Black Cat

[Ridai]

Zarinda gets to work and with 12 seconds left to go, she silently opens the skylight, slips inside and closes the window again, with none the wiser. Using a shelf as impromptu ladder, Zarinda gets down onto the carpet and into the dark, letting the zelekhut pass by outside.

She is standing in a conference room on the 5th floor, bigger than the window suggested. There is a door into the corridor outside in the opposite left corner, the shade giving Zarinda a path to the left wall, leaving a short way to cross through the faint light back into the darkness surrounding the right side of the room.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda is little more than a black shadow as she moves through the concealing darkness to just before the faint light. Making sure there are no zelekhut passing by the window at just the right time to see her, she makes the final move to the door as soon as it is safe.

Spoiler: Stealth

Show

(1d20+79)[82] hide
(1d20+77)[82] move silently

Once at the door, she checks the door for traps, disables any she finds and then presses her ear to the door to hear any patrolling noises beyond

Spoiler: Door dealings

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(1d20+39)[46] search
(1d20+73)[85] disable
(1d20+33)[41] listen

[Ridai]

Zarinda awaits the timing of one of the gaps in the patrol and darts to the door, unseen. No traps are found and no footsteps are heard outside. The conference room not being a critical one amongst the collections of offices and archives of the bank, not to mention the vaults.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda eases the door open, and checks both ways for possible guards.

Spoiler: Spot

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(1d20+17)[37]

Once satisfied that there is nothing out there, she slips out, still quiet and unseen, moving to where the elevators would be, positioning them from where she remembers and where she entered this time.

Spoiler: Stealth

Show

(1d20+79)[95] hide
(1d20+77)[82] move silently

[Ridai]

Zarinda slips into the corridor. From what she can tell, she is on the outer side of the floor, so she has to follow the corridor towards the front to get to the elevator she used before. The hall is quiet and dark, the rooms mostly seem to be empty, though she thinks she can see a little bit of light seep through the small gap beneath a few distant doors. Late workers, most likely.

She creeps down the corridor, eventually coming to one of the double doors she noticed previously.

[MikelaC1]

Again, Zarinda goes through her checks, and disables, then listens for more activity beyond.

Spoiler: Door doings

Show

(1d20+39)[50] search
(1d20+73)[76] disable
(1d20+33)[36] listen

[Ridai]

Zarinda has seen the runes beside the doors before and they react to the crystal Zarinda has with her, but the doors do not open. Looking at the lines of magical energy, she recognizes a part for identifying not just the presence of an access crystal, but also if it is marked as active. While the magical energies are busy, she also recognizes a line leading away from the panel, one for verifying the identity of the person the crystal belongs to and their permissions. This part is only used if the internal list of active crystals does not have a match. This also implies that, since the crystal she has is deactivated, that someone or something will notice that said crystal is being used. This gives Zarinda insight into how the system works and how she can manipulate it to her advantage. It also means that she needs to act fast before a request is sent elsewhere with the information of her crystal.

[MikelaC1]

(Obviously, Zarinda is a lot smarter than me, and could figure this out, so if Im totally misreading this thing, please let me know)

Zarinda reacts quickly to what is going on, her first move is to paint a rune over the line leading away from the panel to block any sort of requests and alerts that she is working on it, and then quickly putting up another rune to trick the panel into thinking her access crystal is active. As she works, she wonders how this crystal is going to be able to get her to use the elevator. Has the company already noted the theft and taken action?

Spoiler: Disable

Show

(1d20+73)[82]
(1d20+73)[80]

[Ridai]

Deftly, Black Cat prevents her crystal from being noticed, fooling the panel into believing an active crystal was used as the request is bounced back by the first rune and then changed by the second. The double doors glide open quietly as before... but without the background noise of main business hours, the sound can most likely be heard from further away. On the upside, the elevator is quite close now, along with the three-way crossing of corridors like she has seen on the other floors.

(Deciphered my descriptions and employed one of the ways to solve the problem, well done.)

[MikelaC1]

Mentally, Zarinda tries to hush the door, knowing it wont do any good. She steps up her efforts at stealth to compensate, trying to get to the elevator as soon as possible.

Spoiler: Stealth

Show

(1d20+79)[91] hide
(1d20+79)[85] hide
(1d20+77)[93] move silently
(1d20+77)[89] move silently

Spoiler: Spot

Show

(1d20+17)[33]

EDIT: With 90+ on the first H+MS, even if they heard the doors, they missed her. Moot if no one is around

[Ridai]

The doors whoosh close behind Zarinda, mean taunting things that they are. Halfway to the elevator, Zarinda spots a source of light shining into the corridor behind her, far beyond the double doors. Somewhere in the distance, a guard is in the process of walking into the corridor Zarinda is in, as seen through the glass-panes in the double doors. Zarinda is aware that her silhouette might stand out (if faintly) against the light from the window far ahead of her. There is a shallow recess next to her with a book-and-file-shelf, as well as an ordinary office plant feigning a friendly environment. There are closed doors around her, as well as the three-way crossing in front of the elevator ahead of the master thief. Whatever she does, she should do it quickly.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda doesn't have the time to deal with doors, especially if they have any of the complex locking systems on them, not to mention the fact that doors in this place seem determined to make noise. The plant might be big enough, but Zarinda doesn't want to chance it, and her shadow will show up in the light if she tries to make it to the 3 way. The recess gives her the best chance of avoiding detection and she ducks into it. Immediately, she holds herself completely still and noiseless, not doing the "hold your breath" of an amateur, but just being slow and careful with it.

