The War for the Rose: Book One Complete

[alexthewhite]

==> "Would you believe I am Ten Knives' Apprentice? You can clearly see my skill with the knife, my well fed features, and stolen armor. . . Still need proof, I will show you a passage to the Underworld."

The man's jaw drops for a moment, and his eyes nearly pop from his skull. "T-ten Knives? How did you...who told you that name?" He shakes the surprise away, and his gruff composure returns. "Not everyone knows that name, but you knowing it proves nothing. How do I know you aren't try to save your skin?"

"You will let me live, I have Guild secrets. Lord Mud could not stop us as Guard Captain, and his troubles will grow with his power. Information . . . is more valuable than a hundred airships! I hope you understand my tight lips earlier. Lord Granite falls by his own ignorance, and Mud would be wise not to repeat Granite's folly. Do you want to be the reason Mud falls?"

The soldier strokes his stubble with his free hand. He's actually considering this lie! You're pretty proud of it, actually. Your father taught you well.

Still, this soldier is as sharp and determined a foe as you've met so far. He may not buy it.

"...Very well, whelp," he growls. "I do not believe a word that comes from your mouth, but you are too well-informed for me to kill without first separating the truth from the lies. My lord shall hear what it is you have to say, but I will warn you, you may find yourself wishing I had slain you painlessly here and now."

Miraculously, the sword backs several inches from your throat. "If I am to let you live, I require two things in return. First, I see a knife on your belt. Give it and any other weapons you are carrying to me. If you have a hidden blade, and I am almost certain that you do, I will slay you without hesitation."

The soldier purses his lips. "The second thing I require is your name. I am called Anas."

[OnBackorder]

> Stifle a laugh at his name (You child). "Where does one gets a name like that?" Stall for time, as we try to remember our many alter-egos. Namely the ones we didn't use on him already.

Dust is a bodyguard's daughter, but a third name would push our fragile luck. Since we are lying, we may as well make an entire lie. Don't want to meet Sun and Falling in the street and have a whole other story for your name. Element of surprise is lost.

> "I am Lyre, like the instrument. You can make jokes if you want, I can't stop you." Secretly loves homophone jokes.

Now would be a good time to recall all of our weapons.

> Hand over your knife. He obviously thinks you have more. Begin stripping until he believes you (You Tomboy). From here follow the flow chart. v

1. He is a gentleman and averts his eyes. Go for the chains dammit!
2. He is interested. Play a game of 'Show me yours, I'll show you mine'(Hiding must know this game, Laughing had to be a bad influence somewhere). Attack the unarmored fool.
3. He is a professional. Get screwed over by the level headed master of all tricks. Complement him on his chivalry. Flirt as much as possible. Develop Stockholm Syndrome at a surprising rate.

> Show him to the escape hatch, be insistent. When he tells you to stop whining, tell him you are complaining, "Do you want whining? This is whining! Ugh, your grip is too tight, I'm going to bruise. Can't you loosen it? And this rope is so dirty - why didn't you clean it first - it is going to leave a stain. I can walk on my own. Why do you have to pull me?"

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It is highly likely he hails from Reegus. Anas being shorthand for a longer Latin word for duck. Only region I can think of that would use the animal naming scheme.

I am interested in why he is in the dessert now. This is also a great chance to promote Lima Syndrome Awareness Day.

[alexthewhite]

Stifle a laugh at his name (You child). "Where does one gets a name like that?"

"Not that odd a name," he grunts. "And you've yet to answer my question."

"I am Lyre, like the instrument. You can make jokes if you want, I can't stop you."

"Lyre? That's a northern name," Anas slits his eyes at you suspiciously. "But you don't look like you're from the south. Your skin is too light. I suppose you're just another of the lost souls Ten Knives brings to curse our city."

Hand over your knife. He obviously thinks you have more. Begin stripping until he believes you .

"What in the name of the Ground-dweller are you doing?" Anas face crumples into a furious frown as he places your knife securely on his belt. "Keep your armor on, you stupid girl. I'll find the blade."

First, he pokes your belt with his sword. "This. Take it off." Resignedly, you remove the belt containing your last two defenses: the bag of chains and the tube Laughing Spire gave you. You are now utterly defenseless, other than your fists and training. Anas slings it over his shoulder.

