It was a long, still night marked most by a light mist and a deep chill. Snow had fallen a few days prior, but it was not enough to coat the to land around the manor entirely in snow. Little blades of golden-brown grass, long since dried beneath the autumn and winter skies, poked out defiantly from beneath the lumps of white that smothered them. Here and there a patch of gold could be seen; elsewhere there was only white, especially toward the bottom of the hills. And the night remained still, troubled only by a gentle wind that whispered to the men standing guard upon the gates of the merchant prince's estate.

"Glad that red coated fellow was caught when he was," grumbled one guard to the other, quietly setting his halberd against the stone wall beside him. "It's hard to believe the man almost got away with all those jewels. One thief, just one, breaks in here and gets so far as he did!"

"Thought his wealthfulness would have our head, I did," murmured the other guard before yawning. He adjusted his kettle hat and leaned against the wall, fiddling with his crossbow out of boredom. "Almost wish the lad got through anyway. Be nice to see that smug look wiped off Bunley's face."

"Shhh! Don't let him hear that!" hissed the other guard in a warning tone, slapping a single finger against the other man's lips and leaning forward so their capped helmets clanged together. "You'll be out of a job, and me with you! Gods rest, man!"

"Gods rest," muttered the other guard, heaving out a sigh.

So engrossed were the guards that they never noticed the little shadow flitting across the misty fields and up to the wall. They never heard it, either. The small figure made nary a sound¹ as she inched her way along the side of the structure.

Word had leaked out from the castle a few days prior that a master thief clad in rogue's reds was captured trying to burgle the hoard of Mr. Bunley. And a hoard it was! Bunley the Merchant was a man of blessed fortunes whose heart was nevertheless bound by avarice. He kept paranoid guard over his treasures, wealth procured from bad deals made to the tribesmen of King's Valley and from cheating "primitives" in the Marsh Flats. He was a lucky man, and the Red Rogue had hoped his luck would give in long enough to spread his wealth to the people. Unfortunately, the merchant prince's luck held.

Tatalia didn't really consider herself a hero. She was a scholar, yes; an adventurer, sure; and a great thief;, definitely! But a hero? That was for people braver and wiser than Tatalia. Nevertheless, the goblin could scarcely abandon a fellow thief to rot alone in some rich man's dungeon, not when the only crime committed was to bring a little cheer to the common people on a cold winter's night. The small burglar knew she had unique skills to break into the merchant's vault... but she wasn't aiming for the vault. She was going to break a man out of prison.

Ever silent, the goblin thief clad in dull browns rounded the corner away from the gate. Then she leapt high on up, scaling twenty feet in a single bound², and then pressed her hands and feet to the wall. She climbed up with deft ease³, then stopped just short of the top to flick her rosy goggles on over her eyes. With a quick adjustment to the lens, she saw through the wall and spied on the patrols making rounds.⁴

The goblin dangled from the side of the wall in stark silence, still as a stone upon a field. Footsteps sounded above her, and she watched their owners with the magical sight of her lenses, waiting for them to pass by. She waited. She waited... Waited...

One of the guards stopped and yawned loudly. Tatalia sprung up and over the wall, landing softly on the stairs on the other side. With a quick, whispered spell, she snuffed out the torch that glowed next to her.⁵

"Easy!" she whispered to herself with an excited grin.

---

_{1. Silent Step; 2. Hoppers; 3. Wall Climbing; 4. X-Ray Vision; 5. Remove Light}

Raoul leaned on the estate’s wall as he kept guard alongside the other hired men, normally he wouldn’t take on security work considering he wasn’t a very combat-oriented man. However, the amount of money that the merchant price was offering to pay seemed too good to just pass up. So he decided to take on the job considering he heard that the man was more than paranoid. Although his paranoia proved to be true a red rogue decided to make his hoard his next target. Thankfully for Mister Bunley, the man was caught as he was about to make his escape and locked up in the rich merchant’s dungeon. Since then the already paranoid man becomes obsessed with keeping his treasure safe, hiring guards to shield against in his eyes an invasion of red rogues. The dhampir himself thought he was probably just being unrealistic but was fine with just standing around waiting for nothing, free money for him at least. He looked around. It was a quiet night save for the sounds of other men rambling on. This was going to be boring. He already knew it but at least the dead calm around them was a welcome relief during a week of running from murderers and solving intense cases. For once the man was glad to turn his brain off and just stand around and get paid for it.



