Titanfall!

With my tax return I invested in an X-Box One and Titanfall because I was going to jump into the next generation of consoles eventually and this game looked awesome. I like the One's interface menu. It's simple and very similar to the 360's so I wasn't confused when I jumped in. The party system is a little more complicated to start up than on the 360, but it runs just as well once it's going so the switch of consoles hasn't been a difficult learning experience. The odd thing was when I inserted a DVD and had to download a DVD/Bluray player program. I don't know why that wasn't just on the machine to start with.

But enough about the console let's talk about the game Titanfall. I haven't full explored all the multiplayer options, but I've got over twenty hours in the game and I've beaten the campaign on both sides; IMC and Militia so I've got a pretty solid base for my opinion. And that opinion is that this game is awesome. It's missing some bells and whistles like renaming your classes, but it does have a gender choice for classes so it does have that going for it. Any complaint I have about the game is along the cosmetic side of things. Just the peripheral stuff that CoD and Gotham City Impostors have of getting emblems and titles for doing challenges and letting people see them. The fact that there is no real benefit to prestiging is kind of a bummer. At least extra class slots and with the titan loadouts as well it would be easy to alternate gaining an extra pilot and titan loadout for each prestige.

The gameplay is phenomenal. To start with the basic FPS part of the game is very well done. Everything moves smoothly and it's a polished shooter as you would expect from the guys who brought the world Modern Warfare 1 & 2. The weapon selection is smaller than most modern shooters, but everything is balanced fairly well and serves a different purpose. Although I haven't used the LMG or the Kraber sniper much the rest of the guns all feel good. They all have strengths and weaknesses and it's good that every weapon has some kind of limitation and strong point. I don't really have a favorite for weapons, but when it comes to Ordnance I prefer the satchel charge. The others like frag grenade, arc mine, and arc grenade have their benefits, but for me satchel charge is where it's at. More oomph and all I need to do is double tap x after tossing it. Well worth the shorter range and having to manually detonate it.

The second half of this game is the Titan combat and it's exciting as well. I don't have experience with other mech games, but I like the slower, but heavier feel the titans have compared to the pilots. I'm also not very good with my titan yet, but the difference in how the game plays between being on foot and being in the titan is obvious, but how well combat is balanced between the two is perfect. Titan weapons will do good damage to another titan, but pilots can evade the damage if they are careful and throw out more damage against them with the anti-titan weapons. The way the maps work with these two different forms of combat is amazing. There are awesome wall running sections and elevated paths for the pilots to take and offer lots of different ways to move around, but the titans get more standard FPS map patterns to follow and face each other. As a pilot you can ignore enemy titans and fight other pilots or the minions that spawn for the enemy side.

Which brings me to another wonderful aspect of this game the minions and specters that spawn as NPCs in the game. They provide a good feeling when you are having a bad game or if you aren't an FPS superstar and allow you a way to help your team in a game of attrition or in other game modes to grab a Titan faster. It's a really good choice to keep the maps full when everybody is on foot and doesn't make things feel overly full once a bunch of people get in their titans which changes the size of the match. It's just an amazing job that Respawn did of balancing the changes in combat between pilots and titans and it's so amazing to look at for their first showing as a studio on a big game that is there to sell a new console and they nailed it out of the park. The game lacks single player which is fine with me, because the single player of an FPS is always more of a chore and they make the story play out in multiplayer maps which tell a basic, but solid story which is all I ask for from an FPS in the first place.

They make up for the lack of single player by having fifteen maps which is a crazy big number for a shooter to come with standard now and I haven't had any maps I don't like. Some of them are a little unbalanced in Hardpoint, but nothing that makes me hate a map. It's got five basic game modes which isn't a ton, but they provide enough change of pace amongst each other. I wouldn't be surprised to see more game modes come out with the DLC either. Although balancing a game mode with the titans and pilots might be difficult, but I trust them to come out with a strong way to do it.

