Chase had come a long way since beginning life in her rural halven village.

She had survived things that by rights should have killed her, escaped trouble and violence with quick-thinking, and gotten far more badass than any halven had a right to.

One of the keys to her survival was her fervent belief that she shouldn't make the same mistake twice.

So when the catgirl reached out to grab her, Chase snapped “Pickpocket,” and grabbed the bag right out of the very surprised Beastkin's hands.

Your Pickpocket skill is now level 21!

“Renny! Duplicate!” Chase shouted, and hurled herself backward into the room.

When she hit the floor there were twelve of her, rolling in different directions and straightening up. To Chase they were see-through, obvious illusions.

To the staring catgirl, they were legion.

Chase took the opportunity to grab up the end table and throw it at the Burglar... who evaded, almost absent-mindedly.

Stupid high agility, right.

“Hey! Stop!” The catgirl said, as the table splintered in the hall outside. Someone shouted in the distance, and she glanced that way with a scowl. “Oh that's done it! We need to go, now!”

“Give me one reason to trust you!” Chase hissed, reaching for her throwing cards.

“Cagna! She's dead if you don't come now!”

Chase hesitated. “Fortuna,” she spat, and drew a single card. The Waystone gleamed back at her, transportation runes glimmering in the dim light.

Well, you couldn't get any clearer a message than that. “Fine! Renny, keep the spell going.”

“Get in the bag!” The catgirl said, as more shouts rose and a door slammed open deeper in the building.

“No!”

“You'll get caught unless I carry you!”

“You messed up and got caught last time anyway!” Chase yelled back, casting caution to the winds. She was tired, she was angry, and her friend's life was on the line. And she had zero intention of putting either herself or Renny at anyone's mercy again. “We go on our feet or not at all!”

More doors slamming, and the catgirl turned and hurled the club. Someone yelled in the distance. “Fine! Come on already!”

Another key to Chase's survival was the simple notion that when you decided to do something, you should do it without hesitation and to the best of your ability. So there was no second-guessing, there was no worry or wasted time for talking. She simply tucked the fortuna card back into the small pack at her side and ran.

Even the catgirl was surprised, but she passed the fleeing halven a second later, looking annoyed beyond measure. “What— you don't know where we're going! Follow me, smallbrain!”

“Then lead me, moron!” Chase snapped back.

“Fine! I will!” At this point the catgirl was screaming, clearly at her wit's end. A door slammed open ahead of them and she flipped mid-run, kicked it with both legs, and slammed it back shut. Somebody yelled in pain and the woman barely broke stride. “Keep up!” she snarled, passing Chase once more and juking left down a tiled hallway.

They ran.

Tired beyond measure, legs pumping, the meal she'd just eaten jostling in her stomach and threatening to come back up, Chase pushed herself to the limit to keep pace with the errant Burglar.

As they went, Renny peeled off illusionary copies of Chase, and jumped them out windows, sent them down alternate halls, and threw open doorways. More shouts, yelling, and a horn was blaring somewhere in the Basilica or whatever building they were in, but it kept the guards off them...

...for a bit, anyway.

Every now and then the catgirl would glance backward and smirk, white teeth glittering against the black fur of her muzzle and Chase would bite back curses. Whatever, it doesn't matter, she told herself. She's taking me to Cagna and not in a sack for once. Let her feel superior.

Then it was up a flight of stairs, past a group of shrieking women who dropped baskets of laundry and rags, and through a kitchen. Chase snagged a peach as she went, tucking it into one pocket. Her breath was tight now, and her side burned, but she knew she'd need the food later. She'd pay the price for this exertion...

CON+1

...but the gains were worth it. If she survived. And escaped. And the catgirl didn't betray her.

“Too SLOW,” the catgirl finally decided and before Chase could protest, snatched her up and tucked her under one arm. Renny yelped, grabbed for something, and caught the catgirl's tail. She shrieked in pain as the plush toy bounced off the floor, legs pumping, then hopped along in long bounds while dragging behind her like a grasshopper on a rope. “Nyaaaa, ahhhh, aaaaaah, ow ow ow!”