Then, without warning, he steps over to you and runs his hand up and down both of your arms in turn, taking an especially long look at your wrists. Satisfied, he points the blade dangerously close to your throat before dropping to his knees, patting down your legs, especially your ankles and inner thighs. You squeak and blush at the latter: no one's ever touched you there before.

To his credit, Anas did it with neither coyness nor vigor. He is not attracted to you whatsoever. It may be because he looks to be thrice your age, it may be because you aren't very pretty (curse your small breasts and shapeless hips!) or it may be because you killed his partner and he doesn't see you worthy of that. You're not about to ask.

Complement him on his chivalry. Flirt as much as possible. Develop Stockholm Syndrome at a surprising rate.

"That was very...honorable of you," you say in what you suspect was a failed attempt at cockiness.

"Like I'm about to fuck an ugly little girl twenty years my junior who just killed my partner," Anas growled humorlessly.

Guess it was all three, then.

"And here I thought all Mud-men were murderous monsters." This is one of the first honest things you've said to him.

"Some are. Just as some of Granite's men are, and many of Malamara's mercenaries, and much of Ten Knives' clan. We're a desperate lot, but not all of us are as bad as you or your mistress. I was a guard of the city for eighteen years before Lord Mud came to power."

Can it be? Did he just share some personal information with you?

This is good. This is very good, indeed. He is beginning to trust you, at least not to immediately kill him as soon as he turns his back. That said, it may be because he's convinced you don't have a weapon.

You must say, you weren't expecting such an...honorable captor. He acts much like some of your father's knights.

Show him to the escape hatch, be insistent.

"Now, I can show you to the tunnels..."

Anas laughs a humorless laugh. "You want me to come with you into a dark, cramped, maze-like passageway built by Ten Knives that I know nothing about and you likely know everything about?"

"...Yes?"

"If I had some rope, I'd bind your hands," he says to himself, ignoring you. "I suppose I'll have to march you at swordpoint. Walk slowly, keep your hands folded and on the back of your head. Scream and I'll cut your tongue out." Walking around behind you, he prods you with his sword. "March."

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>OnBackOrder: Stop putting more thought into the story than the guy writing it.

[mellifluousMastermind]

OnBackOrder: Rarity reference secured.

>March! Keep being coridal for as long as he does.

[OnBackorder]

>March! Keep being coridal for as long as he does.

Agreed.

Unfortunately, Hiding Spire knows too little about S&M to make a joke about ropes She will have to use more juvenile tactics.

> TRIP! TRIP! TRIP! Keep on tripping until he is forced to carry you!

> Electra Complex engage! "You make my knees weak," Hiding, not realizing the innuendo, "I think it is from blood loss."

> Anas: I barely cut you! . . . You had better be worth this.

> Hiding Spire: Ask Anas questions about his home? How much do you know of the North? Where are we going? Who taught you interrogation because you are very good.

> Hiding Spire: Fall asleep, you never did rest at the stable/inn. Soon you won't be able to resist the voices in your head.

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Sorry Alex, but you can't have a pubescent girl kill a man, be pinned to a bed, and interrogated without her getting hot for captor.

[alexthewhite]

>March! Keep being coridal for as long as he does.

Hiding Spire: Ask Anas questions about his home? How much do you know of the North? Where are we going? Who taught you interrogation because you are very good.

"So," you ask conversationally, "where were you born? Here in Southflight?"

"It takes a special sort to try and get information from someone who is holding you at swordpoint," Anas says from behind you.

Damn it. "You're a sharp one, my lord. Far smarter than I expected any guardsman to be." You reckon some sucking up is in order as the fountain comes into view.

"And you're far more dangerous than I expected any little girl to be. Don't slow down."

But while Anas realized you slowed down, he doesn't know why. You saw something. A black shape, on one of the rooftops on the other side of the square. You blink, and it's gone.

It disappeared over the direction that Anas is steering you.

"What's this way?" you ask, trying to hide your anxiousness.

"A prison we control. You'll be held there while we decide what to do with you." Anas is completely oblivious to the shape. "The road is too exposed. We're going to take an alleyway. Move quickly and move quietly."

The alley is on the other side of the square, but the jog Anas is forcing you to move at is making it hard to take anything in except for a feeling of claustrophobic dankness. You don't like this alley. It smells like a trap.

And when a grimy figure steps from the shadows, that's exactly what it turns out to be.

