Early listened as the guard walked towards the stairs, and oh so quietly pushed the door open to take a peek out. He glanced up and down the hallway for a moment.  Great! He'd been successful. He'd made his way inside after closing and was now in the perfect position to...  hmmm.... what now? 

Well, first step, he exited his bathroom and went into the one he'd heard Uril was in, then closed the door. Just in case. Next, he sat down and thought.  Well, the others would surely be making their moves shortly. Hmmm. Back in the bathroom once more, he again tests the structural integrity of the wall.  Stone?  Must be bricks. How's the mortar?  He pulls out a concealed dagger and begins scraping it against the mortar around one brick.  It might take him an hour or so, but he may have that long before the rest of the team makes their move, and by then, an extra way out of the room may be helpful. 

*scrape, scrape, scrape* 

Robin couldn’t give herself time to overthink things, it makes her brain hurt. Already at the vent with the egg, she commits to her first plan. “A’ight.” Not committed to her dress however, she tears out an under layer to ‘hobo bag’ the egg. It reminded her of those old wives tales of where babies would be wrapped up and delivered by those birds. She checks the knots to make sure they’re tight and that her package is nice and snug before making her attempt. “We goin’ breech, baby!” Robin decides to go ahead of the egg, legs first. Doing so, in theory, should she be spotted coming out the other side, she may look like she’s trying to get in, instead of out, while still being able to conceal/leave the egg behind (in the ‘canal’) for a follow up emergency ‘c section’.

Acrobatic Lamaze Breaths: 13 

Uril nodded along with each of Lorsan's words. "I thought I was caught," he clarifies, "but I am glad to hear my capture was part of your improvised pan. Good thinking!"

Other than that, Uril stayed still and waited for whatever was supposed to happen next. He didn't know what that was, but Lorsan surely looked like he did. When did he not, after all.

Just in case, Uril read his favorite poem to Lorsan again.

The idea was good, but the combination of the slippery fragile glass stands and a heavy voluminous (even if well-wrapped) object screwed the results. The egg smashed into a fancy glass case that held some kind of crown (crude but made of gold and studded with poorly cut jewels). The room was so quiet that the sound of glass shattering sounded like a thunderous roar. But miraculously, no one outside seemed to notice. The doors stayed shut.

The crown rolled to a corner and came to a halt, the last piece of glass settled on the heap of debris, and the room was silent once more. Robin could breathe again.

But then... her pointy ears picked up a weird noise, like a rodent gnawing on something behind (or inside) the wall that connected to the bathrooms.

--------------------------------

On his part, Early, who had already ripped off a decorative panel that hid the bathroom wall, and was now chipping away at the mortar around the first brick with the persistence of a convict, heard a muffled crash from the other side of the wall.

Time to act, is Lorsan's double entendre to Uril as he senses the approach of the guards. Try to act guilty of having just stolen the egg. Lorsan gestures in a manner that mimics the size and shape of the egg. And get the magic bag ready.

One thing the observant Uril has noticed about Lorsan is that his hands are always active, and just as much a part of his communication as his words or his facial expressions. However, what Uril had previously assumed were merely slightly-exaggerated gestures incorporated into the charlatan's impersonations, he now realizes are a kind of habitual legerdemain. The elf was constantly moving his hands in a practiced manner to draw attention toward one and away from the other, presumably so that when the time came to use them for misdirection or sleight of hand, the actions would not appear out of the ordinary. And as Lorsan now speaks, Uril also observes that his otherwise-ordinary-looking gestures only require a very subtle alteration to become somatic components of the wizard's spellcasting. For as Lorsan describes the size and shape of the egg with his hands, the egg itself magically appears in the air between them!

Lorsan maintains his hands in the correct position as though holding the egg at waist level, and directs Uril to open the bag as though lifting it up and around the egg, just in time for the guards to come around the corner and discover them...

The spontaneous play definitely attracted the guard's attention. In the dying light of the evening sun the egg shined so convincing, so natural (for the Murkmire Stone), no one who saw the thing would mistake it for anything else. The guards definitely bought it and (probably thanks to the curator's encouragement) reacted immediately.

"Hey, you two! What are you doing here? Drop that bag and put your hands up!" one of the guards yells, pointing his sword at them and then beginning to run toward the pare. "Drop that stone, I said, you thief! Stay where you are!"

It would take a few seconds for two guards to reach Uril and Lorsan but they looked like they intended to chase the thieves to the end of the world now.

Slippery son of a biscuit! Swhoops.

BING. BANG. KABANG.

As the crown in the corner eventually comes to settle after what feels like an eternity of the loudest set of sounds in the quietest of rooms, Robin peeks an eye open and inhales her first breath through her teeth. Her eyes fall over the aftermath. "Did I do that?". She blinks.

Then with her next steps, Banks' body 'relaxes' as she starts brushing any glass off herself. She tip toes around to swoop up the egg to dust it off on her way over to the corner. "Welp, when in the vault..." The elf casually swipes the crown from the ground and places it upon her head. "Now I need a scepter!" Only slightly distracted, she eyes up anything that would look like a pole or staff. It didn't have to be anything fancy.

Ears twitch to a sound at the wall. Robin follows it. When she finds where it is, eventually realizing it was connected to the bathroom, her immediate instinct was to rap on the wall. Not necessarily in any fancy code, but it was a potentially familiar pattern to those with simple minds like herself. Lifting a hand, she knocks on the wall Dun dunenene...

(OOC Essentially looking for a basic pole or staff like item. It'd be a multiuse tool for Robin to potentially use as: leverage to pry at bricks to assist in busting out, a monk weapon and as an added bonus it could work as a hobo pole for carrying hobo bagged egg. To complete the look.)

