There's a pearl in a safe in a tent in a campground in a city. Maybe. Nikole and Darklis have a pressing need to steal it, so after a reconnoitre in disguise...

Nikole says "What's in the tent? Did you get it? How come you look like you just got kicked by a vunnock?"

You're standing outside the white deerskin tent, lit to gold by the rays of the setting sun.

Darklis goes from doomful to blissful. "There's a *boy*," she reports.

Nikole's eyebrows go up. "Is he handsome?"

Nikole says "How old is he? Fifty? Sixty?"

Darklis eyes Nikole. "No, he looks like a shaved rat and he's about EIGHTEEN you NIT."

Nikole says "Did you get him to give you the pearl?"

Nikole's wide-eyed expression leaves no doubt what she thinks Darklis traded for the pearl.

Darklis's shoulders droop. "No. The merchant won't give it up without payment and the boy is his security guard."

Nikole hms thoughtfully, as though concocting a plan, although really she's thinking that a guard must have muscles and keen eyes and and and. Blame Darklis' going on about romance all the time, and three beers earlier.

Darklis says "But!"

Darklis lifts a finger, brightly. "I do know where the safe is."

Nikole blinks. "Safe?"

Darklis says "That the pearl is in."

Darklis measures. "About a foot on each side?"

Nikole slowly grins.

Darklis squints. "What?"

Nikole looks around for a convenient paddy full of vunnocks.

There's a string of tired-looking vunnocks not too far off, snuffling around a water trough and ignoring the chain that ties them together. A bored-looking boy stands nearby.

Darklis clears her throat a little. "Uhm, what are you gonna do?"

Nikole leans close to Darklis. "Have you ever seen a vunnock stampede?"

Darklis' eyebrows go up. "Nooooo..."

Nikole says "You're about to!"

Nikole says "Come on!"

Nikole goes to loiter near the vunnocks, so that she can see what's in a line beyond the white tent.

Darklis blinks a few times, then shrugs and follows after. "It's copper," she whispers at Nikole. "Won't that weigh a lot?"

Nikole says "I'm hoping to get a vunnock to do the hard work!"

The water trough and vunnock train are about two tents down and one over from Shovar's, across a wide muddy path. Stampeding vunnocks might not knock over more than, oh, two tents and a water barrel before reaching it...

On the other side of the white tent is a bit of clear space, the path again, and then the dilapidated grass leading up to the Salted Slug.

"Oh!" Darklis says brightly. "Okay. How do we get them to stampede?"

Nikole says "That's the tricky bit. I could do it, but I have to be near the front so I can steer them."

Nikole says "Can you use a sling?"

Darklis nods. "Yeah. I'm not very *good* at it, but I've used one."

Nikole grins. "A vunnock's arse is a pretty big target."

Darklis giggles. "Yeah. So what, I just whack one in the butt?"

Nikole nods! "You want to use something sharp, though; tough hide."

Darklis kicks at the earth. This isn't stony ground, is it? "Maybe I could steal a tent peg..."

Nikole says "I'm going to be over there, by that firepit, and you should stand over there by the blue tent with stripes..."

Nikole thinks about this.

The ground is so far from being stony that if Darklis happened to kick a wet spot just now, her foot would sink halfway in.

Darklis hmphs. "Well, I'll try it, anyway. How will I know when to sling it?"

Nikole says, "I'll give you a sign like this," and holds her hand with fingers spread, down by her side where only someone watching would see, not over her head or anything.

Darklis blinks. "Well, okay, but there better not be any vunnocks between us or I'll never see that."

Nikole says "I'm not going to stand in *front* of them!"

Darklis says "Of course not. They'd run you over."

Darklis grins, and goes to dig up one of the blue striped tent's pegs.

The tent peg comes out of the ground easily, together with the jagged rocks that were holding it in place. The tent sags noticeably.

As Nikole approaches the vunnocks, she can see that they're not attached to anything but each other. The rope linking them looks fairly strong, though.

Darklis acks nervously, and stuffs the peg back in, and steps on it, holding it in place. Picks up the rocks, instead. Yeah!

Nikole needs to pilfer a bit of rope, and then she'll be ready. There must be some around.

The boy watching the vunnocks is engaged in throwing his staff up in the air such that it spins around, turning to catch it behind his back, failing, swearing, and trying again.

Several of the tents have coils of rope behind them, in fact.

