Castle Mroczna - a Thief's Prize

Castle Mroczna - A Thief's Prize

The window quietly scraped as it was forced open, unmoved for a great count of years. The dark figure manipulating it crawled in with deft movements, making barely a sound as they squeezed themselves through.

They silently placed their feet down on the wooden floorboards, creaking under their weight, but fortunately not loud enough to be a problem.

Dusty cobwebs and old shelving and boxes met them, supported by wooden pillars that were in a bit of a state but looked sturdy enough.

All the same, it didn't seem like anyone had been inside for years. The rest of the castle was supposedly occupied, but this room certainly hadn't.

Which, in a way, suited the figure just fine; it told them no one was likely to check here any time soon.

They cast off their cloak, stuffing it down behind an old wooden box, neatly folded to take as little room as possible, revealing the leather and cloth suit they wore underneath... hugging feminine curves.

The cloth was black and the leather a dark brown, but the most important part was its flexibility, how few loose articles it possessed, and its silence. Important in her line of work.

She still had a hood on her head, as well as a simple cloth mask pulled taut over her face, only revealing the area around her eyes, olive skin and icy blue eyes piercing the gloom all to be seen.

Not that she wanted to be seen by anyone.

Slender, athletic, and flexible, she'd trained well for this sort of job, but something about this one nagged at her.

She reached down to her belt, and plucked a small paper parcel off it. Supposedly it would help her, but she had no idea how. And she didn't like that her employer thought it a potential necessity.

The only other things on her belt were a sheathed knife and a small lockpick kit, both designed to make very little noise.

She was a professional, no doubt about that. And she was being paid well, but not to steal anything.

Only to gather information.

That was already suspect, but she wasn't about to turn down a job just because it seemed fishy. She'd been on a number of fishy jobs. Even some where she was set up, and she managed to get out of them just fine, and with some "employers" on her list.

She was no assassin, but she knew people willing to do such jobs. Or at the least, knew how to hurt those that screwed her over. Fortunately, they were few and far between.

This was no different... at least, that's what she kept telling herself. But again, something nagged at her. Something wasn't quite right.

Oh well, she'd already come this far. If anything, her instincts would keep her extra vigilant.

She stretched, demonstrating a limber dexterity, and then reached into a tight pocket on her thigh, pulling out a small parcel of several folded pieces of paper and a small lead weight.

She was supposed to jot down her findings on it with a small piece of slate contained within its own wrapping inside. In the event she was at risk of capture - or worse - she was to find the nearest window and throw that piece of paper, with the lead weight, as far as she could.

Seemed a little pointless, unless someone was watching; it'd just get lost in the icy slush, and if not, just never found.

But, she also wasn't one to deny her employers a request if it made

some

sense... and didn't get in the way of her job much.

Though, she didn't like the idea she was likely to fail her mission in such a way she'd need to do that. A precaution, or a lack of faith?

She shook her head. There was no point ruminating on it, that'd just distract her and make failure more likely.

She twisted her leather boots against the floor, and heard only quiet squeaking, and mostly the sound of the wood itself.

Good, her boots were still muffled. She was all set, and placed the paper and weight back into her pocket after jotting down a quick note about her entrance.

There was nothing of interest here, absolutely nothing, save for what looked like a small religious fetish or something of that nature, a straw figure half-rotten and falling apart. There was nothing inside it after a quick check either. Maybe this room had a purpose, but now it was her chosen exfiltration once her job was done.

She found the wooden door, and ever so carefully lifted the iron latch and pushed the door open, wincing from how much it creaked, even after she applied some upwards pressure.

But she slipped through without incident, and found herself in what appeared to be disused halls, dusty, full of cobwebs and some old furniture, some of which appeared to be partly rotted.

It didn't seem particularly lavish, and the space was tight, so perhaps side passages for servants, no longer used.

A good thing, perhaps. A way for her to discretely move around.