He's big, as big as Anas, but much younger. He's your age, it looks like. His face is much too dirty to have gotten that way naturally; it must have been done on purpose. He's wearing a low-quality tunic that shows muscular but bruised arms.

And held loosely in his right hand is a huge, bloody cleaver.

"Look at what I caught," he says, grinning a filthy grin. "A great big cat carrying home something for 'is master. Here, kitty, put away your claw and I won't have to send you to the butcher's."

"Flightless," says Anas in a disgusted tone. "How dare you approach me? I am doing the work of the lord of this city."

"You're doing the work of the lord of mud," returns the boy. "Likes little girls now, issit? Or is she for you?"

"She is a murderer and a criminal, much like you. I would strike you down, but it would give her an opportunity to escape."

"Oh? Sounds like my sort of lass, then." The filthy boy smiles at you. "So what's the name of your mother, little bird? Are you a child of stones or gold or knives? Or perhaps," he muses as a drop of blood falls from his cleaver to the cobblestone, "just a lost chickling kicked from her nest and fending for herself?"

"She is with Ten Knives and her ilk. You know Ten Knives?" asks Anas.

"Course I know Ten Knives. It's you stuffy guards and ex-guards who don't know that name." The boy isn't smiling at you any longer. He seems to be thinking hard about something. "I'll shed no tears when Ten Knives gets hers, though. She's not as bad as you Mudmen, but the Flightless have got long memories."

"How nice," growls Anas. "Do you intend to fight me?"

"I'm no death-seeker, I can tell when I'm not a match for a man." The boy gestures to his chest in a broad, sweeping gesture. "Not a speck of armor on me. And I don't much like the look of that blade."

"Then why are we still standing her? Lyre, move." You feel Anas prod you lightly with his sword.

"Hold on a tick of the clock. You're forgetting your manners, mud-for-brains. You forgot to say farewell to my friends."

"Friends? What-"

The question Anas never got to ask is answered when two figures jump from the roof and hit the ground behind you. You peek over your shoulder at them. One is tall and weedy, the other small and slender. They are both holding knives.

"The ground is a dangerous place," says the first boy solemnly. "So we hunt in packs."

You gasp as Anas slides backwards, his back meeting yours. There is a brief shuffle as something cold and metal touches your hand.

"My knife?" you say in disbelief as you curl your fingers around the instrument. "What are you doing?"

"I cannot defeat a trio of Flightless, not without grievous injury on my part," says Anas as he wails his sword menacingly. "And you would certainly escape in the confusion. We may be enemies, but the Flightless bear neither of us love."

"A truth if one was ever spoken," says the leader of the trio as he circles around, facing you. "I'd urge you to turn that knife on the man behind you, my sweet. We'll let you live if you do."

"You know me to be a man of my word," says Anas softly. "Stall or kill one of these Flightless for me, and I shall let you go free. On my honor."

"A man of 'is word, 'e says!" sneers one of the two new arrivals.

"Perhaps it's time to sweeten the deal, Arnash?" suggests the other.

The leader of the trio, who is apparently named Arnash, puts a finger to his chin. "I reckon so. Well then, perhaps this will have you turn those knives on someone who deserves it. Fight for us and we'll take you to Broken Bird. He'll repay your kindness, I'm sure of it."

[OnBackorder]

Getting away with murder by murdering? It's the perfect plan!

> Anas is distracted, DISTRACTED, now is your chance!

"Remember when you took all my weapons away from me Anas? I didn't like that. You were in the right, I know, but a dagger in this situation is not enough."
"Lyre!"
"I'm sorry sir," lunging at his shoulder Hiding Spire retrieves her chains, "But I need these too." She follows the slight by releasing a volley of spiked death at the butcher. Hopefully it is enough to restrain him.

> Berate Anas after the fight. ITS A DARK ALLEY, WHAT DID YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN?

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Oh no, exposition! Must. Not. Over. Think!~
Just noticed Anas used Ground Dweller in the post he called her pale, used in the same reverence as Air Walker in Whitesky. This points to Etonsia, the golem land, but the name is still animal - not mineral. He obviously had to live the harsh life of a border brat. Nations at constant skirmish, never seeing the sun in either nation (Canopy of tree* and caves respectively), we want him alive as long as possible.