Spoiler: Stealth

Show

(1d20+79)[96] hide
(1d20+77)[78] silent

EDIT: So glad natural 1 is not an auto fail on skill check.

[Ridai]

The closed doors do feel sorry and do Zarinda a favor by muffling any of the very little noises she does make (not that the common mortal would notice them, even if she did a tap dance beside them). Melding with the shadows, the master thief waits, seeing the light come closer. The telltale swoosh of the doors. Light moving across the hall, including the recess, searching. "Hmm..."

Another light appears from the front, standing at the intersection.
"Anyone come your way?"
"No one, everything quiet."

The lights leave very little room to hide in, the edges of the beams so very close to revealing Zarinda they might as well be the Lady of Pain's shadow inverted.

"Probably one of the night owls."
"Copper for every drow or tiefling too lazy to switch the lights on."
"Ssh."

The lights veer away, steps distancing themselves, the double doors swooshing close. For many so called master thieves, this would have been the end of the journey. Not for this one actually deserving the title. All is quiet once again as Zarinda emerges from the shadows, no lights or steps anywhere.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda gives an extra moment to make sure the path is clear, and then moves quietly and quickly to the elevator, still even keeping to the shadows, not sure about any sort of surveillance that might be present

Spoiler: Stealth

Show

(1d20+79)[82] hide
(1d20+77)[79] move silently

As soon as she is at the elevator, she duplicates the actions she took to make it work during the day, however when the doors open this time, she tries to bring the crystal close to see if the new buttons reveal themselves.

[Ridai]

Stalking to the elevator, she calls it, making sure not to make the motion detector watching it notice her. With a chime, the door slides open, which is detected by the motion sensor, but its red light disappears quickly afterwards, leaving no other sign of activity. Dimmed light seeps from the elevator into the hallway and is shut out again as the door slides close behind Zarinda. She tests the crystal and the button has a similar way to verify who it belongs to, reminding her of the double doors, but more complex. She sees the lines, but this time they are golden ones, hidden in the design of the panel of buttons people would ignore as decorations. Soon, a request will be sent to check the crystal she has, but the catch is that in order for the button to appear, the panel requires an answer from the system to a second request for the crystal's access permissions, even if it was on the panel's list of active crystals, which requires a different set of runes. Zarinda knows how the first request looks like and Maria taught her that she can string runes and formulae together to form a plan that is worked through to her specifications, but she needs to be quick and efficient about it.

Modern security and its headaches. But the world of simple tumbler-locks was long, long left behind by Zarinda.

[MikelaC1]

Ever quick and deft with her paints, Zarinda is already painting runes over golden lines, trying to trick the access panel into accepting her crystal as genuine, while hiding the response of the main centre.

Spoiler: Disable

Show

(1d20+73)[92]
(1d20+73)[75]

[Ridai]

Working quickly, Zarinda tricks the system with finesse. The blue button appears on the panel, pressing it sending her down past the first floor, more than just another floor deeper. After a few moments, there is another chime, announcing the arrival. The doors slide open, giving her a view at a lobby with the other elevators on the other side. Nearly everything seems to be made of marble and furnished even more expensively. This is the part for the really important customers, it seems. To her right, she can see what looks like a checkpoint. A big milky thick glass door, with the golden bank emblem on it. Next to it is a glass booth for guards, currently staffed. The air is pretty fresh, so ventilation seems to be working well down here. Another guard seems to be standing in front of the glass booth, talking to the guard inside.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda takes the settings in with a glance. The lighting is subdued, but still too much for the thief's liking, but the control panel promises much in the way of changing that situation to her own advantage. She adjusts her night vision goggles, better that she not be stumbling around like the guards hopefully will be. Darting quickly from cover to cover, she makes her way to the panel

Spoiler: Stealth

Show

(1d20+79)[95] hide
(1d20+77)[79] move silently
(1d20+79)[96] hide
(1d20+77)[82] move silently
(1d20+79)[92] hide
(1d20+77)[96] move silently

(if that works out, then...)
Once at the panel, she quickly determines which switches will plunge the whole room into darkness and uses them.
Making her way to the nearest pillar, she uses her skill and her rope to climb to the catwalk (that's where she belongs after all) and heads to the maintenance hatch

Spoiler: Climb

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(1d20+20)[26]

[Ridai]

There's a certain thrill to be able to do what would have been unthinkable a decade ago, darting like a ghost through open space, from cover to tiny cover. It almost feels wrong that the guards don't notice her. The panel is quickly found and the main fuse is quickly found. Flipping the switch, everything goes dark, save for the dim light in the booth.