The dhampir deciding nothing else was going to come decided to take it easy, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He lit it and took a long drag of it puffing the smoke into the chilled air in front of him.

He was so distracted and completely relaxed that he didn’t notice Tatalia whatsoever as she snuck around the estate.



Eventually, Raoul grew bored of his watch outside and decided to enter the estate and join the guards who were patrolling inside. He walked inside and closed the door behind him leaving the guards outside to protect the front. He walked over to the kitchen contemplating whether or not to quickly swipe something to eat or drink.


"What to do, what to do", the man muttered under his breath as he glanced around the kitchen.

So far, so good, thought Tatalia to herself. She really did seem to have naught but luck. With the light near her snuffed out and her passage over the wall complete, the next stage was simply to get inside the estate itself. She'd have to find the dungeon from there, but she had a feeling that wasn't going to be too difficult a task.

The sneaky little goblin made nary a sound as her feet brushed across the snow-covered grass and cobblestones.¹ She kept to the darker areas of the estate's courtyard; the guards doubtlessly had normal sight, but she had eyes of night.² A world bathed in darkness was as clear to her as one drowned in light.

Like a shadow the thief moved, and like a shadow she arrived at the wall of the estate. She paused there, a long distance below the tall stained glass window of an inner chapel overhead. Once again, she flicked the magical lenses that let her see through walls³ over the regular ones on her goggles, and once again she took stock of what was in front of her.

There were two dozen guards in the interior of the estate... that she could see. That wasn't a good sign. One wrong move, one mistake and there'd be more halberds, swords, and crossbows pointed in her direction than she could shake a stick at. Sure, she was very good at running away from such problems, but Tatalia preferred not to push her luck more than she had to.

There were also guards posted at the main door into the estate, and Tatalia figured there were probably a couple at the side entrance as well. Considering the circumstances, she decided the main door wasn't the right option. She could make her own exit... but she needed a distraction, something to draw the guards' attention away from what she was about to do. She spotted a bat flying through the night sky above, shrieking as it went through the night sky... and she had an idea.

The goblin trickster focused a bit of magic into the palm of her hand, subtle and quiet, whispering words of power. Carefully, she lifted her hand upward, pointed toward the outer walls of the estate, and then... she unleashed the spell she was holding.⁴

A horrific, blood curdling death scream broke the silent night, startling half-asleep guards into full alertness. They stumbled briefly, looked toward each other, and slowly those on the wall started shouting for their fellows to look out toward the distance. Armed men rushed to the battlements, casting light down onto the terrain below, and searched the darkness for the source of whatever had made that sound.

But nothing had made that sound. There was no dying man out in the hills. It was simply a distraction.

Tatalia pressed her gloved hands against the wall of the estate itself and simply pulled them open as if they were made of clay.⁵ She stepped through the makeshift hole she'd made, then quickly pulled it back shut behind her with both hands. It was messy work; the deed made a little noise and the brief opening had been enough for a sudden gust of wind to blow snow inside the richly carpeted hallway she found herself in. The wall itself didn't look quite the way it did before she tampered with it, either. But none of that mattered to Tatalia. She'd made her entrance, and the guards outside were all busy with their wild goose chase. There were still plenty of guards inside to deal with, but they could be evaded easily enough.

Making entry was just the first step, however. Tatalia next had to find out where the prisoner was kept. She decided to start her search by looking for some off duty guard and forcing them to tell her what she wanted to know... which probably meant hitting up either the mess hall, the guard barracks, or the lavatory.

"Nothing else for it," muttered Tatalia. She began creeping down the candlelit hall.

