't filled to the nooks with criminals and thugs after all, there were but a few, and even fewer could manage to escape the Shinya time and time again. Following that line of thought however, lead to the conclusion that being Lhavit's most wanted certainly was a title to be proud of. Still, that was no reason to go shout it from the roofs.

Slowly, the bat started moving, his breath once again recovered and his heart had calmed down. Using the three out of four rule climbers were fond of, the Kelvic paced his motioned, lifting only one limb while keeping the other three firmly in place -hence three out of four. That might all seem very logical in this situation, as moving to at the same time basically meant the bat would smack down on the floor below - and the tripwires- but this wasn't a typical situation climbers were confronted with.

There was a certain rhythm to the thief's motions, a pattern that repeated itself time and time again; hand, hand, foot, foot. The change in position was but minor after each and every sequence, though many bits made a whole. It took a while but Brandon had soon reached a height he considered safe enough to start moving horizontally from. His chosen spot was close to the ceiling really, high enough to make him break a bone or two should he slip and fall badly, if he wasn't sliced to bits or pierced by arrows first. Falling equaled failing right then, which was not something Brandon could afford. He only had one life to live after all, and he wasn't quite ready to give it up immediately.

Sticking to the slow pace of the climbers' golden rule was the obvious choice, and that was exactly what the bat did, shuffling with a speed that even a tortoise would consider slow, though it would keep him alive. Wasn't that one of the most important things? A steady though languid pace was sometimes the best approach, though certainly not the most favorite one. Brandon however spent his time pondering on matters he found more interesting then, letting his body move with the subconscious piloting it. Those thoughts were an incoherent puzzle of whatever entered his mind, ranging from wondering how Engghaen was holding up to trying to decide what he'd have for breakfast tomorrow evening? Not that he had that much of a choice, mind you, he could pick either bread or bugs, and his current self seemed to favor bugs at the moment. At the same time he'd be out for a great flight, so that was a nice bonus too.

Eventually, he finally managed to reach the end of the narrow corridor, his horizontal crab-walk method of scaling the walls having exhausted his muscles, all of them burning or either trembling, some of them both. Sweat was pearling at the inside of his mask, which was too annoying to put into words, and parts of his clothing were slightly damp, having soaked up most of the salty body fluid. Still, while the end was reached, there was yet another thing for him to do, and that was to get back down. The glee of seeing the end of it all, along with the tiredness of his body -and maybe a little hubris too- pressured Brandon to quicken his movement, and he almost gave in, until the image of himself falling on a lot of wires before slamming down on the stones below bubbled up in his mind's eye. Not a pretty sight, not at all.

As such it took another long three chimes -if not more- before Brandon could finally stand on solid ground again, knees bent and hands placed on them, body arched and mask covering the top of his head instead of his face while he panted and wiped the sweat from his brow. It took at least a quarter of the time spent hanging in between the two walls before the bat recovered fully and straightened his back and knees, pushing his shoulder blades closer to one another as some form of stretching. The soft sound of something cracking pleased him more than he could have imagined, a deep sigh of sheer bliss escaping his lungs.

It was only then that he started to pay attention to the place he'd reached, a grand hall enclosed by four walls, only accessable through the corridor Brandon had used? Or so it appeared anyway. Brandon was sure there was some sort of secret passage somewhere, as it would be a frustrating and tedious task of both neutralizing and re-setting of the traps whenever the owner of the jewelry store wanted to come down here. To store or remove an item in or from the vault that was standing at the end of the hall, against the back wall. The floor before it was not covered with ordinary stone tiles, nor marbles ones but with metal plates, shiny ones at that. They covered the entire floor, except from an area around the vault, the corridor Brandon had entered through as well as the whole wall the thief's back was facing. Curious.

Cautiously, the bat studied one of the plates from a distance -the one which was the closest by of course- and spotted about nine small holes drilled into its metal surface. This was only getting stranger, though only one thing remained the same; the obvious deduction that these plates were some sort of trap mechanism. Probably pressure plates or so, the bat guessed as he hadn't discovered any wires with his echolocation earlier. With a frown he wondered if this was all there was to this contraption. Surely there had to be something more, something different about it. Why metal, for example? Why a surface that reflected light, that was almost a mirror? He did not know, though he was more than willing to find out. He had to get to that vault after all, and a couple of shiny metal plates forming a huge trap would stop him. Nothing could stop him. Well, most things could not, there were quite a few obstacles no-one could overcome, except maybe a ghost.