They stopped briefly in a pantry off to one side to reorganize and shift about, while shrieking washerwomen and cooks fled into the approaching guards. There was a lot of chaos and shouting, and Chase got shifted to the catgirl's shoulders as Renny went under one arm instead. The beastkin panted a bit, then shook her head. “Okay, we lost a lot of time, so we need to—”

“Phantasm!” Renny said, and then they were a washerwoman.

Well, they looked like one anyway. The image of a grandmotherly serving woman carrying a bundle of clothes on her back surrounded them, concealing them beneath it. The beastkin and Chase barely had time to gawp before the door slammed open, and a pair of guards glared in.

“Damn it!” One cursed. “Woman, get to safety!”

The catgirl blinked.

“Why thankee kind sir!” Chase crooned, imitating Mother Bloom's creaky old voice. “You're as kind as my son, bless his heart. Kinder even! He never calls, he never writes...”

The guards paled and slammed the door.

Chase chuckled in an old woman's voice. “Rather face down a dragon than listen to an old woman gripe about her children. Some things are the same no matter your race.”

“Okay,” the catgirl whispered. “So maybe you're not useless.”

“Do you have a name?” Chase murmured back.

“Carmina. We need to reach a window on an outside wall. Do you know this part of the building?”

“No—” Chase did a double take. “Wait a minute! You were telling me to follow you, and you didn't even know which way you were going?”

“I thought I did!” The catgirl— Carmina, hissed back. “But it's a really, really freaking big building! It's not my fault it's built stupidly!”

From somewhere back the way they'd come, Sir Barriano bellowed in an authoritative voice. Chase couldn't make out the words, but she knew what this meant. Somebody competent had taken charge of the search.

“We can't stay here,” Chase decided.

“Well no cazza!” Carmina said. “Keep quiet and follow my lead.”

“Unless we need to talk,” Chase whispered in one furry ear, as Carmina opened the door. “Then you leave that to me.”

“Fine, fine, whatever.” Carmina said, and tried to walk confidently.

She moved through the kitchens, checking every window they came to, but their luck had apparently run out. Every window was either barred or face an interior courtyard that had tents set up in it and several very alert soldiers looking around for trouble.

“The illusion's not perfect,” Renny warned from under Carmina's arm. “The more people that see it, the greater the chance they'll see through it.”

“Ugh! Damn it,” Carmina cursed as doors started slamming open behind them in rapid succession. “I need to think outside the box.”

Chase blinked. She didn't see any boxes around here.“What?”

“Something my boss says all the time,” Carmina said, looking around the kitchen. At the ingredients being converted into soup, the cutlery and tools lying around, and the large, simmering pot in the fireplace. “Aha!”

“Aha?”

“Hang on tight and hold your breath,” Carmina said, and slammed the pot over. “Wallwalker.”

The pot fell with a clang and a splash of hot soup as Chase saw what was coming and tucked herself low.

And the next moment they were up the chimney.

The smell of burning fur and flesh seeped into Chase's nose nonetheless and she fought to keep her breath held, fought to keep from sneezing.

A low whine, and Chase realized it was Carmina. It was her fingers burning, her fur cooking.

Well.

Chase could help with that, at least.

“Silent Activation, Lesser Healing,” she mouthed, then repeated the process again.

Your Lesser Healing skill is now level 49!

A grunt of thanks was her only answer, and then Carmina swore. “There's a cap. Don't look up, and scrape it off if any falls on you.”

Any? Any what? Chase wondered.

A pop, a hiss, and a flash above. Abruptly Carmina shoved back, grabbing onto the wall as a weird chemical odor drowned out the smoke.

Then a pattering of liquid misted Chase's hand and it was all she could do to keep from screaming as it itched.

You have been afflicted with the Irritated condition!

Frantically she grabbed on tight with her other hand, and rubbed the itching, burning skin against Carmina's jumpsuit. “Not on me! It'll stink for days! Agh, you stupid little—”

Chase ignored the insults. Her hand throbbed, only moderately improved by her actions. She'd be tempted to pass the condition on to Carmina, but the fact was that the catgirl was her best and only chance of escaping, and they were about thirty or forty feet above a raging cookfire.

Then she was clinging on for dear life as Carmina abruptly swung up and slammed her palm into the cap. Once, twice, thrice... and the metal gave with a groan, stone and smoking goo and solder falling past them and down into the flames. Shouts from below, but Carmina was pushing through, hissing as acid-burned metal tore at her suit, gouged her fur...