---

_{1. Silent Step; 2. Dark Vision; 3. X-Ray Vision; 4. Minor Trickery; 5. Miner's Friends}

As Raoul was sneakily grabbing a helping of pie from the estate’s kitchen he almost dropped his plate to the floor as he heard an incredibly loud agonizing shriek. He quickly placed his plate on the counter and shook his head telling himself, “Focus”, as he heard the sounds of movement from the rest of the guards. He had his left hand in his pocket holding his whip wand ready to trap whatever had made itself an intruder at a moment’s notice.



He rushed towards the entrance spotting several guards already headed there deciding he’d be of no use in combat he decided to at least help scope out the place.



He returned to his earlier spot sitting down on the floor chanting words as he placed his palms together in prayer (1), “Rise from the grave oh wise and gentle spirit, your service is not over this realm I ask you to inhibit”.



Suddenly from the ground appeared a fully formed undead spirit, an old haggard noble-looking man who was holding his head, “Eh whatcha want from me?”.



Raoul responds gently, “I ask nothing of you gentle spirit but to take guard of this place and let me know if there are any intruders to this abode”.



“Sure, can do kiddo”, the spirit replies as it floats from the kitchen towards the entrance, phasing through the entrance. While the guards are busy the undead spirit explores the area managing to find something of interest. One of the walls of the estate looked wrong, something or someone had tampered with it recently. Considering that to be of note as well as the guards not finding anything but still searching the spirit hurriedly floated away and returned to the kitchen.



The detective places his fingers on his chin as he thinks of what to do next, “That could be an exaggeration from you but I can’t rule out some intruder not benign here. I have to gather more evidence considering that shriek I heard I must hurry before something else happens".

---

1. Call Ghost (1/3)

Creeping through the estate was not terribly difficult, though Tatalia was having trouble finding a lone patrolling guard to ambush for information. They were on high alert from the distraction she'd made, and in fact were always moving in groups of two or three. And, true, Tatalia could probably have defeated even a group of four on her own in an ambush, but the more people she fought at once, the more likely someone was going to get seriously hurt. She wasn't there to break someone's bones. She was there to help the children of Kings Valley. She was there to rescue the Red Rogue, and she didn't have to hurt anyone to do that.

The sneaky goblin crawled along the ceiling¹, hidden well out of the normal sight lines of the normal sight lines of the guards. They didn't have a habit of looking upward, and her soundless steps² didn't give them a reason to. She made her way down one hallway, went past the kitchen, and tried to find an opportunity to learn what she needed to know.

Opportunity eventually knocked. A very busy maid was sweeping the floor of the estate, and Tatalia watched as she stopped, set her broom down, and opened the door leading to the latrine. All Tatalia needed to do was employ the slightest bit of vocal deception to get an answer out of the old woman. Nobody thought too intently while sitting on a chamberpot.

So, Tatalia knocked on the latrine door. She heard a sigh coming from the other side.

"It's occupied, dearie!" an elderly woman's voice called out.

"Um, yes! I know!" Tatalia called back. "I just need directions is all. Which way was it to the prisoner again?"

"What? Why're you needing to go there?" came a frustrated voice.

"W-well, I was told to feed him, and-"

"He's already been fed!" the old woman called back.

"B-but I was told I'd be beat if I didn't hurry it up and-"³

That was the right set of words to trigger the old woman's sympathy. She sighed, then called back: "Just keep going 'til you right the library. Take the first door on the right, take the stairs, and go up to tower. He's locked up there."

"Thank you, miss!" Tatalia called back. And with that, she was gone. But she did hear the old woman call back with one more question as she vanished into the estate...

"What did you say your name was, dearie?"

Tatalia never answered.

---

_{1. Surface Scaling + Spidersilk Tattoo; 2. Silent Step; 3. Smooth Talking}

Raoul was deep in thought he certainly had a problem here, he didn’t want to stir up even more panic but also he needed to be sure that there weren't any intruders. He didn’t even know what type of malicious tough super strong villainous thief could be plotting their next move to free their good friend. The least he could do was find out if someone was here, corner them, and let the guards handle the rest.