Credit goes to Cylos Marn

[Brandon Blackwing]

There was one thing to test pressure plate traps with, and that was triggering them. Not only would it give the bat an idea of the kind of danger he was to face, but some details as well. The weight needed to trigger the trap for example, though it was rather obvious that it should be the bare minimum of a human's, as that was the most logical thing Bran could think of. A child's weight perhaps, so that nothing heavier could cross. In that case, this was bound to be a pain in the butt, for Brandon clearly weighed a lot more than a child, no matter how skinny he might be. In bat form he could reach the other side with ease though, though that would mean leaving his tools behind and crawling over the plates, which would be another slow and long task. Flying was another thing possible for him, climbing up one of the walls to start his flight from, and safely traverse the room to the other side.

Fast and efficient, yes, but also as boring to a thief as it could get. That was the most important objective when Brandon went on a criminal outing again; having fun. Everything else, from coin to whatever things he gained from breaking and entering were a bonus, but not the main reason why he actually did what he did. No, fun was important, fun was necessary. As such, he wouldn't fly over a trap, even if it meant that he could evade traps with ease and could do it quickly. No, this right before his eyes was some sort of puzzle, a puzzle he did not mind solving at all. In fact, he actually liked puzzles. These kind anyway, he didn't quite know any others. Riddles maybe? Yeah, maybe riddles too.

In any case, discovering a room filled with traps was like … like … watching a busker preform a magic trick, witnessing how the performer made a coin vanish in the blink of an eye. It was a lot more exciting to be astounded and trying to figure out how the guy had managed to do it by yourself instead of asking someone who knew how it worked already. That just ruined it, the same thing applied to this situation. Instead of being like 'wow, I figured it out! It's just like .. this!' you'd just think it was a clever trick and then be bored whenever you saw someone performed the simple, though awesome stunt again. And it was simple, Brandon could do it too, all one needed were sleight of hand and excellent coordination; two aspects all pickpockets possessed. Of course, one had to be willing to actually learn the tricks, but there had been so many times boredom had gotten the batter of the Kelvic, so that hadn't been a problem at all. Nor had the fact that he'd found it truly fascinating.

That said, the bat produced the copper miza from one of his pockets and studied it briefly while holding it between thumb and index finger before flicking it away. The copper coin landed nicely on top of the nearest plate of metal, spinning on its side. Nothing happened though, it just spun in place, slowing down every tick, but otherwise there didn't seem to be anything happening at all. The bat frowned under his mask, taking a careful step closer, waiting for a couple of ticks, contemplating whether he should pick the coin up or not. Indecisiveness saved him for once, for while the bat pondered, the coin stopped its motion and fell on its flat surface. As soon as the method of payment touched the tile in its entirety, brightly orange, hot columns of fire erupted from it in the same way geysers did, accompanied with a loud hissing.

Then after a tick or three, maybe five, the columns shrunk and shriveled, retreating back into their metal plate for a brief while. Brandon, who had stumbled backwards, startled by the noise, heat and sudden appearance of the flames. He stared for another couple of ticks, until the flames erupted once again for a short duration before disappearing. A frown rippled under his mask while he got back on his feet, stalking closer gingerly, awaiting the next outburst of fire. He didn't have to wait for long, and neither did it take much time before he was able to snatch the -now terribly hot- copper miza from the metal plate. That he immediately dropped it again -or rather threw it at the wall behind him- was not one of his concerns right then, that he could feel the hotness through his gloves was.

That and the question whether the columns of fire would show themselves again, but the latter did not happen anymore. It seemed that the were indeed pressure plates, triggered for as long as an object was placed on top of it. Though, was that entirely true? Not quite, the bat decided after having replayed the scene in his head a couple of times, No, that's not correct. There was the fact that nothing at all had happened when the coin had been spinning on its side that the bat found interesting. It was clear that at the time the trap had not been triggered yet. Or was it just slow? One way to find out; conduct a couple of experiments!