[alexthewhite]

> Anas is distracted, DISTRACTED, now is your chance!

"Remember when you took all my weapons away from me Anas? I didn't like that. You were in the right, I know, but a dagger in this situation is not enough."
"Lyre!"
"I'm sorry sir," lunging at his shoulder Hiding Spire retrieves her chains, "But I need these too."

In hindsight, this was not as good an idea as you thought it was going to be.

Anas' training and experience took over as soon as you grabbed him, and he was halfway turned around before remembering two foes now had the luxury of his back.

There was a pained shout as the taller one shoved his knife to the hilt into Anas' mailed shoulder. Seconds later, it was followed by a loud squelch as Anas separated his head from his body.

The wide arc that decapitated Anas' foe also managed to catch you with an elbow. You stumble forward, white spots in your vision, clutching the bag for dear life as the shape of Arash moves for you. The cleaver rises in the air-

and gets caught on the bag of chains. The sack bursts, and the metal links snake to the floor, settling in a neat pile. Instinctually, you kick outwards, getting Arash in the stomach. Twirling your knife, you make several slashes in the air before retreating back to regain your bearings.

"Arnash," says the boy Anas did not kill in a pained voice, "he's dead. Taylan is dead."

Arnash is grinning while clutching his stomach. "Best be safe, then." Cupping his mouth, he begins to scream. It's not a natural scream, but a high-pitched piercing wail that doesn't end. Soon after, the other boy is accompanying him in the cry.

"Thousand traitors," mutters Anas through grit teeth. "I'm hurt and they're calling their friends. We're about to have a lot of Flightless around."

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Run. You are going to be so outnumbered that combat skill will be meaningless.

>If running itself won't work, get to place where you can fight them one-at-a-time.

[OnBackorder]

> Do you want to go to the tunnel now? At the very least you can fight one on one there.

> Still berate Anas after the fight. First the alley, NOW YOU ELBOW MY JAW. (Electra complex cured)

[alexthewhite]

Run. You are going to be so outnumbered that combat skill will be meaningless.

Tempting as it is to try and escape, you don't see any way to do that. Arnash and his friend have the two of you boxed in.

If running itself won't work, get to place where you can fight them one-at-a-time.

Grimacing, you charge at Arnash, your knife up. The cleaver isn't a very efficient weapon; it can only chop, meaning the places Arnash can strike you with it are quite limited. Not terribly hard to guard them all.

As your knife meets his cleaver, you allow your body to go loose. You know better than to try and overpower a foe with this much of a strength advantage. The force of his strikes buffet and toss you, but you use it to your advantage, putting as much distance between yourself and Anas as you possibly can.

Arnash is surprisingly skilled, he's definitely been in quite a few actual fights before. This is your first true knife fight, but you have years of formal training while Arnash' is all street-won. Although that would normally make it a relatively even match, you've become very accustomed to fighting strong boys much larger than you, and you suspect Arnash doesn't know what to do with someone small and speedy like you.

So you dodge his powerful-but-predictable strikes, waiting for your opening. It finally comes after Arnash, losing patience, makes a bold and reckless vertical cut. You sidestep, then leap into his guard. He is able to shoulder-block you, forcing you to stumble back, but not before you slice through his tunic and leave a crimson cut across his bicep.

To reward yourself, you take a brief glance at Anas. He's doing well enough with one arm, fending off the small Flightless boy's daring knife attacks. However, it looks like neither is going to be able to swiftly kill the other.

You need to finish off Arnash fast, and then you can flee, leaving Anas to deal with the-

Flightless.

There are more shapes on the roof. Three on your right, two on your left. In the center of the trio is a girl with short hair and a fading scar over her nose.

"Oh, that's pretty," she says serenely when she sees the corpse of the boy called Taylan. "Like some help, Arnash?"

"If you've got a moment," Arnash replied, frowning at the cut in his arm.

The girl inspected her nails for dirt. "Time to return the nest. Declaw these cats. But take them alive. Broken Bird'll want to see who's been in his hunting grounds."

Then there was a blur of motion, a sharp crack, a terrible pain in the back of your head, and finally, darkness.

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Be unconscious.

>Later, stop being unconscious.

[alexthewhite]

>Be unconscious.

>Later, stop being unconscious.

Chapter Three

The world becomes less of a colorless blur and more of a colored blur, and later, delightfully, focus returns to your surroundings.