“Great undead spirit if you could check the next floor for me and review anything that seems off to you”.



“Yep yep got it kiddo”, the spirit replies lazily as its luminous body floats up passing through the roof to the second floor.



The spirit floats around lazily keeping an eye out for any trouble until he stops in front of an elderly woman’s room, Mister Bunley’s great aunt Gertrude.



“Is that you dearie? Wherever did you go young lady?”, the horse's old voice exclaims.



The ghost listens in, “Whad did I say again, miss?”.



“Oh, something about checking on someone’s food or something I can’t remember”.



The ghost chuckles softly before phasing back through the floor and floats to Raoul informing the man about the old woman’s remarks.



“Hmmm, I grow tired of these games, looks like I’ll have to make sure myself”, he then closes his eyes. He concentrates intensely on listening (1) to every single sound all around the house. He counts all the guards, all the servants, even Mister Bunley’s heartbeats but something’s wrong. He was sure that there was one more heartbeat than there were people”.



He opens his eyes, a curious look on his face, “Alright I know it now, someone else is in here. There’s someone not accounted for before that has to be an intruder I have to check on this myself”, he says quickly jogging towards the staircase up to the next floor.

---

1. Vampire (Curse): Vital Senses

Honestly, things were going pretty swimmingly for Tatalia, she had to admit. Most heists and similar escapades involved a lot more chicanery and running away. Cultists, spider swarms, chimeras, owlbears, angry guards, angry wizards, trophy hunters; she'd dealt with each and every one of them at some point. This time, though, this time things were going her way.

Still, there was nothing wrong with a little insurance. As Tatalia crested the top of the stairs, she decided to hop behind an unlit brazier, hunker down and slip her X-Ray lenses¹ down over her goggles. It was doubtful there was any trouble between her and where she was going, but...

"Uh-oh," Tatalia whispered to herself, seeing there was trouble coming from behind.

A male figure was jogging to the stairs, and it was obvious he'd start heading up them within maybe a dozen seconds or so. That meant Tatalia had maybe thirty seconds to get out of the way. For a split second she considered doing just that, then realized she had a very different sort of opportunity. Instead of running away, she could set up a little trap to keep the man off her tail.

Oh, it wasn't a complicated trap, to be clear, nor was it very dangerous. Tatalia just quickly drew a few small objects from inside her cloak: a spool of spider's silk, a little jar of paste, and a bag of spicy, spicy powder. With incredible alacrity, she combined the paste and the nigh invisible threads of the spider silk to make a tripwire, then sat the bag of spices roughly where the man's face would land once he tripped.² It took no more than six seconds to set up the little trap, and that left her with plenty of time to dart silently off toward the prison tower with silent steps.³

If someone was going to chase Tatalia, she was going to have a little fun!

---

_{1. X-Ray Vision; 2. Improvisation Engineer; 3. Silent Step}

Raoul ran up to the stairs, tracking and focusing on that heartbeat concentrating on listening to it and nothing else. It was fairly close by so he didn’t think much of it. What type of bandit is expecting a dhampir to track their heartbeat? As he made his final step towards the second floor he scanned around the area; everything seemed quiet here too quiet. They must be hiding here somewhere. Maybe his footsteps dealt them into his presence, dammit he should’ve been quieter.



He quickly sprinted forward trying to rush and look around but that’s when he felt his feet run into a wire. Before he could react or do anything else he tripped falling to the floor face-first. He quickly tried to get up but the second he did he felt a bag of spices hit his face. He sputtered back coughing as the smell of the spices entered his nose and made their way to his throat. He began coughing badly, eyes watering as he stood pacing around to get the spice out of his system. He took a few minutes to recover from the spice tripwire trap and after he stood clenching his fists. He was pissed beyond belief this intruder had made a fool out of him and he wasn’t just going to stand here and take it.