The copper miza was swiftly recovered and placed on the metal plate with caution, somewhat hesitantly as Brandon wasn't entirely sure of his theory just yet, and balanced on its side. If the trap took a couple of moments to activate, there should be fire streaming out of the holes soon, but again, nothing happened. Brandon displayed another frown under his mask as he waited for more than ten ticks, which was a lot longer than last time. Maybe it did only work once? A one time activate, one time use kind of thing? That would certainly make this whole job a lot more easy, but as the Kelvic used his breath to knock the coin over, this did not seem to be the case. Tongues of hot fire shot out again, attacking the intruding miza with heat and burning touch. If this wasn't interesting...

So, did this mean the trap did not operate on the weight of objects? Perhaps, but to be sure Brandon would need to go fetch more materials he could use to find out, since he wasn't planning on using his own tools for it. Though he could state with certainty that anything heavier than a coin would probably be burned to a crisp. In other words, it seemed quite impossible to cross, but if that was true, there was no reaching the vault and not even the owner of it would be able to get to it. Thus, there had to be some safe zone, a path that would lead to the other side. Finding it would be a difficult task too, so Brandon focused on how the trap worked, trying to reveal its secrets. If he knew what exactly would trigger the fire-trap, he could come up with a means to avoid springing it. However, he would need some more stuff to throw on the metal floor for that purpose...

Credit goes to Cylos Marn

[Brandon Blackwing]

Pondering how exactly he would get to the other side of those walls again, the bat stroked his chin and goatee pensively, scanning the corridor he'd entered through, feeling like this would be his only choice. Brandon actually didn't want to use that way again, as it would mean repeating his stunt twice, and thus increasing the chances of himself getting wounded by the traps. No, he'd have to find the secret passageway that was hidden around here somewhere... Or maybe not. As his black onyx orbs drifted over the wall's surface, they found a spot that looked a suspicious lot like a door or some sort...

It was kind of weird that it would be so obvious and easy to find, was it a trap as well? No, he had to be overthinking things, paranoia was starting to kick in, probably from searching for booby-traps too hard, as well as spending too much time inside this whole place. It messed with his mind, or so, or perhaps he just was getting tired, he had been awake during the day as well after all. There was a limit to all things, and as such there was one placed on the amount of sleep the bat could miss if he wanted to be fully functional and fresh. Those two things still kind of applied to him, but he had the feeling that would change soon, should he not lay himself down in his bed to rest after this task.

In any case, the masked thief headed for the structure he believed to be a door, only to be astounded at the fact that it actually was. He couldn't remember seeing another way to enter the trapped hall when he'd been on the other side of the wall. The door could have been camouflaged though, making it hard for someone who didn't know about it to find it. The setup of the rooms drew one's attention to the corridor, and made it seem like the only way in and out, thus labeling all other options as impossible. People could not walk through solid walls, so the corridor was how he could get in there, it was secured with lethal traps too, so if he went in there he'd die. That was enough to make most people turn away and leave, but those few who actually made it to the other side - which the owner of the house obviously believed not to exist- could clearly see the other exit and entrance before their very eyes.

Naturally, the door was locked tight, preventing those that knew about it to actually use it, thus limiting their options once more. Yet, what was a lock to a thief? How would one actually have made it this far without knowing how to pick a lock? They wouldn't have been able to get into the trap room, no matter how sneaky or acrobatic they were. With brute strength maybe, though that would wake up the whole of the mansion's inhabitants and besides, that steel door couldn't be taken down by just bashing it with your shoulder, or kicking it. No, lock picking was the one skill necessary to get absolutely everywhere in someone else's home, and thus, hatches formed only a minor hindrance to accomplished thieves and burglars, not an unovercomable obstacle which would stop them. In fact, it was better for thieves to encounter a door with a lock than one without it, as the latter would be impossible to open.

