Fish felt their body pass through the barrier as they skittered up the walls, but they were confident of their skills. The bird seemed like a simple thief, but they had a few tricks up their feathers. Of course, none of that would matter until they got into the actual manor.

They scale the wall, able to find the tiniest of handholds[1], and drop down to the other side. The aviankin melds into the shadows of the wall to scout the interior. Their biggest problem right now is the sheer size of this place. It looks to be at least two stories, a possible third as Fish spots a cellar door. Who knows how far down it goes?

Well, given how this place looks, the best place is to start from the top Fish figures. They can't know how far down it goes, but the roof does provide an end to how tall it is. Quietly, they dash across the yard and into another set of shadows. Once more, they show off their climbing skills as they reach the top.

They hope across the slightly pitched tile looking for a new entrance. Dropping down through a window didn't seem ideal, but neither did the chimney....Where could Fish get in that would make the most sense?

Crap crap crap. They were completely jacked and they hadn’t even stolen anything yet. Unless Carter had a bunch of mages chanting in his basement, there had to be to be some sort of device or artifact or something powering the barrier. And he needed to find it and shut it off if they had any chance of escape. Looks like Shaa was going to have to get over the wall as well. Busting through it might be a little too obvious.

Shaa pulls out his magical ice pick from his bag of the infinite. He didn’t have to scale things often but the pick was a nice little addition when he needed to. With a small little clunk in the side of the wall, Shaa scales it and hops over to the other side. Looking around, he doesn’t see Fish or anything else which was a a good thing, he supposed. If I was a magical barrier generator, where would I be? He rubbed his chin gently in thought, looking over the massive scale of the mansion. Would you be inside hmmm. No. It would need to be close but out of the way. The back yard maybe?

He followed the wall, confirming the barrier was relegated to the outside only. He soon found himself in the back in the sight of a massive flower garden. There was a stone pathway that snaked in throughout the rows of flowers. Despite their apparent beauty, there was something ominous about it. In the back, Shaa can see a large pylon with a red crystal on the top. Yup. I know this is a giant death trap but, not a whole lotta choice on this. I hope the bird man appreciates what I am doing here. What will I be doing? Harumph.

---

Climbers Ice Pick

Fish peers over the side of the roof to see Shaa coming into view and sizing up the big pulsing crystal thing. They look it over a moment, how can they help? Fish rummages in their pouches a moment, pulling out a few items.

They take a moment to crush up a rock and crumble in the core of a geonid into a loose gravel, funneling that into a break with some acid. The beaker is given a quick swirl to help everything mix together into a brown sluice. The slurry mixture is then filtered into a bottle so that this swirling brown liquid is left.

Fish peers back over the side and mimicks a whistle to get Shaa's attention, tossing him the vial. They motion towards the crystal and mime throwing the vial^[1]. Fish wasn't sure if it would work, but it was something.

The aviankin turns back to the task at hand and finds an air duct to slip into. They quickly undo the screws and slip inside. Good, they are in. Now to begin mapping the area while Shaa works on the outside. Fish moves around through the tunnel, assaulted with the smell of muffins and baked goods. This must led to the kitchen...not a bad place to begin looking honestly.

---

^{1. Earth Weakness Potion
Created potion is thick and brown, can be applied to a weapon or item and takes effect when consumed or applied to an enemy through a wound. Anyone under the effect of this potion is now weak to earth damage for the next two post, taking double damage from any source of earth damage.}

As Shaa considers the garden situation, he hears a sharp call from above. Looking up, Fish is trying to motion something to him. Did he see something that Shaa was missing? No, he had something. Shaa sees the object fly towards him and he hoofs over to catch it before it hits the ground. Snagging the vial, he inspects it curiously. The contents look deep brown like mud. Looking back up at Fish, the bird man is still making throwing motions, apparently wanting to Shaa to throw the vial at the pylon. Well tossing something at it from a distance certainly seemed like a better idea then traipsing through the creepy garden.

Squaring up to the pylon but keeping distance from the flowers, Shaa lobs the vial at the pylon and watches as the container smashes against the side of it. The brown liquid oozes down forming a small brown pool at the bottom. Shaa picks up a random stone and tosses it over the wall. Shortly into its arc, the stone bounces off an invisible barrier on the other side of the wall. Hmmm Shaa thought to himself. He wasn’t sure what the liquid was supposed to do but the barrier was still up.