He closed his eyes once more focusing honing in on that heartbeat (1) he heard earlier coming from here. Raoul closed his eyes, tuning out every other heartbeat, and began running chasing after that heartbeat as it was making its way towards the prison.

---

1. Vital Senses

The hunt was on, and Tatalia was living for it. She fled through the nearest doorway of a guard room, startling the two armed men on the other side. She tossed some powder into the air,¹ and it burst into bright flashes of light, sending the two guards toppling over in blind confusion. Tatalia kept running right on past, leaving the two men groaning behind her as she slid underneath the table they'd been playing cards at and came to a stop before another door. She threw that open, saw a staircase, and started darting up those stairs with all due haste.

It was a thrilling escapade! The goblin was enjoying herself altogether too much.

The little goblin ran past torch sconces and small statues carved out of the wall. She moved so quickly, in fact, that one of her scarves fell away from her head, the brown thing floating down and draping itself over the stairs; a piece of evidence for later, surely. But moreover, it meant that Tatalia's goblin identity was no longer concealed, not that it mattered anymore. The green skinned little thief had already blown her cover, anyway. No, what mattered was the door right in front of her, the door that came closer and closer and closer by the second!

Tatalia reached the door, and wanting to waste no time, she stuck her hand into the stone wall surrounding it, intent on making her own entrance. Her magical gloves slipped through the rock like butter²... and then thumped uselessly against the wooden interior beyond.

"Well, crap," the goblin grumbled.

There was no turning back. The goblin focused her attention on the door. It was a fairly simple lock; fancy, sure, and probably well crafted, but nothing she couldn't handle. It would, however, take some time, though Tatalia hoped the chaos she'd left in her way would be enough to keep her pursuers at bay. Carefully, she slipped a set of lockpicks out from her wild hair and started fiddling about with the lock.  Just a little more... just a little more!

---

_{1. Flash Powder; 2. Miner's Friends}

Raoul sprinted as fast as he could faintly following the heartbeat. He tracked it to a door and quickly kicked it open seeing two guards rolling around crying in pain.



“That thing went ahead, gods that fucking hurts” one of them exclaimed.



Whatever manner of monster managed to sneak past them and leave them in such a sorry state must be incredibly strong. It worried Raoul considering if it came down to fighting he was not sure he’d come out on top. He pushed these worries to the side, quickly hopped over the table, and pushed past the door in front of him. He ran up the stairs as fast as he could following the intruder’s heartbeat. He stopped almost tripping over himself as he ran on the stairs noticing the scarf on one of the steps. He reached down to pick it up, gripping it in his hands, this had to belong to the criminal.



He would’ve taken the moment to carefully look it over but considering that the thief was running around he decided to just hold onto it and continue his chase. He sprinted as fast as he could; he was not going to let this powerful bandit criminal make his home although paranoid and haughty Mister Bunley hired him for this job and he wasn’t going to let him down. He faintly felt the heartbeat (1) getting louder meaning it was probably close as he saw someone up ahead.

---

1. Vital Senses

Tatalia could hear the footsteps behind her getting closer and closer. She sucked in a breath, desperately tinkering with the lock in front of her, praying to any divinity real or non-existent to please let her not have to hurt anyone. Still, the footsteps got louder and louder until Tatalia knew whoever was making them was right around the corner.

Click! The door came open. Tatalia opened the door and chanced a glance behind her. Right behind her was a tall, thin, pale and actually far less intimidating person than she had expected, a man dressed in a fancy dress shirt with a nice toe and clean shoes. Huh.

In turn, the man got to see his nemesis: a little three feet and six inches tall goblin with a thin and athletic build (like his own!) that wore layers of dull colored clothes with sashes and scarves. She glanced at Raoul with her bright yellow eyes, then raised a hand to greet him.

"Hi!" she called out cheerily. Then she slammed the door behind her and shoved a metal wedge under it.¹ The wedge wouldn't hold long, but even a mere few seconds could mean the difference between capture and escape.