Darklis hefts the stones one at a time, repiling them at her feet, and then gets ready to fling one, watching for Nikole.

Nikole looks for all the world as though she had every right to be picking up this rope and tying a slip-noose in the end of it. Not that anyone is looking.

Nikole does the tying very sloppily and energetically, with the end of the rope whipping out to smack the vunnocks on tender noses and generally rile them up.

Indignant snorts and whinnys fill the air. One of the largest bucks looks particularly resentful of this assault on his dignity, and snaps fiercely at Nikole's sleeve.

Darklis squeaks, and stands on her toes to see what's going on. And then settles down again, feeling the tent peg move under her foot.

Nikole whisks her sleeve out of the way and sticks her tongue out!

The large vunnock champs his teeth and lunges forward, intent on murder. Or slobbering. One of those.

Nikole slaps the vunnock on the nose!

Nikole holds her hand out, fingers spread!

Nikole is about to be trampled if she stays where she is, as nine startled and one very, very angry vunnock leap into her personal space.

Doot-dee-doo. C'mon, Nikole, stop horsing (vunnocking?) around. Doot-dee-oop! Darklis straightens up, and swings the sling around a couple times, sending the stone sailing through the air at a vunnock!

Nikole sidesteps the projected stampede neatly!

Darklis's stone smacks a vunnock on one side. It doesn't appear to notice, but that's because the entire herd is thundering towards Nikole. Er, where Nikole used to be.

Darklis eeps and bends to pick up another stone. Evidently she's thinking of trying to turn the herd or something. She slings again, at one of the lead vunnocks!

Nothing daunted, the lead buck keeps right on going, certain he will encounter something to attack any second now. The others perforce follow.

Nikole leaps nimbly atop one of the vunnocks that doesn't hate her!

"Whooooomf" says the vunnock in suprise, and it keeps right on running.

Nikole grabs the vunnock's ears and directs it toward the white tent!

The second stone whacks the lead vunnock right behind one ear. It squeals in alarm and shies away, towards the white tent.

Behind you, there's a clatter and a shout of "Hey! Stop thief!"

Nikole gets her rope out, ready to lasso the safe out of the wreckage of the tent! Anyone in the tent is probably leaping out about now.

Nikole yells back, "I'm trying to stop them!"

The boy is now running after you, waving his stick. He's only a little slower than a vunnock in full gallop.

What the hell. Darklis lets out a yell, and starts chasing after the vunnocks, too. There are probably a lot of people doing this, right? 'course, that means she's not holding the tent peg down anymore...

Nikole feigns trying to stop the vunnock, while really encouraging it!

With a horrible tearing sound, one side of the white tent gives way under the thunder of vunnock hooves. Screams of horror rise from the wreckage.

People are popping out of tents all around, looking, screaming "Stampede!" and running towards the action.

Darklis, happily, screams, "Stampede!" See? She can take a cue.

The blue-striped tent, bereft of stones and Darklis, promptly collapses. Two voices, one feminine, one masculine, start swearing inside.

The vunnocks thunder on past, over the now very dirty flat white tent. One whole side of it has been torn away, and inside you can see the ruins of the camp bed, the shattered mirror, and the safe.

Nikole flicks the rope noose at the safe!

Shovar is jumping up and down, shrieking in a high-pitched voice. The bodyguard walks stolidly into the tent wreckage and reaches for the safe.

He looks awfully startled as Nikole's rope settles around it and it's yanked across the tent, catching in folds of fabric.

Oooh! Yeah! Noose the bodyguard! Yeah! Tie him up and -- uh. No. The safe. Get the safe! Darklis keeps running and waving her hands and shrieking, "Stampede!" This is kinda fun!

By this time several people have grabbed onto the rearmost vunnocks and are trying to slow them down, holding the harnesses and digging in with their heels.

Nikole kicks one of the vunnocks so it will shy and knock the bodyguard down!

Darklis does her best dash into the fray, shrieking, "I'll help, Master Shovar!" She flings herself at the safe, and does her very best to 'accidentally' shove it up over the tent fabric it's caught on so that Nikole can run away with it!

Meanwhile, the bodyguard gets kicked in the shins just as he's grabbing for the harness of Nikole's vunnock. He drops back, howling, and lunges for the safe as an easier target.

Darklis is an easy target! Ahem.

A couple of the nimbler men have scrambled up onto vunnock backs and are kicking their heels in, shouting "Whoa!" The stampede is noticeably slowing as it crosses the road, heading right for the tavern.