I am loving this game so far. It's a great FPS that does a lot to change how the genre works and is all the better for it. Definitely a game that makes jumping into the next gen of consoles worth while and it is the game that sold me on the X-Box One as I was debating which console I was going to go with. I don't regret the decision I've made yet.

Tantrum

A Chuck Wendig Contest Entry Tantrum is the name of the story and the drink so without further ado here is the recipe of the drink.

2 fingers of Vodka
4 oz Mountain Dew Voltage
1 oz Orange Juice

TANTRUM

Music pumped out from every room on the floor, it was awful in the hallway it all turned into a jumble of noise that only cleared about in each room a bit. I retreated back to my room and topped off my drink. Two fingers of vodka, half a can of Mountain Dew Voltage and a splash of orange juice, I've yet to find anybody else who liked it. I lay back on my bed and listened to K Pop as my room represented the good Korea. My roommate was gone, but a few people were hanging out in the room, anything worth taking was locked up in our closet so I wandered out to the common area where better music was playing and more people were hanging out. Tiana was at the air hockey table so I wandered over that way and watched her finish off the guy who lived two rooms down from me.

“I don't think you can take me as easily.”

“Sounds like words, but looks like a load of shit, considering I always beat you.”

“Tonight I'm feeling lucky.”

“It's probably just your stomach revolting against that fucked up mixture of liquids you're drinking.”

“Not my fault your palate's not sophisticated enough to drink this.”

“If that's sophisticated I'll stick to whatever keg I can get access to with five dollars.”

“Don't say I didn't try to expand your tastes once you leave.”

“I'll always remember you as the guy who drank that super weird drink that tasted like rancid asshole.”

“So you taste a lot of rancid asshole?”

“Not on my days off, but you only get so many of those,” Tiana said. “Now are we going to play or do you want to stand there and gossip?”

“I don't know, I'm pretty good at talking.”

“Tough it's time to put up or shut up.”

“If you win we go somewhere with good music,” I said. “If I win we go to my room and listen to K-Pop.”

“For both our sakes, I must win.”

Tiana hit the puck off the wall and I blocked it off and sent it back toward her. Not much momentum on the puck, I should have kept it on my side. She fired it back with wild ricochets off the walls and I missed it as it slid into the goal. I was down quickly, not that I was surprised. I dropped the disc on the table and fired off my own wildly ricocheting shot that she stopped and fired straight back at me. I blocked the shot, but it bounced back at her and she fired it in with an angle that I saw, but somehow still couldn't stop from going in. The game continued that way, except for one shining moment, when I countered a rebounding shot and sent it bouncing back and forth before it found Tiana's goal.

“You've already tied your high score of a goal,” Tiana said as she set the puck on the table. “Maybe you can double up on that.”

“Maybe it's just the beginning of my comeback.”

“Sure, all you have to do is score nine before I get another goal.”

“You make it sound all too easy.”

Tiana looked straight at me, I almost missed the flick of her wrist that sent the puck toward my side of the table. I lunged at it and missed as it slid home and scored her the final point of the game.

“Guess you lost,” Tiana said then finished the last of the beer in her cup. “Before we leave this place get me a refill.”

“It's the least I can do,” I said as I grabbed the solo cup.

I pushed through the crowd and refilled the cup with beer before I went to the stairs and handed the cup to Tiana then headed down one floor to her room. It was a messy room, but not too messy. Tiana dropped onto her bed and I sat down beside her.

“Everything's going better than I planned,” I said. “Losing to you guaranteed me time with you, I didn't think I'd end up in your room.”

“Sorry, I have ulterior motives, I need your help with a paper.”

“Really?”

“No,” she said. “You're brave enough to drink whatever it is you have in that cup.”

“Tantrum.”

“But not enough to make a move. It's kind of a bummer. I should have known better than to wait.”

Tiana grabbed the back of my head and pulled me forward into a kiss. Even as drunk as I was I managed to react in time to make it a good kiss, or at least as good as I knew how to make a kiss.

“Damn,” I said.

“Wish I could say the same.”

“Shit, I wasn't even trying,” I said as I leaned forward and started a kiss.