...and gave Chase a good raking too, for that matter.

Chase winced as a red '33' floated up above her, pain tracing a line down her back to the accompaniment of ripping cloth. “Lesser Healing, Lesser Healing,”

You have healed yourself for 44 points!

You have healed Carmina for 45 points!

Your Lesser Healing skill is now level 50!

Then she coughed, long and deep as smoke burst past them. Drawn up the chimney by the cap's destruction, it expanded into a huge cloud in a matter of seconds.

“Great,” Renny said, smudging ash from his plush hide. “Now we're blind!”

“Okay, okay, let me think,” Carmina called back over her shoulder. “It looks like we were on the west side, so this must be the dealy-bopper that sticks out from the square bit. The dome is... that way? Maybe. If we take it slow and move forward until we hit a downward slope—”

Ssssss-thunk.

Sssss-thunk.

“Uh,” Chase said, spitting ashey phlegm from a mouth that tasted like the chimney they'd just been in. “What is that noise?”

“Oh oh oh no, no, you have GOT to be kidding me, Carmina sighed. “Why? WHY?”

SSSSS-THUNK!

Chase blinked as the smoke cleared for a second, revealing a stick poking straight up from the chimney.

No, not a stick.

An arrow.

“They're shooting at us now?” Chase shrieked.

“THANK YOU FOR STATING THE OBVIOUS!” Carmina shrieked back. “Hang on tight we are leaving!”

“I thought you were supposed to be a Burglar!” Chase screamed. “How are you so very bad at this?”

“It's a side-job!” Carmina screamed back, as she darted forward and leaped out of the smoke. “I'm mostly an Acrobat!”

She ran for the nearest roof edge, fumbling with one hand as she went, tugging something loose.

And hurled herself over the edge without hesitation.

Chase saw no reason to stop screaming, as the arrows hissed up from below, and the ground rose with them...

...then there was a snap of a different kind, a sharp tug, and Chase hung on for dear life as the Acrobat swung across the gap between buildings on her grapple line.

“Make yourself as small as possible!” Carmina called back.

“What?”

Then Chase realized what was happening.

They were crossing over a courtyard, passing above pale faces under helmets, coming within dozens of feet of the crowd below but the arc was almost done and they were heading upwards again.

Up towards a large, stained-glass window on the other side of the courtyard.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Chase shrieked one last shriek, and buried her face in Carmina's shoulder. She couldn't watch. She just couldn't watch.

Glass broke, as loud as the world ending, and then they were bumping, rolling across a dusty, tiled floor. Rotten wood gave and splinters flew, until finally they were all left gasping in the remnants of whatever obstacle had just given way.

Well, all except for Renny. Renny didn't gasp. One of the many benefits of not really having lungs.

“Phantasmal Picture,” he said, and lanterns flared in the darkness.

Once it had been something. A chapel, a small church to one god or the other. Now it was a storeroom, and the rotten wood they'd smashed through was a crate full of dirty cloth.

One door stood open at the end, leading deeper into the halls. A cot nearby, a fragrant chamberpot, and a half-eaten dinner attested to the fact that someone had been here not long ago...

...and as Chase blinked, she realized just who had been here.

“Renny,” she whispered, not daring to trust her eyes. “The tiles! Look at the tiles!”

“They're pretty grimy,” he said, mopping at one. “Huh. Lots of naked babies with wings. Hey, wait a minute!”

“He's here! Thomasi is here!” Chase jumped to her feet.

LUCK+1

A door crashed open below, and the thunder of mailed feet filled the air.

“Yeah, whatever, we need to go now!” Carmina said.

“Not without Thomasi!” Chase said. “Renny, you can do some illusions, Carmina, try to sneak, follow my lead and—”

“Does this look like a sack to you?” Carmina asked, pulling some dusty cloth from the wreckage of the crate.

“Yes, I suppose so, why—”

Carmina grinned ear to ear. “Great! Lootbag!”

Chase stared at her. “Oh you are not—”

And then it was too late.

Chase lay back in the interior of the big cloth-covered room and sighed. After a second, Renny fell out of nowhere and plopped down next to her.