Nikole also yells "Whoa! Whoa you buggers!" but somehow manages to kick the lead buck who was already enraged!

The vunnock-boy, now looking terrified, stops to stare at the wreckage of the white tent. Shovar screams at him, "Get the safe!"

Nikole has dragged the safe into the cloud of dust and dirt and wreckage raised by the stampede.

Ow! The lead vunnock, newly annoyed, runs faster to get away from this invisible menace. He pulls the rest of the train with him by main force.

The safe is dragged merrily along through the dust. So is a large chunk of the white tent, tangled around it.

Customers stream out the open door of the Salted Slug, followed by a curious Esther. They yell and scatter in the face of the thundering, well, now more trotting, advance.

Well, at least the tent is being dragged around, instead of the safe being held still. That's something, anyway. Now if Nikole would just ride away! Darklis looks up through the dust to see the bodyguard boy lunging for the safe, and scrambles partway to her feet to lunge not so much at the safe, but to angle under the boy and tangle him up so *he* can't get at the safe.

The guard and Darklis collide in a promising way, and fall flop into the dirt. He yells, and tries to push her away.

Meanwhile, Shover and the vunnock shepherd are running full tilt towards the safe. They pass Darklis and her guard with scarcely a glance.

Darklis shrieks. "Hey! How dare you! You fresh boy!" This is all shrieked while she tangles her arms through the guard's, and kicks one of her legs around one of his. "Get away from me!" Tangle tangle tangle.

By dint of much shouting, swearing, and kicking, the crowd has almost got the hindmost vunnocks slowed again.

The guard-boy squints at Darklis, stopping his thrashing for a second. "You're the girl from before." His eyes narrow in suspicion.

Darklis is, indeed. She swings a hand wildly at the safe, and won't mind too much if she smacks the boy in the face on the way. "They're getting AWAY! Frond will KILL me!" Get AWAY, Nikole, get AWAY.

Nikole, under guise of losing her grip and bouncing around the vunnock's back, cuts the rope holding her vunnock to the ones that are being slowed!

The ropes fall to the ground, as most of the vunnocks thankfully stop. Nikole's vunnock and the enraged leader rocket forward with renewed speed, dragging the safe behind.

As the mini-cavalcade passes the corner of the Slug, missing the building itself by a hair, you can see Esther slumped on the porch, helpless with laughter.

The vunnock-boy pauses for an instant to assess damages, then runs on after Nikole. Shovar didn't even stop.

The guard-boy sits up, pushing Darklis roughly away. "Get OFF me, idiot."

Darklis smacks the boy in the chest! "You were on ME! Brute! Think a girl can't take care of herself, huh? Think just 'cuz you're handsome any girl will fall for you! Hah!" Smack!

Nikole, still screaming "Whoa! Whoa you pit-bound sons of tax collectors!" and digging in her heels, rockets toward the permanent builds beyond the Slug! The tent catches on a corner of the building and tears free of the safe!

The guard scrambles to his feet, somewhat hampered by the need to keep dodging Darklissmacks.

Darklis scrambles after the guard, doing her best to trip him one final time (without, of course, looking like she's doing so). "Beast! Brute! Cad!"

The vunnock-boy, who's nimble and isn't wearing high heels, has almost reached the safe when the tent flap rips off it, flying thwack into his face. He falls over.

Shovar moans in horror, and continues running after his property.

Most of the others have stopped with the main herd of vunnocks to mill about, but a few hardy souls are still chasing Nikole as well.

The guard dodges Darklis nimbly and pelts after his master, looking harried.

Darklis decides that now is a good time to disappear into the crowd, and gets up, brushing her skirts off, and wanders off. In the very general direction that Nikole and her vunnock are running.

There isn't a crowd, so Darklis is wandering through open mud and road and looking rather conspicuous, even if her skirt hadn't gotten torn.

Darklis maybe better wander to the bar for a drink, then!

The tavern is right where Darklis left it, except it now has a hysterical Esther on the porch.

Nikole and the remnants of the stampede round the corner of a big wooden building and vanish from sight! Nikole is still screeching at the animals to Whoa!

Darklis wanders up to the tavern, and leans over the hysterical Esther to say, "Hope you enjoyed it. I don't suppose you have a skirt I could borrow?" Hers is all dirty and torn, see.