She crept through the passage, making sure not to bump anything and to keep an eye out for anything of interest.

She passed by a window, the cold light of early dawn barely touching the castle, even upon the hill it sat upon; the walls of the valley reached high.

Dawn was often the best time for this sort of dirty work; people were sleepy, less alert, and it was often very dark without a moon to provide light... and the early morning cast long shadows that muddied the environment a great deal.

Sure, people knew this, tried to anticipate it, but it still remained a good time.

She continued through the passages, checking for anything of note, quietly peering into the doorways on either side of her as she continued.

There wasn't much of note, most of them looking like disused storerooms and the occasional abandoned servant quarters.

But some opened out into passages that looked in far better condition... and lit with candles and lamps.

She even spied a shadow move as she peered through the crack of one door... so clearly

someone

was up and about.

It concerned her, but it was not unexpected. Just something to keep aware of.

She kept going, until she found herself climbing a tight spiral staircase, going up a level and keeping alert for a sudden descending inhabitant.

Just because the passages looked like they hadn't been used in years, didn't mean she could get complacent.

The next floor looked much the same, but with even tighter spaces than before. If she had to make a quick getaway now, she would have a harder time.

And that nagging feeling was still eating away at her. Just what was it about this place that had her so unnerved?

Her hand briefly went to the hilt of her knife; she'd never used it offensively, and the only times she used it defensively was a threatening brandish.

Never once had it tasted human blood. But it still felt comforting beneath her gloved fingertips.

She kept going, checking the rooms, and finding nothing of note, until she entered one... and felt a draft caress the skin near her eyes.

She looked ahead, finding the room to be filled with old bookshelves and other insignificant furniture... save for one bookshelf, which was pushed open, revealing a chamber beyond.

A window let the tiniest amount of pre-dawn light inside, just barely outlining the many trinkets and objects within, of questionable value, but perhaps worth more than they seemed.

A hidden room, with hidden treasure, or perhaps hidden junk.

But something in particular caught her eye.

A box, sitting on a table beneath the window. It was made of wood, but had a metal grate over the top, revealing the object it contained; a square-diamond object with four quadrants of different colours arrayed on the top sat inside.

It looked like it had been disturbed semi-recently... the faintest outline of where the box once sat just visible in a thinner layer of dust.

Clearly someone had been here. At least within a year. But not all that recently.

No one had bothered to put the bookshelf back in place. The box was also the only thing in the room that had been disturbed.

She picked it up, and turned it over in her hand; it was in good condition, despite its age. Further examination revealed several small squares of sliding wood on imperceptible channels on one side, coloured with jumbled patterns.

A puzzle box? Containing something that looked like jewellery but didn't look like it could be worn.

Part of a game, perhaps? Why was it left here, if the box had been touched?

It didn't seem like any attempt to solve the puzzle was made either. Leaving her curious.

But she ultimately placed it back the exact way she found it.

She was here to gather information. Not solve puzzles, even if she felt tempted.

A quick note of the find, as it seemed significant, and she was on her way again.

She found yet another set of stairs, going up even further, until she found herself on the battlements, cold wind buffeting her.

The thief shivered, but continued, creeping along the top of the walls, looking down into the courtyard on the other side; very useful information, and she found a corner of the paper for the notes and put down a rough map of what she could see from the outside, discovering a small rotunda in the centre of the courtyard. She wasn't sure, but from this angle it seemed like there was a fountain in the middle beneath its roof... and the glint of something shiny and spherical atop of the sharp point rising from the middle of the fountain's upper level.

It couldn't have been water or moisture, the fountain looked dry.

Her attention was certainly piqued, but she decided to check the towers first, a few of the turrets accessible from the battlements. She needed to be as thorough as possible in the short amount of time she had.

The towers had little of interest in them... and one was occupied, a man in a cloak covering a rather well-made suit, like a uniform, looking out over the valley from the vantage point.