Shaa walked back and took a deep breath. Still no sign of any guards or anything watching him. It was just too easy. Shaa walks right up to the pylon, tapping it with his knuckles. Suddenly the crystal on top turns forest green. As it does so, the flowers in the garden start to snake out ward in giant multi colored coils. Shaa starts tapping furiously on the pylon but to no avail. The garden had come to life.

Fish is a little worried that Shaa might not understand the full extent of what that vial can do. Damn the limitations of ther communication skills. They had to hope the minotaur could at least intuit something from it, but if not Fish would take the blame on that one. A lesson to label potions next time, even when made on the spot.....They could just have little descriptions and attach them to the potion as needed. FOCUS.

The aviankin brings their attention back to the front. They hear some talking below, two humanoids seem to be discussing something in the kitchen.

"I think something passed the barrier."

"Are you sure? Maybe it's just another squirrel."

"Well, whatever it is, the garden will probably just eat it like it does everything else does."

That sounds troublesome....Fish should've made the fire potion instead. Well nothing Fish could do about that now. Trust the strange minotaur can handle this Fish, he is trusting you to be able to take care of your part of the bargain.

Fish carefully tips open the vent and slips down, hitting the ground with a gentle tap before melding into a shadow.[1]

"You hear that?"

"Man, you're just as paranoid as the boss is. Calm down." The chef waves his sous chef off with a hand and turns back to the batch of batter he is currently working on.

---

1. One with the Shadows

As the garden started moving, Shaa saw the immediate irony of. Terrramancer being taken out by viscous plants. But that was nature. There was the hunter vs the prey. Roles that could be changed in an instance. Shaa took a deep breath and blew a cone of fire into the oncoming vines. As they started to char and twist, Shaa thought he heard some sort of pained squeal coming from the garden. 

Turning back to the pylon, he knew that he had to do something about it. Shaa focused on the spot where the vial hit and kicks it as hard as he can. The base of the pylon shudders but holds still. Over and over again, Shaa kicks at the base until small small cracks in the stone start to form. As they do, the crystal starts humming, as if calling to the garden. Shaa reaches down and starts jamming dirt into the cracks. A vine from the garden begins to snake around the Minotaur’s hairy leg.

He grabs the vine roughly and yanks it out by the root. As he finishes filling the cracks with dirt, he places a hand on the cracks and casts vine field into the cracks. Giant vines burst out of the base, collapsing the structure to the ground. As the crystal hits the floor, instead of breaking, it rolls away across the ground. Ummm well that sort of worked. As he watches the crystal roll away, a curious thing happens. The garden vines seem to start to follow the crystal. Well that can’t be good….

---

Vine field

Fish can only assume that Shaa has run into no complications whatsoever outside and everything is proceeding exactly as they had planned. The aviankin has their own problems to deal with right now. There are plenty of shadows to move through, but Fish risks being seen every time they move. The two chefs seem to be busy in here. Fish would have to get creative.

They scan the kitchen, but it doesn't seem like there is much going on they could use to their advantage......Wait....is that cooking oil? Perfect. They quietly sneak over to the next countertop, ducking under just in time to avoid detection. Fish reaches over to snag the bottle of cooking oil.

The next series of events happen in a blur and are ill-advised, but they happen.

"Have you seen the cooking oil?"

"Yeah its right.....Wait, I just saw it."

As those words come out the bottle streaks out from underneath the counter and smashes against a wood stove. There is a quickly spreading oil fire in the kitchen that has put the two chefs into absolute panic. As they focus on fighting the blaze, Fish makes their way out to start exploring the manor proper.

The air ducts had taken Fish down to the first floor....not an advantageous place to be in. Should they go up or look for a way to go down if there is one? Down is probably just storage for ingredients....the recipe is probably hidden in a safe near the man's bad.....Up it is. The little bird begins to skulk around the foyer and towards the stairs.