Sighing to have to do this once again -when Brandon said being a thief never got old, he did not mean picking locks, too much of those was not a good thing- the bat knelt before the keyhole, peered through it for a moment, to see where it would lead him. What he saw was just darkness, black and nothingness. Well, that was disappointing, if only he could make sure there was enough light in the other room... Wait! Swiftly he paced to the corridor again, grabbed the skyglass ball and rolled it through the hallway, under the wires and into the first of the chambers behind the steel door. Then he returned to the keyhole, peered through it and still saw nothing, except for darkness … Oh, was that a tiny strip of blue -green light right there? Yes it was! Hold on, so there were two doors? Made sense, the corridor was rather long, so there should be some space in between the two sides, an extra room instead of pure, several meters thick stone walls.

Credit goes to Cylos Marn

[Brandon Blackwing]

Now that there was nothing to worry about anymore, the fear of ending up in a place he did not want to be, the bat proceeded to repeat the action he felt he'd been doing all night long already. Picking the lock. Another lock, another door to be opened, another bit of time spent fiddling with pins and picks. He sighed deeply and inserted both his lock pick and tension wrench, wanting this to be over as soon as possible. The fire trap was too intriguing and he wanted to figure out its secret as soon as possible. It was something -one of the few things he'd encountered in this house- that he found to be exciting. As if it was some new sort of toy or something. He wanted to go play with it again as quickly as possible, and because that was so much fun, everything else was not.

A frown rippled his forehead as he wrestled with the first pin, trying to get it back in its casing, but failing miserably. Annoying, frustrating! Just get up there already! He had no need for stupid locks on stupid doors! Just cooperate and stand aside so he could pass. But nooo, it had to be complicating things, to hold him up instead of allowing him to pass. How utterly aggravating! The urge to punch something erupted as he failed yet again, his fingers moving the pick without any finesse anymore, just slamming it into anything and everything that was in the way. Something needed to be thrown, to be smashed to bits. Something breakable preferably, and heavy too. Something that would tire him out a bit, make him run out of breath.

Alas there was no such thing nearby, so all he could do was drop both the lockpick and the wrench to go slam his fist into the wall instead. Of course, he immediately regretted it, now also experiencing the sensation of pain burning his hand, and a suppressed string of grunts came out instead of yelled curses. Agitated or not, Brandon wouldn't go blowing his own cover by screaming out in rage, he wasn't stupid. Calm down, Brandon, his mind soothed, just take a deep breath in and out. In and out. While attempting to get his act together with mental fortitude, he paced up and down, rubbing his hurting knuckles with free, uninjured hand.

It took a couple of minutes before he had found his cool and the pain had subsided, replaced by a dull throbbing. Mumbling and grumbling he got back to work, repeatedly telling himself he had to stay calm and collected to finish this as fast as possible. Getting all worked up wouldn't help one bit. Staying calm would. Just breathe deeply, focus and be patient. This isn't like you, Bran, his mind pondered Since when do get annoyed when you have to pick locks? He didn't know, he didn't know what was wrong with him, why exactly he'd become so frustrated. Usually he could deal with that, he wouldn't have let it bother him. Now he had, the bat did not have a single clue why. The whole situation with Kriegsfelt is eating at me, he decided after a while, I should find a way out as soon as possible. This isn't an healthy situation for me to be in. Can't even stick to my own pace anymore. Yshul damn the man!

For all the trouble it had caused the thieving Kelvic bat, the lock was rather simple to pick when he had cooled down and took it easy. It all came down to finding your own pace, it seemed, that made one more efficient than haste. Soon the bat was ready to turn the wrench and open the door, but the cylinder did not move at all, remaining in its place as if it was glued there. Frowning again, he searched the inside for something he'd missed, to find what was wrong. Apparently he'd forgotten to move one of the pegs, thus his picking hadn't been complete. The thief shook his head slowly, subtly moving both his fingers and wrist to put the pick into motion, swiftly removing the obstacle from his path. There, now he should be able to retract the hatch... Yes, indeed.

