Ahead Cinnamon leaps silently to the top of a stacked stone wall, bordering the edge of a porch on the three story building. Perching for a moment to glance down she then drops over just as whisper quiet.

I follow suit, giving a short hop to grip the edge and pull my fit frame up and over; grinning at the strength and agility my body now possessed.

Unlocked: General Skill: Climbing: Success!

We've been moving via the rooftops for a few blocks now, practically gliding over the moisture and leaf slicked roofs as we bee line in the direction of the Skydocks; the cranes an easy landmark above the tile topped buildings.

Cinnamon is incredible. Even with my gifts of Elven agility, speed and my newly acquired Lightstep I find myself pushing to keep up with her. She moves with a practiced efficiency, ducking into nooks and overhangs like it was second nature. Blending with the shadows so effortlessly that I wonder if she isn't using some type of special ability.

More than once I've lost sight of her only to have her appear from behind some chimney or hidden alcove to grab my attention with a wave as I look around in confusion.

Much like now.

I hurry over to Cinnamon as she motions to me then crouches behind a mass of magitech machinery sprouting from the side of the building. A large rough hammered fan blade turns slowly; pipes and cables running down into the alley below and out of sight.

"What the hells got you grinning so much, Too Tall?" Kryst pops herself halfway out of Cinnamons backpack, her little arms holding the flap above her head comically.

"Am I?" Kneeling next to Cinnamon I give a dismissive shrug of my shoulders. Trying to explain to my companions the reasons why our run was having such a thrilling effect on me would be futile. Dashing over rooftops and bounding alleys was something I'd dreamed about ever since I'd picked up my first comic book and seen how all the superheroes did it during their protective patrols of their chosen city.

"Well, knock it off. It's giving me the creeps." Kryst humphs.

"Maybe I just like the idea of chasing after a couple of good-looking ladies." I say.

Charm vs Cinnamon Butter: Success!

Charm vs Kryst Thunderfist: Success!

Cinnamon coos and Kryst rolls her eyes with a smirk to match my own. I think I'm getting the hang of this.

"We should probably get down to the ground to make our way to the Skydocks." Cinnamon says, "Things have changed a little since I was last here, but I think I know the way."

"I thought you came here fairly often." I say.

Cinnamon gives a shake of her head, her long ears twisting left and right. "I did, when I was a kit, but that was quite awhile ago."

"So you don't know anything about these goblins that we are going to meet then."

"No, I'm afraid not, Brian. Sorry." Cinnamons ears lower.

"Meh. If they are in charge of the docks then I'm guessing typical goblins." Kryst pipes in.

"What do you mean?" I ask. In most game systems goblins were usually low challenge threats. Something for adventurers to cut their teeth on before moving onto bigger and better adversaries. Evil little humanoids, driven by selfishness and greed; taught from near birth to rely only on themselves. A necessity to survive the hardships of their upbringing.

However, much like the drow, over the years goblins had become a viable player character race in many game systems, and like dark elves, they too often had to overcome the prejudices and stereotypes attributed to their kind to become accepted into the 'good' communities of the world.

"You've never had any dealings with goblins?" Kryst asks leaning out even further from Cinnamons backpack.

"I have." I say recalling countless encounters in old games. I'm a bit hesitant to give them any further details, considering how different things have proven to be here. "The ones I am familiar with were more nuisances than anything else." I shrug, "I guess you could say they were more tribal in nature. With a sort of predisposition to be greedy and malicious."

"Goodness, those sound like wild goblins." Cinnamon says.

"Yeah." Kryst nods at Cinnamon, "They're the ones that usually roam around in small packs. It's not till they settle down with a few other families and get a more diverse communal collection that they lose that feral nature and begin to develop their cognitive cohesion."

"Wait, what?" My face scrunches in bewilderment. "They get smarter in large groups?"

"Ehhh" Kryst waggles her hand in the air. "I suppose you could look at it that way. It does seem to heighten their innate talent for jury rigging and cobbling together mechanical stuff."

"Yes." Cinnamon nods in agreement, "Most tend to work in or even establish and run many types of crafting guilds." She gives me a closed eyed smile, "City goblins are very industrious."

I feel like a star with a trailing rainbow should be passing in front of my eyes with a 'the more you know' tagline following Cinnamons gentle voiced delivery.

Kryst points toward Cinnamon as if to punctuate her statement. "Yeah what she said. They still tend to be greedy, but it's tempered into a more organized form."

"Interesting." Reflexively my eyes pan over the city, looking past the leaves drifting through the air and toward the cranes that mark our destination in the distance. My eyes widen behind my dark shades.

"Whoa! Is that an Airship?" Pointing I tap an enthusiastic drum beat on Cinnamon's shoulder.