"What the hells?"
"Is someone there?"

A magical light is switched on by the outer guard, letting is sweep through the hall.

"Doubt it, would've seen it if someone was here. Nothing on the sensors, either. No security breach."
"Faulty enchantments?"
"Go get the fuse box, I'll make a memo for the technicians."

By the time the outer guard is maneuvering through the dark to the panel, Zarinda has already ascended, nimbly making her way to the maintenance hatch. In her black-and-white view, she sees a cover attached to the lid (just decor) and locks holding the hatch shut.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda makes a mental note that the next time, she should just short circuit the fuse to make it look like a mechanical failure instead of a deliberate act. Live and learn. The hatch could still be trapped, but Zarinda has the time to deal with it before the lights come on. She makes a quick search for traps, and then sets about deactivating them, before working the locks free and wiggling in.

Spoiler: Hatch work

Show

(1d20+47)[67] Search: Traps
(1d20+73)[82] Disable: Traps
(1d20+76)[84] Open Locks
(1d20+76)[82] Open Locks (if theres more than 1)
(1d20+76)[89] Open Locks (if theres more than 2)...if there are 4, theyre paranoid

[Ridai]

The locks are opened quickly, the hatch easily pulled open. When the lights are back in the hall, the hatch is long closed again. Zarinda can count herself lucky that she has a slight and highly flexible build, as she can at best crouch in the maintenance tunnel among thick cables glowing with magical power. One way leads away from the checkpoint, another across it.

[MikelaC1]

The guessing game, this is the part I don't like With no obvious option presenting itself, Zarinda attempts to orient herself with the layout of the room below her and if there is a passage that leads towards the elevator, she takes that one. She has no idea if the crawlway will give access to the elevator, or if that's even the direction she needs to head, but its the best choice right now.
If there isn't a tunnel that goes that way, she takes the one leading away. No matter which way she goes, she takes care not to touch any of the cables, not wanting to see what the results of contact would be.

Escape Artist (mastery): 37

[MikelaC1]

When you enter the bank, you can either go to the far left or far right of the bank to take an elevator down into this lobby. The tunnel leading away from the checkpoint is leading towards the area of the foyer (though underground), the one leading across the checkpoint leading further into the bank.

Zarinda follows the one leading further into the bank, following cares detailed above

[Ridai]

Creeping through the tunnel, Zarinda can vaguely see signs of the checkpoint below and judging from the many cables and control lights, it is packed with a lot of magic, some of it potentially fatal. She continues onwards, careful not to touch any cables, until she reaches the end of the tunnel. Through a slight opening, she can see a dark corridor, empty. Likely an access corridor to the vault. The maintenance hatch is in the corner at the beginning of the corridor.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda says a silent thank you to Maria for her night goggles, just another one of the useful magical tools she has been provided with over the years. She continues to pick her way carefully
Escape artist: 37
and turns her way down the access corridor.

[Ridai]

Emerging from the tunnel and closing the hatch, Zarinda creeps down the dark corridor. She notices very slight patterns on the walls, triggering her instinct, making her stop. Looking more closely, the goggles reveal beams criss-crossing the corridor, some stationary, some moving, in a seemingly haphazard chaos all the way down the corridor, where the closed door lies. There is little telling what might happen if one of the beams is disrupted. Chances are that it is nothing good.

[MikelaC1]

Zarinda studies the lines to see if it is at all possible to make her way past the lines with the most intricate of twisting and turning (a la Catherine Zeta Jones, Entrapment). She tries to study if her paints could shut them down, although she has to figure out just how many beams there are, and how much paint she has left. And last, but not least, she tries to study if she could lay herself absolutely flat and wiggle her way down

Spoiler: Search

Show

(1d20+39)[49]

[Ridai]

Flat on the ground is not an option and disabling beams would require to disable a lot of them, which would both consume a lot of time and a lot of ink. Twisting, turning and bending will be required to make it through the corridor in a somewhat timely fashion.

[MikelaC1]

Its fortunate that Zarinda has such a lithe and supple body, and these power lines will challenge her in a way that is likely unmatched in her checkered career. She draws a quick breath, makes sure all of her equipment is tightly packed on her body and begins her progress down the hall, twisting and turning under each beam.

Spoiler: Escape Artist

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(1d20+27)[43]
(1d20+27)[31]
(1d20+27)[30]
(1d20+27)[39]
(1d20+27)[45]

[MikelaC1]

Its just a little bit farther, Zarinda has do some acrobatic tumbling to dodge the last few beams.

Spoiler: Tumble

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(1d20+26)[44]
(1d20+26)[34]
(1d20+26)[44]
(1d20+26)[44]
(1d20+26)[39]