You aren't entirely sure where you are. The first thing you realize is your hands and feet are tightly bound. You are able to work your way to a kneeling position with considerable effort, but that is all you are able to do.

The second thing you realize is you're under some source of shade. You can make out the sun's glare, but you're being shielded from it. You look behind you, and discover you've been dumped under a tall tree.

But where are you? Judging from the rather large amount of trees about, many of which a type you've never seen before, the fact you're kneeling on what feels to be, of all things, grass, and the soft whisper of running water in the distance, you're in a park of some kind.

A very busy park.

There are dozens of people huddled in circles. It's still late morning; you must have only been out for ten or twenty minutes. It takes a moment to figure out what the ragged groups are doing.

They're cooking and eating small animals. It looks to be mostly rats, roasted over a closed flame and then torn into. The people look to be all woman, children, and teenagers. Not a single man among them.

You glance around. Anas is nowhere to be seen. You appear to be alone.

"Like what you see?" you look up. Arnash is laying on a low-hanging branch, a grim smile on his face. Guess you aren't alone.

"Interesting sight, a group of kids carting a grown soldier 'nd a pretty little cutthroat through the rooftops. But we got you back safely enough." Arnash disappears for a second, before leaping from the branch and landing on his feet in front of you.

He plops down, sitting cross-legged only a few feet from you. "Welcome to our nest...Lyre, was it?"

[mellifluousMastermind]

>Say nothing. Let him keep talking.

[OnBackorder]

> Attack, wriggle, bite his shins!

[alexthewhite]

> Attack, wriggle, bite his shins!

No, no, you shut up. The voices in your head are exactly what got you into this situation. You should have just slit Anas' throat and told these guys who you were. Now they think you're their enemy. Or you could have just dueled Arnash, and that way he'd never be able to call for his friends.

This entire trip's been a comedy of errors up until now, and you're done with it. As of this moment, you're only listening to the voices if they can give you a sane, reasonable suggestion, not the reckless murdering you've been doing until now.





Airwalker alive, you killed someone earlier today.

You don't know his name. But he had a family, parents, sibling, perhaps a wife, even children. Friends, possessions, a life. And you took all that away from him, just because he was in your way.

Maybe...maybe Anas should have killed you when he had the chance.

>Say nothing. Let him keep talking.

"Oy. Oy!" There is a loud crack as Arnash snaps his fingers just under your nose. "Where'd you go just now? Trying to think of escape? It's not happening, kitty-cat. This park's our base of operations, and we're not letting a valuable hostage such as yourself escape."

Arnash gestured to his arm, covered in a white bandage. "Especially not a dangerous valuable hostage. Right fine knife fighting there, if I've ever seen it. You're as good as Dilara. You two'd get along famously, were it not for, y'know, you serving a monster 'nd a criminal."

[OnBackorder]

> I apologize for spacing out sir, but I seem to have forgotten everything about anything. Who is Dilara, and whats this base talk about?

[alexthewhite]

> I apologize for spacing out sir, but I seem to have forgotten everything about anything. Who is Dilara, and whats this base talk about?

"Not sir," corrected Arnash. "Do I look like a knight to you? Just Arnash. You've met Dilara, she's the lovely thing who came to help us after your friend killed Taylan. I think she's off interrogating him somewhere where we won't have to hear him scream."

Arnash leans in close. "Her parents were a couple of high-born types, killed by some of Ten Knives' murderers," he whispers conspiratorially. "If I were you, I'd stay far off. Although you two fighting would make excellent sport; try and tear some of her armor off if it comes to that, will you?"

After a moment of thought, Arnash snaps his fingers. "Ah, yes, the last thing you asked me. This is the nest of the Flightless, it's the one place in the city that's safe if you're not with Mud, Granite, or Ten Knives, especially after the Mudmen rounded up and killed all the Newborn Blades." Arnash shakes his head in an overly maudlin way. "A right shame, that was. But Broken Bird's endeavored to keep us from that unfortunate fate."

Suddenly, Arnash glares suspiciously at you. "What sort of knife doesn't know about the Flightless? Judging how many of you we've killed, you should all know who we are by now."

[mellifluousMastermind]

>I'm new.

[OnBackorder]

>I'm new.

This made me laugh.