As Shaa watched the orb roll across the garden with the vines snaking closely behind, he couldn’t help but wonder if he had made some sort of grave tactical error. He had learned through years of experience that if you hip it anything hard enough, something was bound to happen. Granted it wasn’t always a good thing that happened, but at least it was something. The crystal soon vanished under the tangle of brush and the garden seemed to finally grow quiet. He looked around the perimeter for any signs of guards or security that may have been alerted to his…methods. When he saw nothing coming his way, he could only scratch his head and wonder if something else may be powering the barrier. Hrumph, it’s never easy. He groused to himself.

In his moment of consternation, movement catches his eye back towards the last known location of the crystal. The vines were moving again except this time they weren’t stretching outward, they were crawling up over each other UPWARD. Vine after vines wraps over on top of itself as the mass of vegetation start’s swirling upward towards the sky. The mass soon coalesces into a thorny cyclops like creature with the crystal as its eye. Shaa watches in stunned amazement as the creature forms a giant thorny club in its hand and roars at the sky. RRRAAAARRRRAARR!! Shaa wondered to himself if it was too late to volunteer to be the sneaky one in this mission.

As the thorny mass stomps angrily towards him, Shaa takes off in the opposite direction. He wasn’t quite sure if he should be mad or impressed at the level of security for what amounted to a muffin recipe but, either way, he couldn’t argue with the results. Mostly because those results were straight up trying to murder him into a mulch pile. He reached into his bag for something that might help. telY5s3x

---

jolly bag of gifts
3 - 4: Grandma’s Fruitcake
A fruitcake just like grandma use to make. This pastry is full of nutritious fruit, harder than a brick, and can be used as a ranged or improvised weapon.

From the chaos outside, Fish could hear a lot more movement inside the house. Rows and rows of magical armor started to animate and begin clanking down the hallways on the search for intruders. Fish dove into a shadow to hide as these armors started to fill and pace about. This wasn't good......Well at the very least they weren't going outside to swarm Shaa. Fish didn't have to worry about that which was nice.

"HELP GET ME OUTTA HERE." The sudden sound of a voice yelling and running comes from down the hall.[1] Suits of armor fall for the distraction and begin charging that way to eliminate the intruder.

Fish breaks from the shadows and sprints upstairs at this moment. The aviankin circles to the top and skids into another pool of shadows to hide. No armors in sight, but Fish can see a large metal bull prowling the maze of hallways ahead. This creature seemed intelligent.....This was going to require a bit more planning.

The bird skitters ahead to peer around the corner. They could just simply continually sneak around, but that would take much longer and Fish would like to leave sooner rather than later. Plus who knows how Shaa is holding up outside.

As Fish looks they spot a window...Perfect. The plan Fish made was perhaps more chaotic than usual, but this is what happens when you plan on the fly. They skitter down the hallway, moving a rug aside and taking out their parasite poison and splashing it down onto the wood where it would start to eat away and weaken it.

They cover the spot up and turn to face away from the window, "HEY HEY"[1]

The sound immediately draws the metal bull's attention. It's stomping and charging hooves shake the floor of the house as it heads straight for the bird. Just before the moment of impact, Fish flutters their cape in front of them like a matador and teleports behind the bull and out of the way. Before it can turn, the hoof hits the weak spot in the floor and tumbles over itself, crashing out of the window.

From below Shaa can hear the thundering hooves and then the sudden chaos of the crash as a metallic bull comes flying out of the window, 20 or so feet in the air.

---

1. Sound Throwing

Shaa held his fruitcake in bewilderment wondering if he should throw it or eat it. As he maintains his run, fruitcake in hand, suddenly he hears a noise coming from high in the house. Oh what now? He says to himself. Suddenly, a large metal bull crashes through one of the upper windows, plummeting to the ground. Shaa zigs to the side as the metal bull crashes bluntly to the ground. Apparently unshaken by the fall, the bull locks on Shaa and starts to charge. This is so frickin unfair! He yells with no small amount of irritation in his voice. Shaa considers the situation and feels that it’s pretty much impossible that they are undetected at this point. Only thing to do now is to keep as much attention in the yard as possible to give the bird man a chance to snag the recipe.

