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stealth

Sneaking 101, Thursday

"So, today we're actually getting into the nitty-gritty parts of breaking and entering," Atton said. "... Uh, I mean, sneaking. Which is completely legal."

Just... covering his bases.

They were standing at the front of a large room which was clearly a part of a larger mansion. There wasn't anyone there; there were some doors lining the walls, and multiple glass display cases.

"For this exercise, we're just going to assume you managed to pick the lock on the door," he said, jabbing his thumb back in the air towards it. "There's another way to get into this house, but you're not going to hear from me about it. You'll have to figure it out yourself when you tackle this place at the end of the course."

He made a wide gesture towards the room at large. "Today, we're dealing with the very basics of stealth," he said, "Visibility. You don't want people to see you. Sometimes you can get by pretending to be someone who belongs wherever they're at - that takes confidence. Or shapeshifting abilities." He threw a glance at Raven ~~if she was there~~.

"In a place like this, though, that won't get you far. This is someone's private home, and when I activate the sim, there'll be guards and waitstaff. Everyone here knows exactly how many people are supposed to be here, and what they look like. So you need to stay out of their line of sight. And be quiet, but we'll cover that more some other day."

He stuck his hands in his pockets. "Now, there's no way to learn instinctively how line of sight works besides through practice," he said. "So I'm going to throw a switch and get the guards in. For our purposes today, they'll be deaf, but they won't be later. I want you to get to the stairs on the other end of the room, using no tools but what you've got naturally. If a guard spots you, you'll be jumped back to the start of this floor. Then at the end, we're going to get all heart-to-heart and you can tell me what you learned. Go."

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Out of sight.

Ada Miller

Raven Darkholme

Garik Loran

Tali'Zorah

Kathy Li

Ezra Sagishi

Alex Mack

Instructions. Something like that.

Raven gave Atton a smirk when he looked over at her. Staying out of sight in a rich person's mansion wasn't exactly new to her -- though yeah, she did usually just turn into someone who was supposed to be there. Once she'd even managed to convince the other guards that the guard she was imitating was the interloper.

Good times.

Once Atton flips the switch, two guards start making the rounds in the central area. They loop around the various display cases in an eight-shaped course, with one starting in the middle and the other at the back, to the right.

You start off at the door. A few feet away from you is the first display case. While the guards aren't looking at you yet, you'll want to move fast.

There are two cabinets on the walls on each side, and two more display cases past the first one. The ceiling is 'held up' by two pillars on each side.

If you manage to get past the first display case and the first cabinet without getting seen, there's a small door to your right, leading into a kitchen area that stretches all the way to the back, where there's another door that opens just a few feet away from the stairs. Be careful, though: there's a maid in the prep area right in front of the kitchen who will walk into the kitchen itself sooner rather than later, so you'll want to move fast.

If you get spotted by anyone, the sim jumps you back to the start. If you make it to the stairs, however...

The first part was the hardest for Ada. You were expected to sneak around and listen in where you weren't supposed to be when you lived with a carnival. However, you weren't generally sneaking inside.

She got sent back to the start twice while she figured out the timing of the guards, but once she finally made it to the kitchen, she was set. Down and low was Ada's specialty, and she was through the kitchen in a blink. She'd contemplated swiping a bottle of whatever the drink was on her way, but... this was all pretend. It probably wouldn't taste like anything anyway.

Zipping from display case to pillar to display case would work, and Raven could do it pretty easily, but she wanted more of a challenge, today. So instead she looked up.

People almost never looked up.

It took some small shifts of her fingers and toes to get good grips on the wood paneling, and she didn't move as fast as she would have liked to. The first time, she got caught halfway up. The second time she made it all the way up by the ceiling before she lost her grip and fell -- and had to start over again. It'd be easier to turn into a squirrel and scurry up like it was a tree, but again, she was looking for a challenge here.

The third time she made it across the room and down to the door to the kitchen. Which was still wood paneled, and thus still had plenty of handholds. God bless rich people's sense of ridiculous tastes.

