With thirty-eight coins between them, Alastair led them into the Onion {At this point they began to wonder if the croissants were addictive.} The place had decidedly more layabouts than at a later hour the same day yesterday. One or two still had a mug; either from breakfast or the drinking that didn’t stop. Nikolette wasn’t at the bar, but the serving boy was. Flor wanted to ask him something about being in school but realized it would mean nothing to the kid. Instead, she looked around until they spotted Irving at a small table talking animatedly at a couple of thugs.

Flor whispered to Alastair, “Just like we discussed? You go dramatic and I’ll stay as the muscle?”

“Easy as.”

They walked to the scrawny man and his friends, overhearing him in despair, “Look, you as much as admitted your love for her, so you’ve got to help me.” The thug he was talking with seemed incredulous at the accusation.

“Hey, guys,” Alastair interjected. He pointed at Irving. “You the kid we saw talking with the guards at the manor?” He didn’t give Irving a chance to answer. “They took your kid sister, right? Threatened to charge you a pretty penny to see her. Well, guess what? Even if you did give over the money, they’d only beat you up and then take it from you. I would’ve been in the same situation myself if I hadn’t had muscles back here for backup.” He indicated to Flor the “Muscles” behind him.

That’s not my name. He’s almost hooked, though. Keep going!

“Yeah, we’ve got a friend that lost a kid, a boy, about a month back. We haven’t heard from him since. It’s heartbreaking, and we’re here to help. See, we know about the timing and the procession, and how they lock the kids up underneath the wagon. So we staked out the gate and saw you and figured you might need our help. And we are here to help.”

The look on Irving’s face had gone from mild outrage to shock to a bit of anger to a similar incredulousness as his buddy.

“So look. Here’s a rough outline of the plan. Your buddies are in to help, right? I can count on all three of you. Muscles, would you be so kind as to get us each a beer?”

Flor wanted to use her muscles to slap him as she went, but that would break the enchantment. Instead, she went to the serving boy and ordered four mugs of swill and one of the normal beer. He would pay by having to keep his focus while drinking mop water.

As she returned to the table, she overheard him saying, “Yeah, those guards are overpowered and quick, which is why we need the log in the road. They’ll immediately think it’s bandits, which is confusing to them since the only thing they are smuggling is people. But we don’t hit them then. They’ll be on the lookout and have to clear the log anyway. But here’s where we confuse them. You two, ” Alastair pointed to the two unnamed thugs, “will be further up the road, dressed more politely than you are. They might believe it if you dressed as farmers and pretended you were taking the long way from the farms. You pitch in to help remove the tree. Muscles over here…thanks for the beer, by the way,” he took a swig and she saw him struggle to control his face, “is an expert in lock picking. Dexterous hands and whatnot. She’ll come in from the rear and release the prisoners.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“And what about you?” asked Irving.

“Ah, the exfiltration piece. You didn’t think I’d get away without a threat to myself, huh? Well, I’ve got a reputable friend with a horse who might be convinced to come along from behind. Irving, you’ll be with us as we come up together behind the procession, making a big to-do about the delays, and when the wagon is opened, we’ll play it by ear, but preferably with a happy surprise that ‘oh, my sister! I was wondering where you went. Thank you, lord mayor, for taking such good care of her.’ And then we all skedaddle in our respective directions and gather here for a pint.”

Irving looked at his thugs, who each shrugged. He said, “Let me confer with my guys, one moment.”

“Me and Muscles will be right over there.” Then, more quietly to Flor, “Muscles is a compliment. Did you have to get me a skunked beer? How’d I do?”

“Oh, you did a fine job channeling Nate Ford. {A la the TV show Leverage.} A natural. Next, you’re going to say,” and her voice grew deep and serious, “‘Let’s go steal a procession!’”

“Yeah, well, it might be working. Don’t spoil the not-speaking thing, though. They still think you’re mostly mute. So, we’ll need a set of lock picks. What Irving said yesterday leads me to believe the puzzle is more challenging than could be solved at our current level. Do you think it’s a Sudoku? Like the manacles? Maybe we can get lock picks at the markets. I wonder how in-game items interact with the puzzle interface. And we’ll need to convince that farmer I spoke with the other day to take the east gate rather than the south gate.”

“I’m not sure we can pull it off. It’s a tall order.”

“Better than not trying,” he answered.

“But are we going to pull this heist daily? Every day until we get out of here?”

He sighed. “No. But for one day, at least, let’s let a child get home to her brother.”

Flor raised her hand to his arm. Then she nodded at the crew. They were trying to get his attention.

As they approached, Irving asked, “So, what’s in it for you? You risk your necks and what’s the payout?”

Alastair paused, leaned in, and quietly said, “I’m looking for a crew to run a bigger scam. This is a test for you. To see if you’ve got the skills and capacity to pull it off.”

“What if I said I don’t believe you?”

“Well, we walk away and you walk away from your sister. No harm, no foul. Ready to go, Muscles?” He turned to leave.

Your disposition with Irving changed from Neutral to Neutral+

Pulling at those heartstrings. What is your angle, Alistair?

Irving stood quickly. “We’ll do it. What…what do you need us to do?”

“Okay. We need to identify the ambush location. Not too far out, but far enough they can’t just turn around and take an alternate path. Probably about a couple of miles up. You’ll need at least one ax, maybe a couple. Your friends will need to find or steal clothes that would accommodate farmers and a wagon with some supplies inside that would pass a general inspection. I need to enlist my actual farmer friend. You look confused. What’s the issue?”

“I’m just surprised that someone is willing to help me. It’s been a run of bad luck recently.” Irving looked about to cry. “But, also, what do I do in the meantime?”

“Well, it’ll all be for nothing if we don’t get to it quickly. Help them with their tasks and we’ll all meet back here in two hours. After that, we’ll have about six hours to get into place, they’ll have to cut down an appropriately large tree, and then we wait.”

The three thugs left, somewhat lively with Irving looking more optimistic than they had seen him before.