"Um, I'm sorry Marty," Cassy blushed, "But the castle does look like it would take a long time to walk around and I agree the door looks a bit worrisome with the runes. So..."
Marty sighed and rubbed his eyes," It's ok, I understand your reasons. I don't like it, but I understand."
Tabitha meanwhile approached the wall and felt the stone. "Old, cracked, with crumbling mortar. Won't be easy but I think I can manage."
Reaching into her pack she pulled out some special spiked grips that she bound to the underside of her shoes. Then taking a dagger in each hand, she began her slow climb, working each blade deep enough into the cracks between the stone before hoisting herself up.
It took almost two hours of slow careful climbing before she finally reached the window. Locked of course. A few quick moments with the blade of a dagger and the wood around one of the small panes of glass was loose enough to pull free, reaching inside and unlocking the window, the others below had a surreal moment where a hole in the sky seemed to be open and Tabitha slipped inside.
Dropping to the ground she quickly took stock of her surroundings. It appeared to be a large bedroom of sorts. unusual to have in the outer chambers of a castle as opposed to inner chambers where it was safer, but perhaps it was a room for a servant of little importance.
"If this is what the servants in this place got, sign me up," Tabitha quipped as she took it all in.
Not only was the room the size of a small cottage, but the four-post bed looked big enough to hold a large extended family, a walk-in closet nearby showed off what appeared to be hundreds of outfits, and the bathroom through another door looked to have it's own swimming pool.
The only door not open was apparently the door leading out of the room. Tabitha wasn't worried about that for now though, first she had to find some way to get the others up to her. Uncoiling her rope, she found a large heavy chest of sorts she was able to tie it too. Even if the others were able to pull it to the window, there was no way it would fit through.
Tying one end of the rope to the chest she leaned out the window and called down. "Looks clear boys. Now, how about we discuss how we're going to split the reward?"
John flushed and started to sputter, but Marty remained calm. Just when it seemed John was about to blow his stack Tabitha laughed, "I'm kidding I'm kidding! Here." With a flick of her wrist the rope rolled down the side of the castle to the ground.
John still looked angry as Marty put a hand on his shoulder. "You know she was just teasing right?' the cheetah smiled, "Ken said we'd each be paid individually, so there's no need to divide up a single payment."
John still looked irritated, but that shifted to confusion as Marty approached the rope. "I thought you were scared of heights?"
"Terrified," Marty replied casually despite his shaking hands, "But at least if I go first then you or Cassy can catch me if I fall."
"Don't count on it," the dragon muttered, but the cheetah was already climbing.
After three dizzy spells and two minor slips, Tabitha helped haul Marty inside. As he turned to help Cassy up Tabitha decided to explore the room a bit more. The bed seemed to catch her interest for the moment, being the biggest thing in the room and she noticed three 'bell pulls' hanging over it. Normally the rich used such things to summon servants. But if this was a servants quarters, why were they here? And why three of them? Even if they lead to different places, she couldn't see needing three of them for anything beyond calling any servant from one location.
Cassy had just made it in and the mage and Priestess were just working together to haul up John when there came a sudden knock at the door.Tabatha glanced to Marty and Cassy. Here was no way for them to hide still hauling John up the castle wall, and the dragon was too far up to be dropped. The knock came again and Tabitha retreated to the door, intent on intercepting anyone who might come through.
"My lady?" came a voice from the other side, "My lady are you there?"
Taking a chance, Tabitha replied in the sweetest noble voice she could manage, "Who is it?"
Unexpectedly the door suddenly swung open. Tabitha brandished her knives but almost dropped them in surprise. The figure on the other side of the door was such a sight she honestly wasn't sure what she was looking at at first.
Taller than John and almost twice as wide, the figure was also scaly but with bright red scales covering her face. And it was indeed a her. If the flowery blue dress wasn't indication enough, the enormous orbs barely contained within were a dead give away.
"Oh my lady, it's so good to have you home," the female scaly smiled, her puffy lips parted in a wide smile, "Everyone has missed you so much."
Tabitha didn't know how to respond, and only was jolted out of her stupor as John was hauled in through the window, his armor clanking loudly.
"Oh, and you brought friends," the large female smiled turning to face them. It was then Tabitha realized why the female looked so big. She was fat. And not just chubby, but very fat. She would have put the wealthiest well fed noble in the country to shame with that girth.
"Now I know you're probably all tired out from your long journey so why don't you all rest here and I'll be back shortly with some snacks."
Before Tabitha could say another word the female left, shutting the door firmly behind her.
"I didn't know you were from around here," John noted with some interest.
"I'm not!" the vixen replied, finally managing to string two words together, I've never been to this place before, she must be delusional or..." Tabitha trailed off seeing Johns smirk, clearly satisfied to have gotten under her skin again.
"Well what now?" Cassy mused, "We're inside but we have no idea where to go And we have at least one strange servant who seems to think Tabitha is someone else."
"We could play along," John mused, "She did seem eager to help. If she thinks Tabitha is this lady she's been waiting for she might be able to help us."
"Yeah but one slip or indication I'm not who she thinks I am and she might scream for help," Tabitha pointed out.
"I don't know," Mark replied, "She didn't seem to think you were anyone else in all that gear you're wearing, and that's hardly the outfit of nobility. Maybe she is delusional and really can't tell."
"That's still a very big risk," Tabitha sighed.
"Well what do you think we should do?" Mark asked the vixen thief.
Tabitha looked unsure as she glanced about the room again.
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