He looked tired, and didn't notice her presence, but it really did contrast with the abandoned side passages she was crawling through before. It also left her feeling somewhat extra cautious, now sure there were people here, and people who worked on a schedule.

She eventually made her way down to the courtyard, but did so by climbing down the wall itself, finding a patch of rough stonework that exposed the bricks, giving her the needed handholds.

Bit by bit she descended, until her feet finally landed on the grass just beyond.

It was a small courtyard before an extending hall surrounded by windows on either side, with smaller structures connected to the castle itself flanking it where it joined with the main building.

From her perspective, to the left, there was another great hall, a wing, with even greater windows, built such the battlements didn't obscure much.

But that wasn't what she was interested in. She made for the fountain, eyes scanning for danger with how exposed she was, especially knowing there were potential lookouts posted around the place.

But no alarm was raised as she crept up to the fountain, testing the stone basins for fatigue before stepping up onto them.

Three basins, each smaller than the last, with channels for water to cascade over the edges into the basin below.

How it worked, she wasn't sure, but the focus of her intrigue was before her eyes as she stepped onto the upper basin; a glassy orb, a false eye. But it didn't look like a human eye, but rather from an animal.

What it was doing here, she couldn't say. It made no sense to her, so she assumed it was something of importance.

Another note down on the piece of paper.

She ducked, spotting movement out of the corner of her eye, crouching behind the fountain. A woman in warm clothes ambled along a path towards the back wall of the castle, carrying something in her arms and shivering. The thief just barely heard a yawn from the woman. Early risers, or night workers?

She wasn't sure, but tired people were unaware people. She waited for the woman to pass, and then trailed after them, watching as they passed through a door in the heavy wooden gate at the back of the castle.

They ambled down a path to what looked like a bunch of glasshouses and a vineyard. The thief decided it wasn't worth investigation, and so doubled back to the rotunda, looking around at the several doors built into the walls, and leading into the castle itself.

Quiet as a mouse, she approached the back door of the small jutting structure to the right of the large protruding hall, and looked through a window, the view fuzzy from caked on grime and dust on the glass.

All the same, she made out a kitchen, perhaps on the smaller side for a castle, but plenty big enough compared to some, fresh food laid out on the central table, as well as scraps from a prior meal to the side.

There was no one inside, so the thief opted to re-enter the castle this way, risky as it was. The door was fortunately unlocked, and didn't creak too loudly as she slipped inside, giving the kitchen a once over for anything of value.

Nothing out of the ordinary, save for a rack of wine bottles that looked like a variety of red... but one of the bottles had clear glass, and it was a deeper, richer crimson than she'd ever seen a red wine before.

The place was known for its wines, she heard. A special variety, perhaps.

The kitchen exited into the rest of the castle, and the thief quickly discovered that the great protruding hall visible from outside was a dining hall, clear of any food or people, and dark, none of the lanterns or chandeliers lit.

She didn't want to venture into it, the tall windows on either side making her feel very uncomfortable and exposed. But she at least looked around for anything of interest from where she was hiding, and found nothing.

Time to move on, jotting down more notes about what she found.

She emerged into more open rooms, what looked like some sort of lounge area with bookshelves and a lavish couch. There was an aged quality to everything, and nothing was

quite

pristine, webs and dust here and there. But it was mostly clean, so there had to be a decent number of servants here.

As if to emphasise that point, she saw another man walk out of a doorway further down the room, though she couldn't see it directly, only hearing the door open and shut.

He too looked tired, and was taking off his outer jacket. It seemed he might've been on his way to get some rest.

The rooms were well lit, even at this time of the morning. She'd have few shadows to hide in, and little time before the early shift started waking up.

Fortunately, the floor here was hard marble, and her boots did not squeak on it at all. Not a sound came from her as she skulked across the floor, keeping close to the walls. There was a balcony overhead, and looking to her left, she saw another open space, some sort of atrium with decorative suits of armour, and flanking staircases.