Book Review: Johannes Cabal the Detective

Time for another book review and it's the second in the Cabal series.

Johannes Cabal the Detective

The title isn't as good as the first book in the series, but that cover, just look at it. It's beautiful. Anyway let's get to the real book and not just what's on the outside.

The book starts out with Cabal in prison in the fictional country of Mirkarvia after being caught stealing a powerful book filled with necromantic secrets. Luckily for him the Emperor has died recently and one of his underlings needs the Emperor to appear alive to deliver a speech and Cabal has just the skills he needs. Cabal outwits his captor and escapes during the speech and gets on an airship. The cover has the airship looking like a dirigible, but inside the book there is a drawing of the ship and it looks nothing like that so don't let that confuse you. Anyway he's on the airship and there is a murder that looks like a suicide. He also runs into Leonie Barrow, one of the innocent souls he got to sign over their soul in the last book. Luckily Cabal destroyed that contract and Leonie isn't doomed to hell and she's studying to be a forensic investigator and is stuck working with Cabal to figure out the person behind the murder.

Cabal is stuck on the airship trying to stay incognito and interact with actual people in a way that doesn't reveal who he is and it's a good time watching him do that and seeing how Barrow reacts to him seeming more like a real person instead of the monster he was to her in the first book. There's an interesting supporting cast on the airship and there is plenty of intrigue in this book to keep you reading to find out how well Cabal will do in a career as a detective.

I really enjoy this book and I'd recommend picking it up if you enjoyed the first book in the series. It has a serious story at the heart, but Howard tells it with a light hearted spirit that makes it fun to read throughout.

Book Review: Johannes Cabal the Necromancer

I'm sure you saw the title of the book I'm reviewing and are already sold on it, but I'll give my thoughts about it anyway. It's the kind of title that just makes me sad I won't come up with something as good.

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer

And look at the beautiful cover on that thing, it's a work of art, it is. This is a series of books by the same author and I've read the second as well which I'll probably review some time as well. I have the paperback version of this which of the three sizes of paperback books I've seen it is the middle size, and I hate that size because it automatically makes it $5 more expensive than a normal size paperback. Anyway probably time to get to a review and not rambling.

As you may have guessed from the title of the book Johannes Cabal is the main character and he also happens to be a necromancer who makes a bet with the devil. Turns out he sold his soul to Satan and the lack of a soul is messing up his experiments so he wants it back. All he has to do is use a demonic carnival to get one hundred people to sign their souls over to the devil in a year and he'll get his soul back. Johannes has no clue how to deal with people so he recruits his brother Horst to help him. The fact that Horst got turned into a vampire eight years ago due to some mistakes on Johannes part means it will take some convincing.

The relationship between the two men is interesting to see play out, especially with a vampire playing the role of the honest moral character among the two. They play off each other really well and the problems between them make sense even with the backstory not being completely explored. And that's a strength this book rides all the way to the end as you don't learn what's driving Johannes until the end. He does awful things and deals with bad people, but he's still a sympathetic character and Horst manages to help that fact along. It's a book that does a great job of having an unlikable main character all the way through, but you sympathize with him and enjoy the journey.

The backdrop of the demonic traveling carnival is a fun one to see all the stories play out in. There's lot of different freaks and attractions that provide nice cameos and a nice sense of humor to a story that would seem to have a really dark narrative. The balance between the darkness and serious aspects of the story while still having fun and making jokes is well done. I do find at times the author tries to be a little too cute with the jokes and language, but those only happen once in a while and it never bothers me for long.

The stakes of the bet come close to the deadline in a city that may be too good for Johannes to find anybody corruptible and with the life on the line what measures will he be willing to take to win the bet?

Read the book and find out. I recommend checking this book out. It's a playful book with a serious edge, but it's always fun to read. It's a quick read as well as everything just flows and it's hard to put down. If you enjoy dark humor this is a book you can grab for an enjoyable read.