Tatalia was in the tower proper, finally. She didn't have far to go to rescue the Red Rogue. She couldn't fail at the finish line! She was so close!

---

_{1. Anchors}

As Raoul hurried forward he managed to spot the villainous intruder’s figure, they were shorter than he was expecting.



“Hey, stop there at once”, he would exclaim at the figure as he was mere footsteps away from them. Suddenly he hears a click as he steps forward with his hand on his whip and is already feeling the magic course through it. The figure then revealed itself to be a female goblin covered up with various rags. This was the master thief that had him so worried, she was not what he was expecting at all. He was expecting either some hulking monster of a criminal or some sort of evil mastermind sorcerer. Not some thief who had a similar build to his own, athletic but not overwhelmingly strong. Before he could utter another word, the thief simply gave him a greeting and shut the door in front of him.



“Hey, stop coming back here and pay for your crimes”, he said, trying to push and barge the door open. It was no use he’d be here for some minutes at least trying to power through whatever matter of barrier she’d placed.



It was at this moment that he let out a deep sigh and glanced at his hands thinking of the only option he could think of to get through this quickly. He hated it, relying on his vampire heritage considering it reminded him of his father, the bastard monster of a man. There was no other option so as much as it annoyed him this was his best bet. He closed his eyes and placed his hands to his side, focusing intently thinking back to seeing his father do the technique as a kid for him.



Suddenly mist began pouring out of his fingertips, it covered his limbs and then his entire body until there was nobody there. Raoul was now simply a cloud of mist (1), he floated forward phasing through the door and the metal wedge. He then reformed behind the wedge and in the tower. He quickly staggered forward, he forgot how difficult using that form was. His father would tell him stories of vampires getting stuck as mist clouds if they held it for more than a few moments, it kind of freaked him out even to this day”.



He saw Tatalia only a few feet ahead and smirked at her confidence, “What did you think you were just gonna get away from your punishment? No, you’re going to come with me peacefully and face your crimes. Now please just come nicely. I don't think my body can take any more running”, he said, breathing heavily. He was trained to look over folders and files, not play a game of hide and go seek with a thief.

---

1. Vampire (Curse): Demon of the Mist (1/1)

Tatalia was cornered. She was in front of yet another door, the one that surely led to the prison where the Red Rogue was kept. She was so close to her destination, and yet she was still so far! Her pursuer was suddenly right behind her, having somehow broken through her barrier, and she was left staring up at the thin, athletic man in fine clothes.

And yet the goblin grinned. She knew she could win.

"Pay for my crimes?" the goblin repeated, her hands held up in surrender as she paced in front of Raoul. "For what crimes, sir? Is it the crime of rescuing a wrongfully imprisoned man? Is it the crime of being willing to stand up to the pompous nobility of this land? Or is it the crime of wanting to put smiles on children's faces?" The goblin arced an eyebrow up at the handsome fellow, her grin growing just a little toothier, a little sharper. "Or, perhaps, is it the crime of having trounced you fair and square in our game of cat and mouse? Or... do you think you've actually won?"

Before the man could reply, the clever rogue suddenly threw the pouch she'd been hiding in her palm¹ down onto the ground. Black smoke immediately filled the room² as the pouch struck the floor, enveloping both the thief and the dhampir. But the thief, hidden in the smoke as she was, performed one last trick: she turned into spiders.

Yes, spiders! Plural spiders. Tatalia simply fell into a thousand itsy bitsy spiders that skittered underneath the nearby door and into the next room over. As soon as she reached the other side, she reformed into her goblinoid self and was staring at a very terrified Red Rogue who wasn't sure if he was about to be rescued or eaten.

Tatalia just waved at him and made a "Shhh!" gesture with her finger, ran up to him, and started tinkering with the locks binding his chains. She only needed a few moments; she only needed seconds and then she could break him free! Mere seconds and she would be able to make her escape, get the Red Rogue to safety, and finally achieve her victory over the man pursuing her.

Still, Tatalia had to admit... he wasn't bad at the game they were playing. The detective seemed competent, clever, and capable in his own right. She hoped to contend with him again.

