Debt Man Walking

## **Synopsis**

In Chapter 90: Debt Man Walking, the party split at the Navika River bridge – Lieutenant Colonel Warber's lockbox securely in hand and butting up against the very end of the block of time we'd paid for with Siegra, who was presumably still masquerading as Graven in and around the local tavern.

Now on the cusp of making some difficult decisions – Safira, Orba and Erland picked right back up where they left off earlier in the evening: strategizing and plotting the best course of action for destroying Senka Uberti's crystal in the Room of Safe Deposit.

The plans were varied and occasionally questionable – but it ultimately boiled down to two paths.  Would we use the prop crystal to attempt a stealthy swap, thus setting up the potential for a completely clean getaway?  Or would we take the accident approach, which was certain to get us in trouble – but likely bore a far lesser punishment than getting caught attempting theft?

While we considered these options, Graven was buying us a bit of insurance from Palomer Franco – agreeing to hold our Ring of Protection as collateral in exchange for an item that would deactivate nearby Sending Stones… a helpful tool if, as a last ditch effort, we needed to resort to a break-in at the Broken Crown offices.

Safira, firmly on board with Graven in the "you can never be too careful" category, convinced a rat to scurry up a ventilation pipe at the back of the BC offices to get a look at the inside.  It was a surprisingly fruitful endeavor, as we learned both the general layout of the Room of Safe Deposit and the part of the room that the crystal was occupying – making it easier for Erland or Orba to locate their target in the limited time they might have.

Back at All Hands on Deck, Siegra had more than held up her end of our arrangement – distracting Mr. Two's spies and dipping into overtime even when it hadn't been paid for in advance.  Her evening strolls hadn't raised any red flags as far as she could tell, so it was time for Graven to reassume his identity and hope the others were making headway across the river.

Initially approaching only to check who might have stuck around with the night watch, Erland and Orba were ushered inside to reunite with a grateful Lieutenant Colonel Warber.  Chomping at the bit to get the lockbox stored away, Warber was ready to head to the basement right away – so we took the opportunity presented to us and crossed our fingers as he opened the door to the Room of Safe Deposit.

After descending the stairs, we found ourselves in a small room riddled with cubby holes along the walls – a dizzying display of the many trinkets kept under lock and key by the Broken Crown.  As Warber explained the process for entering an item into storage, Erland pinpointed the location of the green crystal – and believing a stealthy approach to be fraught with risk without more prep time, reached into his well of septic energy to alter his appearance with a sickly guise.

Feigning illness, Erland began to seize and smashed the glass of a nearby cubby – prompting Warber to rush to his aid.  Orba, unable to get an angle on the crystal, couldn't capitalize on the distraction – but Erland's flailing arms broke through and toppled the item from its post.

Warber, trying to reign in the chaos, triggered the emergency valve and flooded the room with Essence of Ether.  It didn't take long to succumb to unconsciousness and when we next woke, we were shackled upstairs with a few tough questions to answer.  The act was believable enough to convince the guards there wasn't any malicious intent, but it didn't take us off the hook for destruction of property – and Warber was hell-bent on making sure we paid our fair share.

After quickly running next door to Reciprocity, Warber came back with a confusing report that Senka Uberti wasn't overly concerned with the crystal's destruction – but with the reputation of the Broken Crown at stake, he sought to dole out a bit of punishment of his own.

Erland was outfitted with a Band of the Benefactor that would remain until we completed a few heavily-taxed contracts – and additionally we were barred from coming along on Warber's sensitive mission to retake the northern outpost.  It was a tough pill to swallow, but without seeing the inside of a cell and with Graven's obligation fulfilled – we called it a win.

## Trivia

* Natural one count: one natural one was rolled in this Chapter, by John.