National Novel Writing Month 2013

So I've started off Nano with a bang this year garnering over 5,000 words in day one so I have a good start and I should be able to capitalize on the momentum with a solid outline in place. Although I should have a separate piece of paper for the random names I'm coming up with who are probably going to matter later on instead of scribbling names in the margins. So beyond that the terrible minds challenge for this Friday is to post your first 1667 words and since I've done that I'm more than willing to share,also I'm sharing the first 1799 words so deal with it, and enjoy!

Smoke poured into the sky from the skyline of Port Fortune. Tarek Karp stood on the bow of his ship and looked through the spy glass to see the fires spread throughout the city. He handed the spyglass down to Sufjan then jumped down to the deck.

“The harbor seems clear of any fighting for right now, but the city is a mess. It seems you're information was outdated, Captain.”

“Could be they just moved faster than we expected.”

“Aye, they're definitely moving quickly,” Tarek said. “Any chance this is going to deter you from your mission?”

“No, I'm honor sworn to return the Prince to his father. I've never given the King reason to doubt my loyalty before and this skirmish isn't going to be the thing that does it in.”

“It's a bit more than a skirmish. There's a good portion of the town on fire. I don't know if you've noticed all the smoke in the air above the city.”

“Then my mission is even more urgent than before.”

“Unless he was already evacuated.”

“We would have seen a ship bound for Fort Kosin. There are protocols to be followed.”

“You soldiers and your protocol, being predictable is how you get killed.”

“It's not often we evacuate members of the royal family so I'm sure there aren't any out there who know how it is carried out.”

“Get your men armed and armored, Captain. We're going to have to carry this out quickly. I don't want to leave my ship long. You're paying me well, but not well enough to lose my ship.”

“We'll be back as quickly as we can.”

“I can guarantee that, I'll be going with you.”

“And leaving your ship all alone?”

“I have plenty of men capable of guarding it from the neer do wells that hang out on the docks. I'm going with you to make sure we find the Prince and I get my payday when all is said and done.”

“I'll have my men ready to move out as soon as we dock.”

The Captain went below deck and Tarek turned back to the city and watched as the destruction drew nearer and he could start to make out the fires more easily, or perhaps they were just growing larger. Everything about the bad feeling he had when he accepted the job made sense now. This would be the last time he overruled his gut feeling because of an outrageous payout. Whenever there was a lot of money to be made there were high risks. Taking his ship to a city that the Yeskorman were coming down from the North to take was not smart.

Yeskorman, he never thought of them as the boogie man that so many other people did. Now he was smack in the middle of them and soon would be seeing them up close and personal for the first time.

“Captain, you've got us into a fine mess this time,” Sufjan said as he came up behind Tarek.

“We've been in tight spots before, Sufjan. This time you'll all be in pretty good shape, depending on how quickly those Yeskormen move through the city. Might just have to keep the riff raff off the boat until I get back with the Prince.”

“What should we do about refugees, sir.”

“That's an interesting question.,” Tarek said as he rubbed his chin and the stubble along it. “I don't want to say no, but we've got to be able to move fast once we've got the Prince on board. Try to keep it non-violent though, but keep yourselves the boat safe first and foremost.”

“Wouldn't expect you to run out into the middle of a battle ground.”

“Well at least I know the city, and I made a promise to Aleksa.”

“Nobody makes you do stupider things than Aleksa,” Sufjan said. “Got you taking jobs carrying a load of soldiers to Fortune and now you're going to go run out with them.”

“It's not just her there's a lot of money in it for everybody as well, plus it's good to have the royal family owing us a favor. Make the inspections a little more lenient.”

“As long as we get the ship back in one piece to keep making runs that will work well. Aren't you going to get some armor on?”

“I'm not a soldier, I don't use armor, I move fast and avoid getting hit not wearing enough armor that they can beat the shit out of me,” Tarek said. “This city is looking worse the closer we get. I can't believe I got talked into this.”

“There's always time to turn around.”

“Not with those soldiers down there. They're better than we are at fighting so we'll just have to play this one out. Beside, Matawan has too much good business for us to get locked out of the country for pissing off the royals. Just keep that fish gutter of yours out and that should intimidate anybody trying to get on board.”