---

_{1. Quick Palm; 2. Smoke Powder}

The dhampir fellow glared at the goblin thief confident she had nowhere else to run, he’d played her little game and now it was over. His smirk was ever present as seemingly the nice goblin lady was feeling guilty and looked like she was about to surrender. He took a long breath of relief, his troubled night had come to a close he was going to end it by having her taken to Bunley then the guard station and call it a night. He could even feel his pillow talking to him as if calling his name, he was exhausted there was no way around it.



“Yeah, your crimes”, he pointed at her, “You invaded the private property, beat up too defenseless guards, and are attempting to save a known criminal. Count up your crimes; those are enough for you to face the right arm of the law. It is a crime to steal private property and for as much as the children’s smiles need to be protected we have to follow the law. Otherwise, what are we without laws?”, Raoul then opened his mouth showing his fangs, “Even monsters can be good people if they follow the rules. Now please just give it up and I’ll try to help you escape any intense punishment I promise you if you just make this easy”.



Suddenly before he could react to anything else the room filled with smoke he closed and covered his nose and mouth not wanting to get poisoned if that was the case. He tried shaking the smoke off but looking into it with his eyes but to no avail. This trickster had gotten him good, but he wasn’t going to give up without a fight. While still holding his mouth and nose he stepped forward carefully trying to just go straight. At first, he ran into a wall but then after he tried again he walked into the cell bars. He pointed at where he’d thought the red rogue was and smirked holding his waist with his other hand as a bright red hoop of flames (1) appeared on his waist. He then pressed it against the bars hoping to melt them through and reach the rogue before they escaped.

---

1. Flame Hoop

So close... so close!

Tatalia worked busily at the locks, trying to move as quickly as she could. Under normal circumstances, she'd break through such simple mechanisms without any real trouble. These, however, were not normal circumstances. There was an absolutely dogged hunter on her trail.

The scorching heat from the detective's flame hoop could be felt before it could be seen. Tatalia couldn't tell where the smoke from her powder began and the smoke from the actual flames ended, so she worked all the more desperately at the lock. The Red Rogue next to her was panicking, himself, suddenly faced with the prospect of being burned alive while in a cell. He was pleading about... something; Tatalia couldn't make out what. Tatalia didn't pay him heed. She couldn't pay him heed! She had to get him out, get him loose, and then the imprisoned thief could complain as much as he wanted!

The fire grew hotter. It started melting through the bars! Tatalia could feel her hairs singing under the heat; she could feel the beast begging to crawl out of her skin. She wasn't going to make it. She wasn't going to make it! She wasn't-

CLICK! The last lock fell to the floor.¹

Tatalia didn't waste a second. She grabbed the Red Rogue and pulled him against the wall of the prison, then shoved her hand into the stone. Using her magical gloves,² the resourceful burglar tore a roughly oval shaped hole out of the wall, bits of rock falling away like clay slop from her fingers. With one great heave, she shoved the massive piece of stone with her shoulder, sending it crashing down onto the roof below, then skidding onto the manor grounds below that. That would leave a mess on the lord's manor... but at least nobody got hurt.

"Hold on tight!" Tatalia commanded the Red Rogue. Then she grabbed the man by the waist and leapt out of the window before he could protest.

The poor rogue screamed and Tatalia laughed. They were falling towards seeming doom, but with a quick flick of her wrist, the goblin fired off a long strand of webs³ that hooked onto one of the towers along the wall, and she used it to swing herself and the Red Rogue onto the wall itself. Confused guards started racing for her position, but they were too little too late.

Tatalia raised a hand up to the distant detective up in the manor's main tower. She waved goodbye to him.

"Better luck next time!" she called out. "And I never even TOUCHED any of the guards! I only showed them the light; it was their fault for tripping!"

And with that, Tatalia and the Red Rogue leapt over the side of the wall and out of sight.

---

^{1. Lock Picking; 2. Miner's Friends; 3. Spider Silk Tattoo}