It might've been a castle, but it was more stately manor than fortress. Not too unusual.

She found a door, and after a quick check through a keyhole, slipped inside, ever alert for approaching footfalls.

Some more side passages, better maintained and more ornate and stately than the decrepit spaces she infiltrated the castle through.

Her route was roundabout, but she had a good sense of direction, and believed she knew how to get back the way she came... and if nothing else, that cloak wasn't valuable to her, she could abandon it if necessary.

Her mission, she couldn't, a lot of money was riding on it, and a nice break from this line of work to enjoy herself would always go well.

So she kept going and came to a set of double doors, and based on her sense of direction, she assumed it was the side wing she spied earlier, with the expansive windows along the side.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she entered, and realised it must have been a dance hall, though currently unlit like the dining hall.

Castle Mroczna more and more seemed like a manor than a castle, but who knew what secrets laid in its depths. That's what she was there to find out, but she doubted time was on her side. A few hours at best, that's all she had.

But her employers never specified anything about going into any dungeons. Reconnoitring the castle was all she had to do.

The dance hall seemed so sparse, that it didn't take long at all to spot the only thing of interest in the entire place; a plinth with a bust at the far end to her left, towards the courtyard and the rear of the castle.

She made her way over to it, quickly but quietly, and observed it closely; it was some sort of statue bust of an animal with antlers, but immediately things seemed off about it. First, one of its eyes was missing, an empty socket in its place... and a quick feel around inside revealed the sharp edges of something mechanical within.

Second, the antlers looked like they moved, but a quick tug on them proved them to be unyielding.

And third... the eye that was present, looked rather familiar.

"The fountain..." she muttered to herself.

It looked like the one at the fountain. It was certainly luck that she stumbled across these two things despite knowing nothing of the connection. But it must have been some sort of mechanism.

Sure enough, there was a groove at the base of the bust's neck, a gap that suggested further movement.

Was there something inside? Treasure, perhaps? Or something else... it seemed rather odd, to place the 'key' outside on a fountain?

Well, information her employers would find useful. Yet another note down on the paper. She still had room, but with her map of the courtyard and logging of her route, it was starting to shrink. And she still had so much to go.

She returned to the double doors, and slipped out of them. Creeping back to that central area, she decided to check the upper floors, and after avoiding another servant moving past, this one looking like they were going to sleep as well, the thief made her way to the entrance atrium, and slowly crept up the stairs, ignoring the portrait of several women wearing veils and black clothes, save for one seemingly massive woman in white. She knew paintings made to hide things, and it didn't have any of the tell-tale signs of hidden compartments.

There were more doors up here, leading to who knew where, but that was her job to find out. She decided to check the first one on her right, ever aware of danger lurking around every corner.

Again, the side passages seemed better maintained than the ones down below, but she quickly found herself in the upper level of those same disused hallways through another door.

Good, she knew where she was, and how to get back to her entry point.

She moved along these dusty passages and checked around before returning to the nicer ones, but finding nothing of interest, she opted to return to the main hall.

A quick check through a keyhole confirmed no one was on the other side... and then she promptly found herself face to face with a pair of women in black attire, hoods, and dark veils, only their pale lower faces readily visible, having just moved into view. They didn't even make a sound.

The thief froze in place, her eyes widening as she saw the two look at her. And then each other.

The wicked grins they next sported chilled the blood in her veins.

" Wygląda na to, że mamy intruza, siostro~"

the first spoke.

"I właśnie wtedy, gdy byłem spragniony. Jestem pewien, że nas nasycą~"

the second remarked.

They then both looked to her with their terrible grins.

"Won't you~?" they said in unison.

The thief decided not to figure out what they meant, and promptly pushed them back and slammed the door in their faces.

The mission was over. Her first task was to get the paper out of here, as she was instructed.

That other parcel was also weighing on her suddenly...