It is a strange looking vessel, what I could see, since most was still hidden from view by the buildings between us. Made of a rich dark colored wood, chunky metal plates and all of it covered in elaborate detailing of polished scroll-like brass. It loosely resembles an old styled sailing galleon; complete with masts, rigging and sails, though many stick out at odd angles, and funky, oversized sci-fi meets steampunk engines sprout at the sides and, particularly, stern of the craft.

"Yup, yup. Looks like it just docked." Cinnamon says nodding. "You've never seen an Airship either, Brian?"

I shake my head in the negative then crane my neck to try and get a better view. I feel the smile growing wider on my face but I can't help it. Looking around I spy a wall and section of roof that juts out a bit higher that should provide a better vantage point.

"Excitable thing, ain't he?" Kryst says with a smirk to Cinnamon.

Cinnamon giggle coos, "I think it's cute."

I easily navigate the short distance over to the taller section, my feet seeming to almost float across the rooftop tiles with my lightstep ability. It's a bit of a leap to reach the top of the wall but I spring upward to grip the edge...

General Skill: Climbing: Fail!

...but my fingers slide over the lip, slick with wet leaves. With a yelp of surprise I tumble off the side, bounce onto my back and roll. My feet dangling out into the open air over the alley, I scramble desperately to find a handhold.

General Skill: Climbing: Fail!

Tiles come loose under my fingers in my frantic, vain attempt to find any kind of purchase. Panic squeezes my chest in its icy grip; the tiles tumble a split second before I do, smashing against the wall and window ledges to send red ceramic shards raining nosily into the alley. My arms and legs flail outward as I start to fall. Damn gravity! She's a harsh mistress.

Acrobatics: Success!

My left foot scrapes a mass of pipes just long enough for me to push off and twist, flipping head over heels in the open air.

There is a tug of energy inside my core, the same as when I've used my mend ability. The sword! I will the flow toward the blade at my hip and feel the magic pour into the weapon.

Wing Blade: minus 15 ft fall damage: Mana cost 5.

Wing Blade: minus 15 ft fall damage: Mana cost 5.

I have no idea what's supposed to happen but I don't seem to slow. Crap! did it not work!? I continue to plummet, the ground rushing up to meet me. This is gonna hurt. Still dreading the impending impact I slam into the ground in an impressive three point superhero landing.

There is a quick shock of pain, but its barely noticeable, and nowhere near enough to dull the excitement of my somersaulting air-robatics and surviving a fifty plus foot fall.

"Yeah! That was totally ninja!"

Brian Status: HP: 7 / 12 Stun: 17 / 22 Mana: 0 / 10

"You there! What are you doing?!"

The smile on my face drops when I spin about to face a pair figures standing under the eve dressed in the typical red leather armor of city guard. One of them is leaning against the wall, glancing between me at the broken tiles at my feet, smoke puffing from the pipe between his lips. The other, a woman with short cropped dark hair steps forward, pulling a wooden truncheon from her belt. She points the weapon toward me menacingly while the other guard looks up to scan the rooftops, his thick blonde mustache twitching.

I look upward also, breathing a sigh of relief that Cinnamon is nowhere to be seen.

"Think we've just found ourselves a burglar." The pipe chewing, mustachioed guard states. "An a bit of a bungling one at that."

"That true?" The woman asks addressing me with a steely glare.

"No, sir...eer, M'am... I was just...uhh." Stuttering for words, I curse myself inwardly. How was I supposed to explain this one. "I was... umm trying to clean some leaves from the roof and lost my footing."

General Skill: Deception vs Guard 1: Fail!

General Skill: Deception vs Guard 2: Fail!

"Is that right?" The guards glance to each other for a brief moment. The second rolling his eyes ever so slightly. "Dangerous work that is. I suppose that's why you need the pistol and sword." He too tugs his baton free, thankfully leaving his sword in its scabbard as well.

The woman looks me up and down for a moment then without taking her eyes off me addresses the other guard. "Hey, Royce? Wasn't that Gleam supposed to be traveling with a Lepuri and a Drow?"

The male guard makes a grunt of acknowledgment and turns his attention back to the rooftops, squinting."You know anything about a Gleam, friend?"

"Nope, no idea." I shake my head from side to side.

"Right." The woman pulls out a set of manacles, not much larger than a pair of modern era handcuffs from a pouch behind her hip. "On the ground, hands behind your back."

"All I did was fall off of a roof. Surely you aren't going to arrest me for that, right? I mean, did I commit some kind of crime? " I question.

"Watch who you're calling Shirley, spooker!" The woman says with a growl.

"Spooker?" I boggle, For some reason I feel oddly offended. And did we really just do the 'don't call me Shirley' bit?

"Look lad, we have enough reason to believe that there's crime afoot." The male guard, Royce says, placing his pipe on the edge of a old broken crate. "Now get on the ground or we'll put you on the ground. "His words come accompanied with a billow of grey blue smoke.