As the trio ran around the mansion; Minotaur, Metal Bull, Vine Golem in order, Shaa had a weird thought. If you combined the bull and the golem, that was pretty much him! It was a kind of funny thought that he might end up murdering himself by the end of this and the irony didn’t escape him. He had to do something fast through as the metal bull was making up ground quickly. Shaa was a bit more agile than the beast which was the only thing keeping him in one piece. 

As the turned the corner, Shaa came upon a large swimming pool. This was his chance! Shaa slipped on his ring of water walking and runs right for the deep end of the pool. He makes it to the surface of the water just in time as the metal bull and golem skid to a stop at the edge of the water. Shaa caught his breath as he stood solidly on the surface of the pool. Apparently metal bulls and water didn’t mix. It wasn’t a win exactly but it would give him a second to think. Shaa gives the bull a solid middle finger as he looks around for something to use.

He didn’t have much time to think however as the golem approached the pool.  What are you up to Mr. Green Jeans? He thought out loud. The golem didn’t appear to be the most buoyant of creatures, what could he possibly do? Shaa got this answer as the golem immersed its arms into the water. Soon cords and cords of vines were snaking across the surface of water, right at Shaa. Cheater… Shaa summoned a pair of ice axes to his hands. Tossing one of them into the pool, the pool instantly freezes into a solid block of ice, consequently sticking the golem in place at the side of the pool. Shaa charges with the othe axe in hand and decapitates the helpless beast where it stood. It’s head, crystal still firmly lodged, rolled lazily across the ice. 

With a massive effort, the vine golem stands up, ripping its own arms off at the place where they were still frozen in the pool. Headless and armless, the torso walks across the icy pool and reabsorbs it’s own head from the surface of the ice. Soon the gem is one again fully ensconced on the top of the vine monster. It still didn’t have arms yet but Shaa knee it was only a matter of time. The bull was still unwilling to risk the frozen pool but Shaa couldn’t help but feel that he was on the losing end of this fight.

---

Ring of Water Walking
Art of the Avalanche 

Fish similarly thought they had pretty much given up on stealth at this point. The place was well guarded and trapped, there was almost now way they could have gotten in and out of this place without alerting at least one of the defense systems. On top of that, everything seemed designed in a way that if you triggered one set of defenses that would trigger another.

The aviankin decided they would simply just start essentially a smash and grab, minus the smashing. Abandon stealth for speed. They swipe a few things into their bag before eventually bursting into the mansion owner's room. Fish is immediately fired upon, but the kenku manages to just barely duck back behind the door and use it as a shield.

They hold out their own hand crossbow and peer around the corner.

"So, some bastards finally come to take my recipe huh? Who hired ya? Benny's Bakery? Or was it that snake at Clarence's Croissants? I told him croissants pale in comparison to the majestic art of the muffin! WHO HIRED YOU?" An older human sits in his rocking chair, blanket over his legs and crossbow in hand.

He and Fish seem locked in a Charonian standoff for the moment as both level bolts at the other.

Bull on the shore, golem on the ice, Shaa needed to make a move and make it quick. He takes a deep breath and blows a cone of flame at the golem’s feet, melting the ice beneath it. The vine monster plunges into the water with a splash. He wasn’t exactly thrilled that the crystal was now at the bottom of the pool but he just needed to separate his problems. He would deal with vine guy later. For now, he needed to show this machine who was the top bull around here.

The one advantage he had was that the bull wasn’t charging at him for the moment.  This was actually huge because without the bulls main weapon, he was basically just a huge target. Time to pin the tail on the bull. Shaa charged over the icy pool aiming for the metal bull. With a strong right hand, Shaa employs a secret brawler’s technique known as a resonating strike. Usually reserved for armored opponents, Shaa figured that it wouldn’t exactly be healthy for something mechanical. And he was right.

As soon as the blow hits the beast in the snout, the creatures insides shake and rattle, disrupting its inner workings so that it’s  starts to shake violently. While the bull is shaking, he grabs it by its metal horns and Yankees it roughly out onto the ice. Not done with it yet, Shaa forces heat from his core and starts to super heat the metal monster. Soon the beast starts burning red with heat, steam bursting around it as it sinks through the ice and into the depths below. 