“I'm beginning to think she's not a very nice person,” Renny confided.

“I think I'm done,” Chase said. “Wake me up when she gets us caught again.” Then she rolled over and went to sleep.

It seemed like only seconds later that Renny nudged her awake. Chase lay there, blinking. This time the giant hand that was reaching for them was furry and clawed. Carmina's? Yes, probably.

She debated biting the hand, decided against it. With a sigh she rubbed her eyes, grabbed ahold of Renny, then reached out toward the hand.

It shrunk as she did so, some weird trick of perspective as the magic scaled things. And then fur tickled against her palm, and she was out of the sack.

“Alright, who caught us this time?” she asked.

“Yo,” a vaguely familiar voice called. “How you been, shawty?”

Chase turned away from Carmina, taking in the rows of bottles and alembics and chemicals on the walls, looking past knives and crossbows and a cluttered workbench full of metal scraps and components.

But it wasn't until she saw the rows of bombs sitting neatly lined up on a bookshelf that she knew.

And as she completed the turn, she looked up to the player's grinning face with dread filling her heart.

“Hello Pwner.” she said, the words dropping like lead from her lips. “I was wondering when you would turn up again.”

CHASE'S CHARACTER SHEET

Spoiler: Spoiler

Name: Chase Berrymore

Age: 15 Years

Jobs:

Halven level 11, Cook level 5, Archer level 9, Gambler Level 5, Grifter level 12, Medium level 7, Oracle level 17, Painter level 2, Teacher level 6

Attributes / Pools / Defenses

Strength: 71 Constitution: 40 / Hit Points: 111 / Armor: 10

Intelligence: 69 Wisdom: 126 / Sanity: 195 / Mental Fortitude: 55

Dexterity: 134 Agility: 66 / Stamina: 200 / Endurance: 0

Charisma: 213 Willpower: 57 / Moxie: 270 / Cool: 65

Perception: 113 Luck: 244 / Fortune: 357 / Fate: 50

Generic Skills

Archery – Level 1

Brawling – Level 8

Climb – Level 15

Dagger – Level 2

Dodge – Level 13

Fishing – Level 14

Ride – Level 10

Stealth – Level 19

Swim – Level 7

Throwing – Level 31

Halven Skills

Fate’s Friend – Level N/A

Small in a Good Way – Level N/A

Cook Skills

Cooking - Level 20

Dishwasher – Level N/A

Freshen - Level 12

Archer Skills

Aim – Level 9

Demoralizing Shot – Level 6

Far Shot – Level 1

Missile Mastery – Level N/A

Quickdraw – Level N/A

Rapid Fire – Level N/A

Razor Arrow – Level 8

Ricochet Shot – Level 21

Gambler Skills

Ace in the Hole – Level 2

Ante Up – Level 1

Assess Challenge – Level N/A

Cardsharp – Level 9

Deadly Dice – Level 1

Double Down – Level 1

Gambler’s Fortune – Level N/A

Hold’em – Level N/A

Grifter Skills

Feign Death – Level 7

Fools Gold – Level 4

Forgery – Level 11

Master of Disguise – Level 15

Old Buddy – Level 7

Pickpocket – Level 21

Silent Activation – Level 32

Silver Tongue – Level 33

Size Up – Level 9

Unflappable – Level N/A

Medium Skills

Bad Fortune – Level 15

Crystal Ball – Level 10

Focus Vision – Level 5

Fortuna – Level N/A

Good Fortune – Level 16

Palmistry – Level N/A

Séance – Level N/A

Stack Deck – Level N/A

Oracle Skills

Absorb Condition – Level N/A

Afflict Self – Level 1

Diagnose – Level N/A

Divine Pawn – Level N/A

Foresight – Level 46

Grant Vision Level 7

Influence Fate – Level 14

Lesser Healing – Level 50

Omens and Portents – Level N/A

Random Buff – Level 9

Short Vision – Level 16

Transfer Condition – Level 15

Painter Skills

Fast Dry – Level N/A

Painting – Level 5

Teacher Skills

Lecture – Level 24

Red Ink – Level 3

Smarty Pants – Level N/A

Unlocked Jobs

Farmer, Herbalist

Gear

Enrico’s Last Hand

Light Leather Armor