06. The Real Loot Was the Friends We Made Along the Way
General Summary
As Marwa rapidly scanned the house, trying to zero in on the source of the scream, movement from above caught her attention. Asmira, Toby's lead looped over her arm, a palm-firejet in one hand and a flame saber in the other, was hurtling in from the cloudbank, absolutely kitted-out for battle but paler than Marwa had ever seen her.
Flagging her down, Asmira skidded to a halt in midair somehow, and landed nearby, somewhat abashed but relieved that the sounds of distress had not come from her ally. Since she was there, Marwa gave her the disguise she'd nicked from the mannnequin, and while the Efreet princess was visibly uncomfortable with the cheap fabrics and ugly wig, she resolved to bear it like a soldier.
Marwa and Nimbus headed back up to where there were still commotion sounds on the second storey of the main house, and peering through the windows saw a huge bird attcking the dragonborn, who was fighting back with a rug-beater. The doors between the aviary and this room were ajar, so she decided to simply land on the bridge between.
Fortunately, she sensed the tingle in the air before she touched it; a net of electronic energy covered the bridge like a tunnel. Also fortunately, Marwa is a goddamn ninja of aerial maneuevers, escaping with only some light static jolts and landing lightly on the bridge.
From the Aviary, she swiftly located the master bedroom door, and identified the magical polymorph trap laid on its handle. A trap that isn't worth much if the handle is removed.
It took time to cut away the door handle with her wind blade, but she got it done, and cushioned the door's fall perfectly with an air cushion. The bedroom featured a huge gym-selfie style portrait taking up one wall, an elaborate chest-of-clothes at the foot of an even more ostentatious bed, a bedside table with a drawer, and a desk covered in correspondence.
Searching quickly, Marwa found the candy stash in the bedside drawer, looted a couple nicer outfits from the chest, and began doodling a Groucho moustache on the selfie when she heard sounds outside.
A yelp, muffled curses, and then the slamming of an iron door. She held her breath. The footsteps started to leave, then paused, then started getting closer. Of course she saw the fallen door.
Without much time to spare, Marwa made for the window only to remember the iron bars reinforcing them. Time to go cloud-form! A spell she'd only pulled off once before, she found difficult to replicate under pressure.
The dragonborn found her crouched in the windowsill, smooshing her face ineffectually against the bars.
The rules-abiding dragonborn tried to interrogate her, and offered to let her leave without reporting her to anyone if she just left what she stole, but Marwa stood her ground, arguing that the master of the house deserved it, that all she was taking was candy and clothes, and even that the housekeeper ought to be assisting her, given how underpaid and poorly treated she probably was under the kenku's employment.
The dragonborn held her ground, but when Marwa casually dropped the average wage of her own family's servants, her jaw hit the floor. She agreed to let Marwa go and not tell the authorities in exchange for a job recommendation, but she still insisted she leave her ill-gotten outfits.
Marwa dropped off the candy through the dumbwaiter, and as they walked out through the Aviary, the talking bird screeched at them that it had seen and heard everything and it was telling daddy and daddy was gonna get them, but Marwa delivered a psychological bitchslap that left the creature mute.
They rendezvous'd with Asmira on the front lawn, and at the sight of the pegasus Marwa could tell that the dragonborn was no longer buying her "I'm homeless and I need this stuff more than him" excuse, if she had ever to begin with. Fortunately, she didn't bat an eye at Asmira, either.
The party reunited, they decided to head for Marwa's family cabin, only a short flight away.
Rewards Granted
Cheap Disguise
Big Coat w/hood
Report Date
20 Jan 2025
Primary Location
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