---

Flame Breath
Resonating Strike
Scorching Touch

Reluctantly Fish comes out from behind the door, from the sounds of it they will be faster on the draw than this old man if need be. They keep their crossbow aimed dead center as they come around.

"So who sent you?"

Silence.

"Gonna play hard ball, eh? You're here for the recipe."

Fish nods.

"Gotta admit, you're the first to make it this far. Commendable on your part. It's right there in the safe, but you won't get it. That recipe has been in our family for generations, I won't just give it up. You'll have to kill me."

Fish's talon starts to tighten on the trigger.

"WAIT WAIT WAIT.....little psychopath....you're really ready to shoot me aren't you? Cutthroat. Back in my day these types of business deals were at least done with a modicum of respect, a dashing rogue comes in with a declaration of what he wants, properly states their intentions, then you - OW WHAT THE HELL?"

Amidst the rambling, Fish had grown bored and shot the man in the leg. "Fish does not care. Recipe." By the time the man looked up from his wound, Fish had already reloaded.

"OK OK Solaria's great and shiny ass, take the recipe." He tosses his own crossbow on the bed, weakly trying to pull the one from his leg as it stains his blanket.

Fish quietly hops over and starts to open up the safe with ease.[1] With a little click, the door swings open and a single rolled up piece of paper tied in silk and held shut with a muffin shaped wax seal. The aviankin reaches in to grab it while the man starts cackling.

"YOU MAY HAVE THE PAPER BUT YOU AREN'T GETTING OUT ALIVE." He flips open a compartment on his wheel chair revealing it to be filled with blackpowder.

Seeing this, Fish does immediately start to book it out and back towards the window the bull crashed out of. From that same window Shaa would now see Fish come diving out of the window followed immediately by the sound of an explosion, a room at the top of the manor immediately decimated. The minotaur would watch the shockwave of the destruction send the bird crashing into the dirt, piece of paper clutched in hand.

---

1. Lock Pick

Shaa hopped out of the pool and looked down at the now slushy mess full of ice, automatons and magic creatures. He scratches his head a bit trying to figure out how he is going the vine creature back up when suddenly, there is a blast from above. Shaa twists quickly as ash and smoke blast out from the upper floors. In the haze Shaa, sees Fish’s feathery form start to plummet to the ground. Instincts kick in and he makes a mad dash right at the house wal. Clipping his hooves into the wall, he dashes straight up it on a direct course for Fish’s decent.

As he reaches the apex, Shaa snags Fish right out of the air and cruises back down the wall. Before putting him down, he pulls him into his chest as the pieces of the blasted house rain down on them. When he feels it’s all clear, he shakes off the detritus and puts Fish gently on the ground. Hehehe bet you wish you could fly now right? He looks up at the smoke billowing out of the upper floor. So….no problems right? …riiiiggghhht. Tell me you got the recipe. And it’s not …you know…blown up.

That was only one of their problems. Recipe or no, they were still stuck in here and Shaa was convinced the vine monster was the key. Shaa walks back to the pool and looks down into the slush. The bull has not moved so he is pretty sure it’s done. The vine monster seemed to be swirling around the bottom but not attempting to surface. So you want to stay in there? Fine by me. Shaa jams his hands into the water and again forces extreme heat into them…until the pool begins to boil.

---

Wall Dash
Scorching Touch

Fish was fully ready to crash into the ground, they were tucked up ready to roll and fire on whatever threat there still was. There is a moment they stay motionless in Shaa's hand before realizing they have been caught.....This was not expected. Fortunate, but unexpected.

The aviankin hops down and shakes some of the debris from their feathers and coat before showing Shaa the rolled up scroll with the muffin maker's mark. They had been succesful, now it was time to leave.

They silently watch as Shaa boils the vine monster alive.....Shaa was definitely more resourceful than Fish imagined. They already assumed because of his prodigous size that the minotaur would be physically powerful, but magically as well was another pleasant surprise. As the vines start to blanche and cook, Fish looks up as the shimmering magical aura starts to fade and flicker.

To help speed up this process, Fish hops over and takes out a vial of their parasite poison, dumping it into the pool. It is a bit diluted because of the water, but little by little it starts to break the vine monster apart.