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

The harbor was more crowded than usual as ships fled the city packed with people who watched the burning city as they pulled away from it. Chisek kept the ship moving forward toward the destination through all the obstacles. The ship slowed as they came near the dock and Captain Kazak led his soldiers onto the deck of the ship. Seven soldiers in chain mail with shields and swords at the ready. They cut an impressive figure.

“I thought you were coming with us, Captain,” Tarek said.

“I am, I just don't need the kind of armor you do. I prefer my rapier to a slashing weapon like you have.”

“Then you can stay behind us for now. I like to have a big solid wall in front and no offense, but you don't know how to work with us either.”

“Always happy to be in the back and watching others do the work.”

“Good, we're on the move.”

Kazak led the way down the gangplank as soon as it hit the dock and they pushed their way through the people milling around on the dock looking for a way out of the city. At the end of the dock a group of armed men were holding back an even bigger crowd than what had made their way past already. Tarek grabbed the dockmaster who stood behind the line looking worried.

“Hector, it's been a while since I've seen you on the docks, you look worried today.”

“Tarek, you have quite a gift for understatement. We've got a full scale retreat going on right now.”

“So I can see. Do you think you're men can hold the dock so my boat is safe?”

“Depends on how long you're in the city, but it's going to be tough, and we might need something in return. A lot of us working here would like to get out of the city as well. I know you're ship is better than the other things we've got here for us to use.”

“Ready to flee your dock already?”

“It's been like this since last night. There's only so long we can put up with this. The city has some great guards, but they weren't ready for a full scale assault. You know Fortune, though. Lots of mercenaries laying around that we can hire and throw into the fight and give us some breathing room. It looks like you've got a good group of mercenaries with you.”

“Not mercenaries, Matawan soldiers. They're here to get some important people out of the city. So hopefully this dock will be secure when we come back and we can get you on the Terraphin when we leave.”

“That sounds good to me, I'll do my best to keep people off the dock, but it's going to be tough.”

“That's all I can ask for.”

The armed men at the end of the dock open a small gap for the soldiers to pass through and quickly close behind Tarek to stop anybody from slipping past them. The crowd is slow to give because of it's size, but people are more than happy to get out of the way of heavily armed soldiers. Two blocks gets them out of the press of people and into the city proper. Buildings are abandoned or boarded up with people watching from upper story windows with arrows nocked ready to fight off anybody who tried to break in. Kazak led his men into a fast trot which created quite a din as they moved through the city. They covered four blocks with just stragglers fleeing their buildings before they got the the Matawan ambassador building.

“Captain Kazak Morgan reporting,” Kazak said as he walked up to the guards at the gate.

“I need your orders, soldier,” one of the guards said.

Kazak reached into a satchel slung along his hip and pulled out a rolled up up paper that he handed to the guard. He gave it a quick perusal before handing it back.

“I've got bad news for you, Captain. They've taken Prince Starn as well as all the other ambassadors to the Capitol building. More security and bigger walls. They felt everybody would be safer there. We've only got a small contingent of soldiers left here to protect the building.”

“They just left you guys here to protect a house?” Tarek said. “They do know that the city is falling, right?”

“This is sovereign Matawan land, Tarek. It's not something we take lightly. But he does make a good point. There is no need to get you all killed. I believe my orders should speak for my authority so round up all your soldiers and come with me. We're going to get the Prince and then get out of here. No need to have you all die for a political point.”

“Yes, sir,” the soldier said. “I can't say it's an order I'd want to argue with.”

Two soldiers climb up the wall on either side of the gate and make their way along to send their fellow soldiers to the gate.

“How long ago did they move to the Capitol?”

“Early this morning, probably eight hours ago. That's when the Yeskormen broke through the city walls. We can hold off a riot fairly well here, but for a full scale assault we just don't have the man power or wall strength.”