With a sigh packed with relief -which carried all stress and tension away- the bat moved through the gateway and into a dark place in between the room in from of and behind him. From inside, he could clearly see the outlines of the next door beckoning him, illuminated by the orb of skyglass. This one was another trap door, rotating around an axis, and blending in with the rest of the wall. It was really had to spot. If Brandon hadn't come from the other side he wouldn't have found it, not a chance. That said, the door seemed to be attached to a spring of sorts that pulled it back to a close if nothing was holding it back, thus preventing anyone who didn't know about it from accidentally stumbling across of it. To make sure he would not have problems finding the trapdoor, the bat wriggled his wedge between the bottom of the door and the floor, effectively stopping it and keeping it from falling to a close.

The skyglass orb was collected on the way out, the bat heading for the kitchen, where he figured he'd find materials he could use for his experiments. Sneakily opening drawers and closets, taking a couple of items with him, the masked thief found interesting objects indeed. Wineglasses to give but an example, or toothpicks. With them under his arms, the Kelvic returned to th trap room, placing his bounty on the floor, contemplating what he should try first.

After thinking for a brief while, the bat decided on the wine glass, placing it upside down on the pressure plate. Nothing happened. Gingerly he set it on its foot, the surface touching down on the metal entirely. Immediately tongues of fire shot up into the air, causing Brandon to back away swiftly. Curious, he pondered, While the weight is the same, first it did not trigger the trap, but now it does... I wonder why? As soon as the flames had retracted back into their holes, the bat snatched the glass away with a quick sweep of his hand, instead placing a heavy girandole on the metal surface. This heavy brass object rested atop of four thin though sturdy legs, and only a small part of each leg touched the floor. Once again, nothing happened, the wave of heat, the burning flames did not emerge.

So... did that mean that weight did not have anything to do with springing the trap at all? Lighter things had triggered the fire, but this heavy brass girandole hadn't. Come to think of it, the upside down wine glass and the side of the coin hadn't either... Thus, the bat deducted, the trap had something to do with the surface of the object standing on top of it. It was very likely that if the surface touching the trap was smaller than a certain value, the trap wasn't activated. Hm... then he did have an idea to reach the other side. It would be acrobatic, and dangerous, but it might just work. There was only one variable he wasn't sure about.

Carefully, the thief placed the tip of his finger, the upper digit on the edge of the pressure plate, as far away of the holes as possible. He didn't want to get burned after all. Even though he was wearing gloves, fire was still hot and … burning. Fortunately though, nothing happened. He then tried again with the upper digits of five fingers, and the firs still did not show its bright orange face. Even when he tested it with ten digits, the trap did not activate. Great. The amount of surfaces didn't matter, only the acreage of every single one did. A grin emerged, this might not be that hard after all, in fact he was sure he could get across safely. Nothing could hold Incognito back, not even a room filled with traps.

Credit goes to Cylos Marn

[Brandon Blackwing]

However, this would certainly not be easy. Doing a hand stand was one thing, but doing it while letting only the tips of his fingers touch the floor was an entire different matter. It wasn't that he couldn't do it, but he couldn't do it for long. It strained both his wrists and his fingers, which hurt like hell and would make it so that both would be stiff the next day. Not a big deal, but very uncomfortable. It was the only way he could possibly use to get to the vault, since well, he didn't want to fly there and he didn't know where the path was situated. With a sigh, feigned reluctance and a grin that betrayed his true emotions the bat threw off his cape and readied himself.

Everything else he kept on his person, not even the bandolier with his daggers was left behind, as it would be a hassle to strap it back on, and besides, it was tightly secured. The daggers wouldn't fall out of their sheaths and the buckles wouldn't be undone. An elegant motion brought the bat into a handstand, fingers being the only part of his body that supported his weight. Keeping his balance was no big deal, though soon staying in position would. He had to act fast before his fingers gave away due to strain. One step took the bat onto the first plate of shiny metal, and while the thief feared for a moment that fire would throw itself to his face, there was no sign that the trap had been triggered.