Bending my knees and lifting my hands in a sign of surrender I slowly lower myself toward the leaf caked floor. Crap! I can't get arrested. As much as I hate the idea, there is no other choice. I have to try and take them out and make a break for it.

Brian Status: HP: 7 / 12 Stun: 22 / 22 Mana: 0 / 10

Even if I am still bruised and battered I at least seemed to have recovered from the shock of the fall. I just pray that it's enough.

I go down to one knee, lowering myself to the ground. The female guard steps toward me and I see my chance. Like a sprinter at a starting block I burst forward and up. Driving my shoulder into her stomach I lift her off her feet and slam her into the wall.

Unlocked: General Combat Action: CHARGE!

Her breath leaves in a loud grunt and the manacles clatter to the ground but her truncheon, its strap looped about her wrist, doesn't. Instead it rises and falls onto my back. Thankfully, my armor and a degree of my own physical toughness takes some of the sting out of the blows but it still hurts. A lot.

Brian Status: HP: 7 / 12 Stun: 13 / 22 Mana: 0 / 10

I stand shoving her back against the wall and raise a fist but the thought of punching a woman in the face causes me to pause. The second guard lunges forward and I twist around to block instead, lifting my forearm to stop the swing aimed at my temple. The woman, her eyes slightly unfocused brings up a foot and manages to push me away with a powerful shove.

Stumbling backward I collide into a rainwater collection barrel and topple to the ground, gasping at the sudden shock of frigid cold as I'm drenched in water and sopping leaves. Stupid!

I roll to the side as the male guard pounces onto me his hands scrabbling at my arms to keep me from drawing either my gun or sword. He needn't have bothered I had no intention to draw either weapon. Getting in a tussle was one thing, but trying to kill them was another.

"Stop resisting! Stop resisting!" He yells into my face as I struggle under his weight.

Perception vs Cinnamon Butter: Success!

From the corner of my eye a shadow catches my attention and I see Cinnamon land silently behind the female guard who is distracted with picking up the manacles.

Cinnamon twirls something in her hand and then swings it in a vicious arc to thump into the back of the oblivious guard's head.

Cinnamon Special Attack: Backstab.

Like a sack of potatoes the guard falls to her knees and crashes to the ground next to us. Mr. Mustache takes immediate notice of his fallen comrade and his grip on me releases. Inhaling deeply he grabs at a chain around his neck twirling it around to bring the dangling whistle at the end toward his lips.

Damn! I can't let him signal more guard! The situation reversed I grapple at him now. Taking hold of his wrist to yank the whistle from his mouth; The barest hi-pitched chirp of alarm transforms instead to a wet pptthhh sound from between his pursed lips.

Kryst comes flying out of nowhere, magenta energy trailing the blur of her tiny fists she strikes the guard a single blow near his neck

Kryst Special Attack: Stunning Blow.

He momentarily stiffens in my grasp and then like his partner, goes slack. Eyes rolled back into his head Royce slumps on top of me with barely a groan.

"Thanks." I roll the guard off of me, catching my breath. "You ladies can kick ass, can't you?" I grin to Kryst and Cinnamon.

"Seems you have a few tricks up your sleeve yourself. I was expecting to find you in pieces down here after that fall." Kryst buzzes up to land on Cinnamons shoulder as I stand, "You really shouldn't try that type of thing if you don't have wings, you know." She flickers her gossamer wings quickly to drive the point home.

"Or, you know, Lepuri legs." Cinnamon coos.

"We did need to get down to the ground." I chuckle.

Moving quickly I drag the unconscious guards a bit further down the alley and hide them behind a pile of leaves . For a moment I'm tempted to loot them of their manacles and truncheons and poke through their pouches to see what else they may have that might come in handy, but I stop myself. They were only doing their jobs, and in all honesty I would have probably done same thing if the situation was reversed.

Moving the crate over to help conceal their sleeping forms, I dump the ashes from the guards pipe then place it on his chest and glance about for Cinnamon. She appears from behind a couple of stacked barrels at the mouth of the alley like magic and motions to me. Hustling down to Cinnamon waiting at the mouth of the alley I spot Kryst wriggling back into her knapsack hiding spot.

"Let's put some distance between us and..." I motion back over my shoulder, "Maybe try and find some place to grab some cloaks or something, Cinni-buns." I reach down and give a little pat to her butt. Cinnamon does a little nervous squeak but the follow up coo and smile tells me she doesn't object to my forwardness.

"Oh, yes." Cinnamons tail gives a quick double twitch "Good idea, Brian. I think I know where we can find some stores for that. Follow me." She says cutely then slips out onto the street.

An uneasiness, tugs at my mind and I'm not sure what is bothering me. The fact that the city guard would most definitely be looking for us now, or the strange twinkle of pleasure I saw in Cinnamon's eye when she sapped that guard.