The Drop

I finally wrote something again. Here's a Alternate History WWII Kaiju story for a terribleminds challenge. http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/08/16/flash-fiction-challenge-subgenre-frankenstein/

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Petty Officer Nolan Daniels mopped the deck of the USS Massachusetts and looked at the island they were anchored just off shore of. It looked nice with a long beach, palm trees, and the scantily clad female natives. The warning horn blared and he grabbed the glasses from his pocket and put them on. He turned toward the ocean and the site of the air detonation nuke. He could almost make out the gray specks of the empty ships that would prove how efficient it was at taking out a fleet. The experts said they were at a safe distance, but if the waves were stronger than expected everybody could swim to the island, at least theoretically.

Beneath the deck Nolan could hear people strapping all the ammo and supplies down tight in preparation of a possible shockwave, and the definite waves that would be coming, but thankfully that wasn't his job today so he leaned on the edge of the railing and waited. He hadn't seen a nuclear explosion before, but he'd heard from other guys who had and it sounded impressive, and nobody had seen one detonated above water before. Another horn blared and shortly after a second, and that meant it was close. More people came up above deck and officers tried to keep people from bunching up too much, but to little avail.

The waves rocked the ship back and forth and did the same to the gray spots on the horizon that everybody watched. Nothing happened as they stood there. The crowd started to fidget as the wait dragged on. Finally a plane came overhead from the horizon and most of the sailors looked up, but Nolan kept his eyes on the horizon and saw the detonation. It blossomed silently then formed the mushroom cloud that everybody had told him about. At that point everybody had turned their attention back and the sound of the detonation reached the ship as well the shockwave that rocked the ship backwards and had lots of the sailors staggered backward. The ship righted itself and was buffeted by some more waves, but nothing compared to the initial shockwave. The sailors clapped for the display and the gray specks on the horizon couldn't be seen anymore.

The sailors started to go back to their work, but Nolan kept watch. The waves started to grow bigger and rocked the ship more violently again. A bubble of water rose up out of the ocean and broke and poured down over a scaled reptilian head that pushed through the surface. A roar went up from the sailors and the monster lifted his whole head from the ocean and let loose with a bellow that made Nolan tremble. The monster pushed forward through the water coming right at the Massachusetts.

“Get the guns armed and loaded,” Commander Hershall shouted from the conn tower.

The announcement's replaced his voice as they commanded everybody to their battle stations. Nolan ran toward the bow and the 16” gun he manned. The rest of the crew had already unplugged the barrels, so he got to the interior and helped load the ammunition. Turret one had all three barrels loaded and they fired all three guns at once. The rest of the armament went off shortly afterward and everything fell silent. Nolan wandered out of the battery and saw no sign of the monster anymore. One of the men by the railing pointed toward the water and the wake moving along the surface, much larger than any torpedo. The monster's head burst out of the water again maybe fifty feet from the ship. All the turrets fired a full salvo that sent fire nearly to the beast let alone the ordinance slamming into it's head and body, which Nolan could barely make out through the smoke. The machine guns kept up their constant fire, but their noise didn't compare to the howl the monster let out. A spider-like leg slammed into the deck ten feet from him and ripped through the deck, Nolan had no idea how far, but it was definitely too far.

The monster's head broke through the smoke with its mouth wide open. It clamped down on turret number one and ripped the assembly from the ship. It reared its head back and sent the machinery flying away. The leg near Nolan came out of the deck then slammed down with a second leg in the hole that used to be turret number one and detonated the spare ammo. The explosion lifted Nolan off the deck and he flew with his limbs pinwheeling before he slammed into the water.

It took him several seconds to get his bearings, and he swallowed a good amount of disgusting water before that happened then started swimming toward the island. First he had to go around fifty feet of Massachusetts, but he was swimming faster than he ever had before. None of the big guns were firing, but most of the machine guns were still going, or maybe that was just the ringing in his ears. Nolan didn't look back to find out, he just kept going. He kept the island in sight and ignored the devastation behind him. He swam until his hands dug into the ocean floor and he dragged himself forward then turned and sat in the shallows and looked back. The Massachusetts was listing badly as the monster stood tall over it. The two front legs kept striking holes into the ship, but the monster didn't look like it had taken a full broadside from the battle ship. There was some damage, but not even as much as another ship would have taken. Nolan got to his feet and ran from the edge of the island. The natives weren't there anymore and they knew best.