The remaining pursuers, consisting of three whooping young men, Shovar (now hobbling a bit), the boy, and the guard, disappear down the street, following Nikole.

Crashing noises come from where the ministampede disappeared, followed by a female shriek and then a whole lot of assorted shrieks!

Esther whoops with laughter again, and then gradually regains her breath. She holds out a hand for Darklis to help her up.

Darklis yeeps and straightens up at all the shrieking, sticking a hand out to pull Esther up sort of perfunctorily. Ooops. She's not supposed to care what happens to Nikole, is she? So she looks back at Esther, grinning.

"That," gasps Esther eventually, "was _beautiful_. Come have a drink."

Darklis rubs her nose. "Y'know, can I have a drink later? I, ah, kinda have a busy day planned, and I just need to find some other clothes and get back into town pretty quick here, huh?"

Nikole is picking herself up off the ground when the pursuers enter the alley. "Bugger me with a trout," she gasps, "but that's a mean buck!"

"You!" yells the shepherd, anxious to divert blame. "You startled my herd!"

Nikole says "I did not! I tried to *stop* them!"

Nikole is all flushed and indignant and heaving. "You probably fed them thistles!"

"Didn't look like stopping to me," rumbles one of the men, dubiously. Two others approach Nikole warily.

"Did not!" he retorts indignantly, then fades prudently out of sight as Shovar stumbles into the alley.

Nikole says "Well, I don't know why they ran then, but that lead buck was sure in a state!"

Esther grins. "You'd best run far and fast to be out of their way, no denying. Uh, clothes. I might have some upstairs..." She heads in the front door, beckoning Darklis to follow.

Nikole says "Maybe it had something to do with that metal thing he was dragging..."

Nikole looks after the now long-departed vunnocks.

Shovar wails. "My safe! Where is it?"

Nikole says "Halfway up Quarter Street, I reckon!"

Darklis beams at Esther and follows her inside.

Nikole says "They'll slow down eventually, less some damn fool sets them off again. You better hurry."

Nikole pants and fans her face and decolletage and generally like she gave her most to help these poor gentleman get their beasts back.

Shovar is clearly exhausted and despairing. "You. Men." He waves a hand. "I'll pay you ten gold apiece to find my safe and bring it back."

Nikole says "Huh! You could have yelled it was worth that, and I've have tried to cut it loose!"

The three men tear their attention reluctantly away from Nikole's torso, contempt warring with greed on their faces. "We'll see," one of them says, and they head out the other end of the alley with several backward looks.

Shovar collapses against a wall like an ornate punctured balloon. "Oh my head...my feet...my profits..."

Esther finds Darklis a patched but serviceable skirt and blouse, of the barmaid-peasant sort, and even offers her a ruffled cap to wear.

The bodyguard ducks into the alley, surveying the damage with a practiced eye. "You." He starts towards Nikole.

Nikole says indignantly, "What?!"

Darklis changes rapidly, and beams at Esther. "Thanks! I'll bring them back as soon as I can, and come have that drink, okay?"

Nikole says "I'm sorry I couldn't stop them, but it's not like they're *my* animals!"

Nikole says "You better help your boss, here. It looks like he turned an ankle."

Esther puts up a hand. "Actually, now I think of it, might be better if you weren't to be seen around here for a while. Take my meaning?"

The bodyguard isn't listening; he walks right up to Nikole and picks her up by the elbows. "You stole the safe."

Nikole shrieks when grabbed! "I never! Why'd I want your stupid safe?" She kicks at his knees, but notably ineffectually.

Nikole says "Put me down!"

Darklis ducks her head, pulling on the cap, and nods. "Gotcha. Thanks for your help, Esther. I'll see you!" It's downstairs she goes, and outside and can she hear the shrieking?

"Cut that out!" shrills Shovar, then winces. "Oh my head...she was trying to _stop_ them, you idiot. Something you notably failed to do!"

Nikole says "See! The master merchant here saw what happened!"

Nikole looks all vindicated.

The shrieking has by now died away. There's only a trail of hooves and bits of tent all the way up Quarter Street, out of sight.

Marith er, hoof-marks.

The bodyguard flushes, but presses on. "She threw a rope around the safe. I saw her."

Nikole says "I never! It must have gotten tangled in the ropes that stupid herdboy left laying around!"

"Yes, yes," agrees Shovar impatiently. "Look,you'd better get after them. What do I pay you for? What a disaster...this is coming out of your pay, you hear?"

