Altaea Saga: The Thousand Halls

I'm (temporarily) back!!! And I agree with the abovementioned! XD

There is a soft thud as the dagger slides into the dusty, parched ground next to the Sheikh and you rise to your feet, striding quickly out of the tent's entrance. The guards make no attempt to stop you and before long you are away, stealing into the night with the swiftness of an eagle in flight. Returning to Ain's side you approach the woman from the shadows once again.

"It is done?" She asks, avoiding looking at you. She appears relieved when you tell her that the message has been delivered. She covers her heart with her hand and sighs. "It is likely we will not meet again." She says and bows to you. But you have already departed. She will stay by the Sheikh's side as the sect's informant, but her movements will likely be watched carefully from now on. As of this moment the man will never know peace, always watchful of the imagined daggers at his throat. Everyone will be a suspect.

You flee across the desert, taking the most direct route back to the mountains. The weight of your findings rests heavily on your shoulders but you are weary from your travels and the long night you have endured. Will you:

Press on despite your exhaustion?
Rest in the desert, as you have all the provisions necessary?

Press on, press on! Assassins do not dillydally!

But dude, what if they're like really tired?

Then they ingest some speed or maybe really much caffeine.

When you say all the provisions... hmm.. I vote for rest.

he didn't say we have all the provisions, there was a question mark WHAT'S WITH THAT?? Can we do half and half? Press on enough to be a very good distance away, and then rest? I'm kinda torn..

(Blah blah blah, sorry. Haven't been around etc. Lame non-commital excuses and stuff. Let's get down to business.)

Your weary feet drag in the sand behind you and you feel waves of fatigue wash over you. You search for a suitable place to camp, the rolling dunes and everpresent winds covering your tracks. You eventually settle on a large slope where you are able to quickly assemble shelter from your cloak and other personal items. While it is far from ideal, it will protect you from the elements. And though the sand is hard beneath your back you do not notice it for long as you drift to sleep.

When you awaken you inspect the moisture trap you had set the previous night and drink its contents. The few scant mouthfuls of water revitalise you and you hurriedly dig your way out of the sand which has covered your makeshift shelter. It is mid morning when you emerge and you press on the rest of the way towards the mountains.

The sun is setting by the time you arrive at the peaks of Imad al Din. The coppery light dazzles you as you gaze upon the marvellous stone edifice.

How will you approach?

Will you:
Call out to the sentinel in the ramparts?
Attempt to steal in unnoticed?

As cool as it would be to steal in unnoticed, it wouldn't be as cool if he tried and failed and died by the hands of his own allies after completing (and surviving!) a deadly mission. Thus, I say, call out to the guards and move along.

Dying under friendly fire.. hhmmm... sounds like playing Halo with my brothers.

Call out to the guard people.

We are a well trained assassin, it's less sneaking by unnoticed as walking as we normally do. It's twilight, its shadowy, we're shadowy. Total win for sneaking in.

SNEAK IN

You call out to the guard manning the watchtower and he peers down at you warily. In the twilight your features are difficult to make out and he questions you on your identity and the nature of your mission, which you refuse to divulge. After several rounds of questioning on the tenets of the sect he grows silent and you wonder if begin to fear that you will be attacked. However it is not long before the gates to the fortress open wide for you with the sound of stone scraping against sandy stone. You enter proudly and the men at the gate share guarded looks with you, their gazes inscrutible as you pass them by on your way to the prophet's chamber.

The streets are nearly deserted. With night closing in the men and women of the fortress town have returned to their homes and not a soul greets you from your hard journey. When at last you arrive at the prophet's tower an imam greets you, asking the nature of your visit. You reply, as with the guard that you have returned from completing an important task for the prophet and the man's eyes light up in recognition.

"Of course. We have been waiting for you Azim!" And he ushers you after him into the tower, through the winding corridors before finally the two of you arrive outside Hassan's chamber. The young holy man enters alone and it seems like you are waiting for hours, wavering on the edge of exhaustion when finally the imam returns.

"His holiness will see you now." He says, leaving the way you came.

As you enter the scent of grass and flowers reaches your nostrils and you feel revitalised. Hassan is as you left him, sitting still in the middle of the garden. Silently you kneel before him and await his instructions.

"Tell me." He says at last in a cracked voice deep with age. "What have you seen?" You touch your head to the earth and recount your tale. At the mention of the mage the old man speaks.

"This is worrying." He says, though his expression remains serene. "That a sheikh of the Caliphate would ally with a magi of the Azure Plains suggests that there is more to this conflict than meets the eye. What else did you discover?".

Will you:

Show him the scroll that you retrieved from the mage?
Show him the black powder and flint device you retrieved from the mage's chest?
Continue with your story without mentioning either?

show him the scroll!

I agree. Show 'im zhe scroll!!!

Show him the scroll, but wont he want to see both?