Yeah. We can probably skip the whole, "I'm not actually Ten Knives Apprentice. She just stole my knives and left me to rot in the market district," for now. Aliases are hard work. Good thing we have Dust as a fall back.

[Askia]

shes not really good at being undercover, asking to many obvious questions

[OnBackorder]

shes not really good at being undercover, asking to many obvious questions

More like, I'M really bad at being under cover. Half of her mistakes in the last chapter were my fault.

> Attack, wriggle, bite his shins!

No, no, you shut up. The voices in your head are exactly what got you into this situation. You should have just slit Anas' throat and told these guys who you were. Now they think you're their enemy. Or you could have just dueled Arnash, and that way he'd never be able to call for his friends.

This entire trip's been a comedy of errors up until now, and you're done with it. As of this moment, you're only listening to the voices if they can give you a sane, reasonable suggestion, not the reckless murdering you've been doing until now.

[alexthewhite]

>I'm new.

"I haven't been in the city for very long," you say, keeping your eyes downcast. "Ten Knives brought me in from elsewhere."

"That right? Well, where did she-ah, can't ask you." Arnash winks. "Broken Bird's going to interrogate you once he gets back. I hope he'll be gentle, you wouldn't be the first one to die. Although he's got a soft spot for little ones, so you probably won't get it half as bad as your friend's getting it. Right now, he's off finding something for these folks to eat that isn't rats. Then a prayer for Taylan and the others that died today, and then...we'll see."

"What about you?" you ask, trying to stall for time as you strain the ropes that have bound your wrists.

"I'm hurt. It'll be better in a day or two, so you got me a couple days off. Thanks for that, I owe you a kindness." Arnash glances left, then right. "You can tell me about who you are and how you ended up with that Mudman. Broken Bird'll still probably work you over, but if he's got what he wants from you, he'll speed it up some."

shes not really good at being undercover, asking to many obvious questions

More like, I'M really bad at being under cover. Half of her mistakes in the last chapter were my fault.

((Being captured by the Flightless was the second worst case scenario for Hiding Spire that could have arose. She could have also gone free, entered the Flightless camp as a guest instead of a prisoner, been arrested by the Mudmen, or have been killed. Chapter Two went very poorly for Hiding, but think of it like a case in LA Noire: no matter how badly you fuck up, victory is still possible; you'll just have to work harder and smarter to do it.))

[OnBackorder]

Is that in order from best to worst? Would going to the whore house have changed anything?

> First, ask for water. Seriously, for a noble you don't watch your health at all. You live in a desert!

> "I wanted to kill Mud. I thought if I could get an audience with him, I could kill him. The escaping part I hadn't thought through yet. I figured I could come up with it at the last minute. But then you all came before I could get properly captured, and then I had to protect my ticket in there, but now everything is ruined." Sad face.

[alexthewhite]

> First, ask for water. Seriously, for a noble you don't watch your health at all. You live in a desert!

Arnash leaves you alone with your parched mouth for a minute, before returning with a canteen. "Open your mouth," he orders. You do so, and he empties half of it into your mouth. You feel a little calmer and more alert now, though these ropes chafe unbelievably so.

"Are you ready to tell me, now?"

> "I wanted to kill Mud. I thought if I could get an audience with him, I could kill him. The escaping part I hadn't thought through yet. I figured I could come up with it at the last minute. But then you all came before I could get properly captured, and then I had to protect my ticket in there, but now everything is ruined." Sad face.

Arnash is unmoved by your sadface, it seems. He only studies your face intently. "Why would Ten Knives send someone so small after her greatest foe?" he asks, rubbing his chin. "I don't mean to insult your abilities, but she's got master assassins in her employ. And allow me to say from experience, Mud's quite well protected."

Is that in order from best to worst? Would going to the whore house have changed anything?

((The order goes something like this, from best to worst: Hiding Spire going free, Hiding Spire being taken to the Flightless as a guest, Hiding Spire being taken to the prison owned by the Mudmen, Hiding Spire being captured by the Flightless, Hiding Spire getting her ass killed.

The choice of four locations would have all conferred a minor change in the story. The whorehouse had a paranoid prostitute who would ineffectually attack Hiding, the inn had a starving dog that would do the same, only it couldn't be reasoned with, the furniture store had a lot of cover and places to set traps, and the armor store had the hammer and forge.))