Nikole says "Oh, don't be so hard on him! It takes a pretty impressive man to stop a vunnock stampede! Hell, even a woman couldn't stop this one!"

The bodyguard looks furious. Slowly, he sets Nikole down. "If I see you again, miss, I'll break your elbows." He turns on his heel and stalks out the alley, after the others.

Nikole says "Huh! I'll wager he's popular with the ladies!"

Nikole turns to Shovar. "Are you all right, Master?"

He snuffles piteously. "What will I do? Where will I go? A lifetime of prosperity, ruined..."

Darklis bustles down away from the tavern, back towards Goratze's.

Nikole pats his shoulder comfortingly. "I'm sure for ten gold those men will get it back! Those vunnocks looked pretty worn; they won't have gone far."

Shovar heaves a deep sigh. "I hope so, miss." He tries to clamber to his feet, wincing. "No tent, no prospects...where can I _stay_ tonight?"

Nikole gives him a hand up. "Surely one of your fellow merchants will take you in? Anyway, you better get back to your tent and pick up what you can. There are all kinds of thieves and scoundrels in this city, out to snaffle whatever they can."

He moans. "You're right. Oh, my bones..." He hobbles along a bit, clearly hoping Nikole will offer to come with him.

Nikole helps the good master to the mouth of the alley. "I don't think your armsman likes me; I better stay here. I hope you get your safe back!"

Nikole sends the master on his way and goes off in another direction. To meet Darklis, oddly enough.

Snuffling disappointedly, Shovar continues slowly on his way.

Nikole would feel bad, if she didn't know he was just being histrionic. Any merchant who'd be trusted with a pearl like that has enough salted away in the bank to keep him going for years.

Nikole actually thinks of it as 'buried beneath his longhouse', but it comes to the same thing.

Nikole sees no sign of Darklis, so goes back to Uncle Goratze's.

Nikole goes fairly quickly, in fact.

Darklis is welcomed by everyone at Uncle Goratze's tent except for Cousin Limmea, who shrieks like a banshee and demands compensation for her new outfit.

Nikole can probably hear the screams as she approaches. And maybe some slapping noises.

Darklis, barely, doesn't compensate with a fist in the mouth. She does strip down and offer Limmea the barmaid's outfit while she puts her own clothes back on.

Limmea scorns the barmaid's outfit as lower-class, but takes it to sell and demands four gold more. Uncle Goratze allows as how this sounds fair to him.

It wasn't /that/ nice an outfit. One. When she has it. It's not like you're not going to be able to find Nikole, Darklis reasons.

Nikole arrives just in time to hear Darklis being shaken down. "Four *gold*? Limmea!"

Limmea glares. "I lent you that outfit in good faith!"

Nikole says "You could buy a silk gown for four gold!"

Nikole says "We'll get you some nice new clothes when we sell the loot."

Nikole says "Lace and embroidery and down to here so Aurken will notice!"

Darklis mutters, "I wasn't going to give her *four* gold."

"Not likely, not here!" counters Limmea. "You know how many hours of stitching went into that hem?

Nikole says "LimMEA! We're in a hurry!"

Nikole says "We can fight later!"

Nikole grabs a largish sack and Darklis and takes off out the back way!

Darklis eeps, and beams at Limmea. "Thanks for letting me borrow the outfit!" Out she goes. Hee hee hee.

Eventually, Unle Goratze steps in and orders that Limmea be compensated with two gold or a complete new outfit, and banishes you from his tent.

Nikole says "We'll get her the clothes! When we have money!"

Darklis already /said/ that!

Nikole says "If we don't get her any clothes by tomorrow, she can have my green dress!"

Nikole says "She'll have to take in the bodice and let out the waist..."

Nikole departs!

Darklis grins, and runs.

Nikole leads Darklis around out of sight of Shovar's ten- er, wreckage to enter the alley where she dropped the safe, keeping an eye out for suspicious goons.

The safe is still there, in a pile of garbage. It gleams dully in the twilight.

Nikole looks both ways along the alley, into any doors or windows overlooking, and up to the roof edge!

All is quiet and still.

Nikole scoops the safe into the bag and goes with all due haste and stealth to Mindy's!

This would work just fine if you could lift the safe. But you can't.

Nikole and Darklis try to lift the safe together!

Two thirteen-year-old girls can lift the safe! But not carry it more than a few steps.

"Bugger me with a trout!" Nikole says again. "We need a cart or something."