Smooth Operator

Here's another flash fiction piece from the message board invasion of what the artists are doing. This time the story is based on this picture

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Miesha clung to the ivy along the wall and waited for the light to leave the window. She sidled along the wall on the ledge and crossed the eight feet to the window then wedged the dagger under the frame to pop it up before she could work her fingers underneath and open it. She slid into the gap, closed the window behind her, and moved to the door. As the footsteps moved away into the distance she slowly opened the door and entered the hallway. The servant was three doors down and only halfway down the hall as Miesha tucked herself along the wall and slowly followed along behind him. Eventually he checked all the rooms and made his way down the stairs.

Finally alone Miesha made her way to the master bedroom of the mansion and found the doors locked. An obstacle, but not an insurmountable one. She slipped her picks out of her pouch and slowly worked at the tumblers of the lock until it gave way and she pushed the door open. The moon was shining brightly into the room and all the reflections off polished wood and the shiny metal lying around confirmed that she was in the right room. A vanity held the middle position against one of the walls and Miesha made her way over there and started opening the drawers. The first drawer she opened had a bunch of letters and envelops that she sorted through and found nothing of interest. The second drawer had more letters, but on top was a necklace with a large ruby hung on it. She pushed her hood back and slid it over her neck and lifted her hair up to let the gold chain fall against her neck. Always nice when the haul offered a way to carry it out.

The third drawer was a larger one and when she pulled it open their was a jewelry box inside of it. Miesha lifted it up and a bell started ringing in the distance. She looked down and saw a metal plate under where the box had been. She opened a pouch and quickly dumped drawers of jewelry into it then closed it up and tied it.

The door of the room opened and a man burst in with a sword in his hand. Miesha spun toward him as she drew her dagger and released it as she squared up with him. The blade slid into his neck and blood bubbled around there as he released a soundless scream. She hooked the pouch onto her belt and went over to the man to retrieve her dagger, but it wouldn't come out, apparently lodged into the spine somehow. She took the sword from the ground and opened the window and as she knew from how she planned her entrance there was no easy way to the ground. Miesha could hear a bunch of feet stomping on the stairs as people made her way up so she took a deep breath and jumped out of the window and hit the ground twenty feet below and immediately went into a forward roll, but she definitely felt something tweak in her right ankle.

She got up to her feet and felt the pain in her foot, but kept going and didn't let the pain slow her down, there was enough adrenaline pumping that the pain wasn't too bad, for now. A bunch of people started screaming from the window, but none of them were willing to take the leap, but the noise would attract the city guards. Miesha angled to the left toward the wall and jumped off her left foot and grabbed the rope she had left there. She pulled herself up and levered herself over the wall for another drop although this one was only about eight feet, but her right ankle gave out again and she rolled along the ground before getting to her feet again.

She was reduced to a limping run down the street with the gas lights providing little more illumination than the moon. She was halfway over the first bridge when a pair of guards showed up behind her yelling for her to stop. Miesha ignored them and started going faster trying to ignore the pain in her ankle as she ran. The guards were closing in, but she still had a good amount of distance when she reached the town proper instead of all the rich people houses. She ducked down the first alley she found and clambered up the crumbling bricks to the roof and started moving along the tops of the buildings. The guards started shouting from ground level flummoxed by her disappearance. The city wall to her left was only a couple of buildings away so she ran and made a leap to cross the first gap. Her ankle held up so she kept going and jumped the next, then jumped again and landed on the catwalk of the city wall then jumped again and once again landed hard with a somersault.

Miesha kept up her limp run and made it a good way into the thick forest and was confident she had lost her pursuit and stopped running. She grabbed the pouch of stolen goods and saw a good amount of reflection from the moonlight that trickled through the overgrowth although nothing compared to the ruby on her chest.