Another step was taken, and yet another one, until Brandon was walking on his hands as fast as he could manage, huffing and puffing and trembling because of the effort. It was just as he had expected, this was not something he could keep up for long. Though maybe he could still reach the vault before he collapsed? Perhaps, perhaps not. His fingers were hurting and his wrists felt as if they were on fire. The bat's arms trembled more than ever before and he could feel sweat pearling down his face. Each and every step brought a tiny bit of relief, but it did not outweigh the exhaustion of supporting his whole body weight with just his fingers. Before too long, it had become impossible for Brandon to stay standing on his fingertips and to prevent them from breaking, snapping or just ending up in any kind of strange position, he forced his thumbs back, landing on his palms.

This was it then, there was no more escaping from the trap. His mask and leather attire might offer some protection, but they wouldn't last for long, he should try to run back to the safe zone as fast as possible, lest he wanted to be burned to a crisp. Though... he was spared from that fate, there was no fire, no flames and no burning, just Brandon standing on a metal tile on his hands. He frowned, undoing his handstand and getting back to his feet. Could this particular tile be part of the path that would lead him to the vault? It was worth checking.

From his pouch the bat produced a stone and a piece of charcoal, both of which he had also found in the kitchen. The former had been used as a paperweight to prevent recipes from fluttering around whenever one passed through or when the window was left open. The thin stave of charcoal seemed to be the tool used to write it with, so that was neat. With a swift motion of his hand the bat marked the plate with a small 'x', so he wouldn't forget where it was. Now for the next piece of the puzzle, Brandon had brought the stone. Stones did not burn up, nor did they get too hot after being exposed to fire for a couple of ticks. He'd place the stone on the tile he wanted to check, if there was no fire, he'd mark the tile, if there was, he wouldn't. As simple as that.

Of course, it took some time, especially so since Brandon went back to the corridor first, to find the path before he had to come back – you never knew if something went wrong. It would be pretty bad if he had to run and he had only marked the part of the path going from the middle to the vault, and not the beginning. It took a couple of chimes, ten or so, until the bat was back where he'd left his cape, tied it back on and returned to the end of the know path, using the marked tiles as his guide. Once there he repeated the process. Drop the stone. Fire. Wait a bit. Pick up the stone, drop it somewhere else. No fire, mark the tile, move on.

This too took long, maybe even longer, since the bat hadn't reached the middle of the room when he had attempted to cross it on his fingers, but eventually, he reached the end of it. The secret path snaked through the trapped room, now obvious to everyone. Except that, well, there was no one here. Brandon wouldn't be Brandon if he hadn't used the charcoal to write a message on the floor too, one that followed the pattern of the secret path. Almost each tile of the path now had one large character written in the middle, right under the 'x' mark he'd used to locate the plates.

If one read it right, the message read: I am Incognito

Not the most deep of messages, though that did not matter. Brandon was sure that the sight of the name 'Incognito' alone was enough to strike fear in the heart of his victim.

Next step was the vault, which was nothing more than a large iron box, decorated ornately with pictures of swirls and stars. He couldn't immediately discern the keyhole, resulting in Brandon searching for it for a while. When he finally found it, hidden between bas relief-etchings of Syna and Leth,the thief could finally go ahead and do what he had to do. The lock itself wasn't that different from all the others he had previously encountered, with the only difference being the arrangement of the pins. Instead of being ordered in one line at the top or bottom of the cylinder, they were scattered all over the place, spiraling and swirling. There were lots of them as well, so Brandon would need a bit of time to unlock it.

Though, strength in numbers was about the only advantage the pins had, and defeating them one by one was not a problem at all. Sure, it took a while and he had to fiddle with the torque a couple of times, redo a couple of pins, but in the end,, the bat was victorious. A turn of the tension wrench and, click!, the hatch retracted, leaving the door ready to be opened. Which the bat of course did immediately, throwing it open with a fast motion of his hand, only realizing he'd made a mistake as he heard the snap of a wire. Alarm bells started ringing, loudly announcing the presence of a thief in the vault room. Startled, the bat snatched the thin bound book out of the safe, placed it under his leather top and ran, over the secret path, through the hidden door, not forgetting to grab his wedge and headed for the exit of the trapped room, though during that period of time, the book slipped out and fell. Brandon did not want to waste one bit of the little time he had to go back and pick it up, so he continued his flight, cursing internally.

He'd screwed up.

Credit goes to Cylos Marn