(OOC: The following assumes that there is a way out of this 'alley'. If there is in fact no corner to turn, then let me know and I'll change the post)

Acting time over. Time to run! Lorsan tugs at Uril's sleeve, urging him to follow him down the alley as fast as possible. As soon as they are able to turn a corner, Lorsan stops suddenly. Turning to face the way they just came, he holds his small crystal and traces a large square in the air. As he does so, the image of a wall appears, identical to the surrounding brickwork, and large enough to span the alleyway to a width and height of fifteen feet.

That should slow them down a bit. Lorsan whispers to Uril. Let's move on, but quietly!

Uril found himself nodding along to Lorsan's words again and again. The elf was a captivating partner in crime. The scribe did his best to help the guards' attention after taking a second to ruminate on the elf's intent: "Wow! Look at the egg!" he reacted to the illusion in front of him, guessing it's nature but being genuinely impressed with the accuracy of the image.

Once sleeve is tugged, Uril keeps pace with Lorsan. There is a child-like wonder in his eyes. For a moment, it felt like they were playing an innocent game of tag. Uril smiled and went along with the improvised plan.  

Waterdeep (and in particular the Castle Ward) is a disgustingly regularly planned city with streets interconnected and crossing each other. However, if the goal for Lorsan and Uril was to disappear from the guards' view they could do it any moment by simply diving between the houses to the right or the left. Of course, running the first crossroad and turning on the busy street was a possibility too, now, when the sudden brick wall hid them from the guards. Whatever the brave museum security's reaction was to the newly built wall across the alley the mischievous pair did not see but the guards did not appear on the other side immediately. Not that Lorsan and Uril stopped to check, of course.

Meanwhile, Robin's search for something weaponizable brought to her mind a picture of all the cleaning supplies in the closet. The wet mop there had a pretty sturdy wooden handle and probably could do the trick.

Early's scraping suddenly stops as he hears a dull thud on the other side of the wall he's scraping at.  "thud thud-thud-thud thud....."   Hmmmm.  Essentially unable to stop himself, he bangs twice on the wall, finishing the pattern.  "Thud.  Thud." 

Hmmmm. He was quite sure someone was on the other side of the wall. He was also quite sure it was none other than his sister!  Who else!?  Hmmm, maybe time to stop messin around.  He takes a step back, then slams his heel into the brick he's been scratching around, as hard as he can.

Athletics check, please

Yes. Robin gestures in triumph when her knocking received a response.

 Of course Banks’ was immediately reminded that she had looked for a pole more than once now. “Be right back.” She says over her shoulder to the brick. Adjusting her crown, Robin saunters off towards the closet to retrieve one of the brooms she forgot to take with her last time. “So scatter brained I’d lose it if it wasn’t connected…” She muses to the egg as she does.

Uril continued to run just a few steps behind Lorsan. Although the feeling of playing tag was nostalgic and fun, the moment was just a memory. Uril knew the job was not done yet and yearned for a bit more information, as he is known to do: "Tel me... Lorsan," his words were a bit sparse, given the need to keep his weak muscles well oxygenated. "What is... the next... step... in this... plan?"

Early Athletics check : 14

Early barely chipped off a few specks of mortar when he decided it is time to force the brick out. The wall resisted. However, after careful examination, Early can see tiny cracks around the chosen brick. The good news, though, no one is knocking on the bathroom door. The sound did not reach the guards.

If the brief sprint was taxing on Uril, then Lorsan looked positively done in, almost doubled-over and panting. Reaching up to put one steadying hand on Uril's shoulder, he breathed: Well... that all depends... on the others. <Gasp> Unlike me... (he pauses a few moments until he catches his breath) ...they may need to improvise a bit. But I expect them to exit from the attic window... That's if they don't get caught... Our plan is to make sure they don't... I have a few things in mind.

With Lorsan momentarily out of breath, and not quite able to maintain his usual composure, the elf's perpetual mask of deception slips. Uril gets the impression that Lorsan currently has no ideas in mind at all, and has probably been making things up as he went along all evening, relying on his charm and intellect to bluff his way through. The faux confidence probably has its merits, but may only take them so far... 

The elf continues: First, we need to throw off our pursuit. We might have stymied a couple of guards, but I wager more will be sent. Let's make ourselves visible on a main street somewhere nearby, so the locals can report our passage, then double back to the museum.

Uril gave Lorsan a knowing smile and offered to take the next steps now that his breath was coming back to him: "Very well, let me run a few paces ahead of you this time then and give you a chance to catch up your breath. I know these streets well enough and had memorized the guards' patrol route. I reckon it should help me lead us into a high-visibility street that is not too close to their pre-selected path... just enough to buy us some time to run back to the museum once they have bitten our lure."

Uril consulted his notes from earlier in the day and chose a path/street that could deliver the results he an Lorsan agreed on.

(What kind of check would this be? Survival perhaps? 7)  

The Castle Ward could be a touch less familiar to Lorsan - considering residential City guards Barrack here but Uril indeed felt completely at home on these streets. Even if the guards knew them as well, there were dozens of routes in any direction and barring a full sweep from the guards, there was no chance the pair would be discovered easily.

Of course, there were such things as "luck" and watchful "good citizens" who could ruin the best of plans (Uril looked quite common now but Lorsan was still wearing a distinct robe). But Uril accounted for both variables and managed to safely return to the museum now from another side.

Lorsan takes advantage of his distinctive robe by openly asking a few bystanders directions to the docks district, before they circle back around to the museum.