To say Tali was pretty nervous about this would be an understatement; she didn't even know where to start as far as trying to look like she belonged in a place like this, and that probably had something to do with how she got caught four times before she managed to get into the kitchen area.

Where she got caught by the maid three more times before she finally made a successful run to the stairs.

At least by the second time she got zapped back to the start from the kitchen she'd worked out the timing of the guards in the central area perfectly, so that was something?

Quickly started moving, but kept his pace close to that of the guards, sure Atton said they were deaf, but was a class about being sneaky.

It took a try for two to get the guards' routine down, but he managed to make it through without incident after that.

Fortunately, moving fast was what Kathy was good at. Making it from one hiding spot to the next quickly was the one thing she didn't have to worry about. Still, motion caught people's attention, even out of the corner of her eye.

So rather than dash around on the floor, Kathy looked up. And saw all those very convenient lights dangling in a row. Getting up into them wasn't very difficult with all that paneling to use as a handhold--honestly, the hardest part was landing without causing the lamps to shift underfoot.

It was simple enough to wait for the guard to go by the door to the kitchen and drop down once he passed. The kitchen was harder, since it lacked the lamps Kathy had been using and she spent so much time looking for a way to sneak through that she got caught by the maid and had to go back to the start. So the next time she made it through the door, she just ran as fast as she could to the stairs and slipped through.

It took Alex two attempts and then a lot of maneuvering to be able to get past the guards and then past the kitchen. Thankfully she was able to get past the kitchen and the maid without getting caught after the first incident.

...Upstairs you'll find a cosy living room with several bowls of nachos on the table.

"Congratulations," Atton said dryly. "So, what did you learn?"

"Houses are weird and don't move, and for being full of useless shit they sure don't have many good places to sneak," Ada grumbled, grabbing a bowl of nachos and squinting at it to see if it was just the cheesy kind or had meat in it. "Why do people like to live like that? How do they breathe?"

There was a variety of nachos; she could take her pick, even if Atton didn't understand the point of vegetarian options personally.

"Well, I don't know entirely about this world," he drawled, "But usually homes have a couple of holes here and there to funnel in oxygen."

YES no meat!!! Ada grabbed nachos with just cheese and green onions and took a big bite. Vegetarian options were really important when you had, um, meat allergies.

"That's not what I mean," she said, waving a chip with cheese for emphasis. "Don't they get, I dunno, claustrophobic or whatever? With all those heavy walls and stuff everywhere?"

Atton shrugged. "One of my many job descriptions is 'starship pilot'," he said, "For me, this is way more space than I'm used to. No claustrophobia here."

"It's way easier to scale wood paneling when you have claws."

"That it is," Atton agreed. "And you don't even have to shapeshift them if you find the right gloves. By the way, nice use of blind spots there."

Face was not one to turn down free food.

"It's easier to sneak by if you know the guards' patterns," he said around a mouthful of nachos. "So surveillance beforehand is a good idea."

Kathy was all to glad to claim a heaping plate of nachos, piled high with meat and veggies both. She ate about half of them before she answered Atton.

"Sometimes it's better to just go and do something than waiting for the perfect moment," she said, thinking of how she'd gotten caught in the kitchen. "It's possible to be too cautious and then you miss your shot."

Story of her life, honestly.

Atton's hanging out in the snack room when he's not directly addressing the students, watching a bad action holo he's pretending to pay attention to.

Ezra did predictably well – he only got sent back to the start once, and that was due to idle curiosity – and spent the rest of his time helping himself to snacks.

Mmm, snacks.

Ping me down here if you need an NPC guard or the maid!

This'll be your first lesson cribbed from the Offices of Dr. Galvani from Dishonored.

Edited 2015-07-16 12:17 (UTC)

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Sneaking 101, Thursday

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Listen to the Lecture

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Navigate the Ground Floor

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Snack Room

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Talk to the Teacher and the TA

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