Snippet #2192714

The sounds of evening arose rather quickly. It had been near sunset when Lance had stopped to wait for night to fall;compared to waiting multiple days for a single target, this was far shorter. Animals would be out and on the prowl soon, with that in mind, he opened his eyes again. It was dark, Lance could now see normally and without any pause he set off again. Less than thirty yards from where he stood had been a ledge, if he hadn't stopped he would have fallen off during the day. But since he could see, the fall would be no issue. He leapt from the ledge and rolled out of his fall to conserve momentum, he was probably the last one to arrive at the meeting house. While still approaching the mansion he caught the smell of horse...not overtly strange but still questionable. He'd messed up, his earlier haste had kept him from properly observing his objective, if an enemy had been waiting he'd be dead. Internally chastising himself, he fell back into the shadows, hiding in the thick foliage and underbrush.

From there he took great pains to slowly make his way around the property, carefully taking note of what his eyes and ears told him. One horse, stable large enough for about seven. No lights were on in the mansion, anyone there would be used to seeing in this level of darkness. The buildings were well situated, the stables or anything else provide a gaping blind spot. To be expected from assassins, the closest thing to a weak spot, the chimney and even it was too small to fit a person through. Taking that into account,he'd have to either find a hidden entrance or take a roundabout trip through the building. Using the miniscule blind spots the evening gave for him, he slipped up to the house, ducking under a window for a quick breather. Slowly taking out one of his metal stakes, he carefully pried and window open, and began to slip in. A rug that was just barely out of place showed him a crucial detail before he stepped down, the floor was rigged.

He'd heard in some of the distant lands in the east, floors had been rigged to squeak when stepped on. While he'd never seen the floor himself, these seemed to match the description. Even worse, he had no way to journey along the walls to avoid tripping the floor...at least not without an equally loud method of stabbing into the wall. He searched the window sill with the stake he'd drawn, no less than three traps adorned the sill and there was no ledge to grab onto from the inside. Put simply,if there were a job he'd just been utterly defeated.

"Well done my brothers," while to him the tone had appeared a yell, in truth it was no louder than normal talking. He dismounted the window as quickly as possible to avoid any traps he'd failed to notice. Sure enough the floor trilled its squeaking alarm, any real assassin would hear him by now, but he took no rush in re-closing the window and walking around in hopes of finding his fellows. His eyes had found none waiting on the first two floors, nor did his ears, anyone up here would have to be holding their breath. That meant a hidden basement must be accessible somewhere, logic dictated searching the first level, floor trilling with every step.